Why I Made EVOLUTION: The Genius Equation

By Paulina Amador

My documentary film, EVOLUTION: The Genius Equation, grew out of my asking a series of very simple questions:

What if everyone woke up to their own unique capacity for inspiration and innovation?

What if genius is a state of mind that anyone can access?

What is the secret?

Within the rapid advancement of technology in our age of ever-expanding artificial intelligence, the question of how automation in technology is affecting our ability to think for ourselves became increasingly important to me. Have we been so bombarded by external stimuli that we overlook our innate genius to generate new solutions and remarkable ideas? Stephen Hawking is among those who have suggested it might. But what if everyone realised how to access their own unique capacity for inspiration and invention? What would our future look like in the next 10 to 10,000 years?

From an early age, I reacted against the traditional status quo of my upbringing in Guadalajara, Mexico, often feeling as if I were in a mental straight jacket. At first, like many children, I was combative with teachers, as I sought answers to the many contradictions in what I was being taught.

At 13, my curiosity led me to delve into a wide variety philosophies and ways of thinking that were outside the scope of traditional education. I loved nature and spent a lot of time exploring it. I gravitated towards other people who were also attempting to free themselves from traditional ways of thinking.

Puzzled as to why there was so much inequality and injustice everywhere I looked, I was driven to understand the answers to some of life’s biggest questions: Where do we come from? Where are we going? What is our purpose?

I wanted to make a film which explores the untapped resources of the mind, and to do so by presenting interviews with brilliant experts in a broad range of disciplines, from artificial intelligence, neurology, astrophysics and quantum physics to art, history, and literature. The individuals I interviewed provided profound insight into their unique areas of expertise, and into the nature of genius itself.

I am deeply grateful to our contributors: Dr. Michio Kaku (City University of New York), David Gelernter (Yale University), Dr. Chiara Marletto (Oxford University), Dr. Norman Doidge (author, The Brain that Changes Itself), Dr. Feryal Ozel (University of Arizona, Event Horizon Project), Jason Padgett (author, Struck by Genius), Paris Reid (artist), Philippa Gregory (author, The Other Boleyn Girl, The White Queen), Dr. Poppy Crum (Dolby Laboratories, Stanford University), Margaret Starbird (author, The Woman with the Alabaster Jar), JZ Knight (author, State of Mind, inventor, patented Blu Room technology), Ramtha (Spiritual Teacher of Ramtha’s School of Enlightenment), Dr. Stanley Krippner (Saybrook University), and Dr. Sam Sternberg (Columbia University).

As a woman filmmaker, I found myself also wanting to take a new look at a particular set of historical figures who thought beyond the boundaries of their times and changed the course of history, but who also, in some significant ways had been overlooked in terms of the self-evidence of their innate genius.

EVOLUTION: The Genius Equation revisits the stories of Marie Curie, Leonardo da Vinci, Ninhursag, Aspasia, Mary Magdalene, Perenelle Flammel, Joan of Arc, Mileva Maric-Einstein, and Elizabeth I, weaving these women into a sumptuous visual tapestry of cinematic grandeur.

Visually, the documentary is unique in that it includes a mixture of original footage shot in nature combined with outstanding VFX effects. These include a dimensional doorway and other effects that defy classical physics. Some technical approaches used in the film include the use of drones, underwater filming, original live-action sequences, and both 2D and 3D animation.

Ultimately, EVOLUTION: The Genius Equation will leave you with answers to questions you didn’t know you had – creating a new paradigm which redefines genius and revealing that there is a key we can all use to awaken our own brilliance.

The social impact of this film will be enormous and the ripples of its effect on the world will bring about change that benefits us all.

EVOLUTION: The Genius Equation will be available in early December on Amazon Prime Video.