This is the reason interview with Nick Gillespie.

That's me.

And I want to ask you a question.

Did you ever want to be a genius?

I have my moment.

I'm over that now.

Today's guest has thought long and hard about the question of what it means to be a genius.

And she's written an incredible book about it.

She's Helen Lewis, a British journalist and podcaster who writes for The Atlantic and has a substack under her own name.

Her new book is called The Genius Myth, a curious history of a dangerous idea.

It explores how the definition of what it means to be a genius has changed radically

over the centuries, over the millennia, really. She also talks about how it became linked

to all sorts of weird, biological, racial, and nationalistic theories. And she talks about

how Elon Musk has come to personify genius in our time. Part of what we talk about

is whether his failure at Doge spells the end of his kind of genius moment. We also talk about

the Beatles. We talk about William Shockley, who turned to racial science after winning a Nobel

Prize for helping to invent the transistor. And we talk about her notorious 2018 interview with Jordan Peterson.

I am not a genius, so a lot of what she said went right over my head, but I can guarantee

you that this is a very rich and memorable conversation.

Here is the reason interview with Ellen Lewis. Helen Lewis,

thanks so much for talking to Reason. Thank you for having me. Let's start with the obvious question.

The book is The Genius Myth, A Curious History of a Danger dangerous idea, which is a great subtitle. But

...