Clearly, Equality 7-2521 is a genius. Under unspeakably arduous conditions, and in the face of bitter antagonism from the powerful authorities that who oppose him, he proceeds to advance the state of humankind's knowledge by an enormous leap. With only his own talent and initiative — with nothing but obstacles contributed by others — Equality 7-2521 is able to reinvent the electric light in a society that has only recently made the progress from torches to candles. This invention is an extraordinary testimony to his own genius and perseverance.
Equality 7-2521 is a fictitious example of the great thinkers of history who have made revolutionary breakthroughs in spite of the social antagonism they faced. Such individuals as Louis Pasteur, Charles Darwin, Marie Curie, Robert Fulton, the Wright Brothers, and many others were scientists and inventors whose discoveries and innovations overturned previous thinking. Such geniuses were not only confronted by the difficulty of identifying nature's secrets but also by the antagonism of the society whose beliefs they challenged. Great creative thinkers such as Equality 7-2521 are motivated by the love of their work — whether it is biology, medicine, or physics or in such areas of the humanities as literature, music, or philosophy. Their passion keeps them going despite the inherent difficulties of making intellectual breakthroughs and of battling the conservative elements of society that oppose them. Equality 7-2521 will not surrender his creative work no matter the degree or variety of difficulties he encounters.
This persistence is a measure of his integrity. He lives by his convictions regardless of the obstacles that confront him. For a man to possess the virtue of integrity, he must be true in action to the principles and values that he holds. He must practice what he preaches. Equality 7-2521 possesses integrity to an exceptional degree, for he not only lives in accordance with his values through the normal vicissitudes of life, but more tellingly, even when in conflict with a stifling dictatorship that outlaws his creative work and threatens to punish his actions by death. If a man knows that a career of scientific research is right for him and pursues it even though opposed by his family, that is admirable. But if he pursues it in a social context where the state decrees against it — and where individuality has been so expunged that all conceptions of independent thinking are foreign to all — that is extraordinary. Equality 7-2521 is a fictitious example of the kind of heroes responsible for the progress that real society has achieved.
