South Africa, if you ask me, has more than its fair share of geniuses, among them some exceptionally brilliant scientists. But few of us are likely to encounter these superlative beings. They are for the most part too busy doing clever things in laboratories and other places of work to have time for chitchat with mere mortals.

I would hazard that hardly anyone has ever met a bona fide genius. But that doesn’t stop the word from being scattered around all over the place, like popcorn on the cinema floor after the screening of a horror film...