"Autistic kid 'smarter than Einstein' predicted to win Nobel Prize"
http://t.co/RxXSSUbGq4

I am glad this kid is being appropriate challenged, and that those who tested him at two were incorrect that he would never read. But the the "predicted to win Nobel Prize" part bothers me.

Well, that's just silly.

Even people at elite levels in their own fields are notoriously poor at predicting the behavior and decision-making of the Nobel committee. EJ Corey reportedly (as in, I heard this anecdote from someone who witnessed this FIRSTHAND as a post-doc) held a spot above the mantel in his formal living room for his Nobel Prize. For years and years. It took over a decade for his greatness to be recognized alongside his rival Herbert Brown. Which evidently really rankled, incidentally. At least Corey didn't have to split the prize, which must have made for some really interesting discussions, don't you think? LOL.

Everyone in the sciences (and I don't know, but probably in other disciplines as well) understands that the vicissitudes of what is "trending" at a particular time dictate who wins and who doesn't as much as actual great contributions do. This is particularly true in fields where massive collaborative efforts are the norm-- the Nobel mostly goes to pairs and very small groups.

But yeah, way to set up completely unrealistic expectations for this obviously brilliant and very promising... child. {sigh}

I'd much rather read more actual factual information about this boy rather than what may happen someday in the future. That's just ridiculous.

But I admit, I love hearing / reading stories about kids with diagnoses when they were little who really pulled through and things turned out very different from what was predicted for them. Having one of these children at home (DS3.2), I can see a lot more in him than what some of the specialists see. He has already proved them wrong in some areas so I do have hopes for the future. We don't need him to have IQ of 170, just a good life

The probability of him winning the Nobel prize, is higher than the probability of him being austistic.

I just did little extra reading on this young guy and the Einstein comparison came from his own work from couple years ago where supposedly at the age of 9 years old he built some mathematical models that were expanding on Einstein's work.

Interesting kid, to say the least!

No, it's quite likely he is autistic since officially aspergers is now considered part of the autism spectrum. It's not uncommon for highly functioning autistic kids to also be PG. On the other hand it is VERY VERY rare to win a Nobel Prize.

I think it's terribly unfair to put that kind of pressure on a kid. They're setting him up to feel like a failure if he doesn't get a Nobel prize, which is hardly the truth.

I've seen this before: kid has fabulous talent; kid gets lots of publicity; kid is taught by trusted people around him that he is THE BEST!!!!! ...kid can't handle it when he gets into the world and discovers he's not THE BEST!!!!!

It's not the kid's fault, but he has to suffer with the consequences.

And I am very tired of the media making comparisons to Einstein.

I know. (sigh) Me too.

I think I've seen this boy interviewed (if it's the same one, he's very articulate and high functioning). I hope he ends up ok in spite of the media silliness.

Yes!!

No doubt! I couldn't agree more. Maximum agreement!

Jacob is an exceptional prodigy. He apparently sees certain math problems and their solutions as geometric shapes, a sort of synesthesia similar to Daniel Tammet for whom each number had a unique shape and color. Jacob also proves that his memory is exceptional; even months after being told to memorize lists he can still repeat them backwards and forwards.

I always wonder what such a mind would be like if it did not have such an exceptional memory. How far could it go?

I recommend watching his TED talk, since the media interviews tend to side-show-freak him:

http://tedxteen.com/talks/tedxteen-2012/111-jacob-barnett-forget-what-you-know

That isn't synesthesia.

That's geometric computation.

I just read the book on him that his mother wrote called "The Spark" It was an interesting read, although I don't think I would ever write a book about my child while she was still a child. He is still a child and it is a lot of pressure on him. She states that in the book about Einstein and the Noble Prize so that would be were MSN is getting that from.

If anyone can be predicted to win a Nobel Prize, it would be somebody who can do geometric computation.

Even though she probably doesn't understand exactly what he is doing.

I would love to be able to compute geometrically rather than doing a brute force hack using 1's and 0's, but I have no idea how to use irrational numbers in that manner.

That's just it, though-- even people who KNOW several people who have won them also know five or six times that many people who have not, but deserved to just as much as those that have.

I think that is what Val and I are both suggesting-- that this is like taking a stunningly beautiful child actress, and predicting that she will win a best-actress academy award and have a Vogue cover when she's an adult. Maybe. And maybe not-- because it's not entirely about raw characteristics and ability. A lot is being in the right place at the right time, too.

Many people who are quite outstanding do NOT ever win rare accolades, too. That does not mean that they contribute less, or that their contributions are less important or worthy.

So while it is definitely fair to say that child prodigies like this are "going great places" and to celebrate their passions (particularly in light of any particular difficulties that they may overcome along the way), it's quite another to impose a particular, nearly unattainable standard of "success" which is only partly about skill and ability.

Put it this way-- what would you think if I suggested that my child "will be Chief Justice someday"?

Same kind of thinking, that. Now, it wouldn't SURPRISE me if that were true. Not one bit. Just as I'm sure that it would surprise none of us if this young man WERE to win a Nobel prize.

But it's not the same thing as making it an expectation.

I would point out that you need to rethink your aversion to sending her to Princeton.

I also immediately thought, would Princeton/Harvard Law or Princeton/Yale Law be a better choice? For some reason, I'm leaning toward Princeton/Harvard.

I'd say you caught my Simpsons reference in another thread a few days back...

Well, she is Lisa.

In this house, we obey the laws of thermodynamics!!



While I think that most people would predict amazing things from most PG/HG+ kids at some point along the line, it only seems fair to let THEM choose how they will define success for themselves, and really-- to change their minds as they mature and grow. (That's my serious footnote to the Simpsons discussion, by the way.)

My daughter also has aspirations to be Krusty the Clown, though she hasn't ruled SCOTUS out, exactly... or, you know, a Fields Medal. I tend to think that all of those outcomes are about as likely as one another, for whatever it's worth, which is good, because Krusty seems like a tough guy to seat at dinner parties.

Part of the reason I put this out there was because I attended college with a kid who father claimed that his son would become a Nobel Prize laureate by age 16. At the time he was the youngest kid to graduate from a 4 yr university in the US at 11. The kid was on 60 minutes and received quite a lot of fame. (I can show citations but I'd rather respect his privacy.) By the time I met the kid when he was 11, he was a real mess partly because of all the stress trying to live up to his dad's expectation. The summer after graduation the situation turned into a real mess that ended up with him living with his mom and back in junior high.

So when I see something like this I start to question the expectations placed on this child. No question he is impressive and a natural mathematician, but I wonder if all the press & expectations are good for him. Although after watching his talk, I am very impressed. Part of this may be because there is a huge difference between and 11 year old and a 14 year old.

Very impressive talk. He is a very impressive young man. I don't know much about him is he homeschooled?

The 60 Minutes Video is very informative and very well done. Much better than the short article I posted.