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Comment by leakybit | Hacker News Reader

Another story about a child "genius" that you'll never hear about in the future.

I hope we don't. I hope this is the only article we read about him unless he happens to make a breakthrough in a field we are interested in. I hope the media doesn't follow him. I hope he is able to lead a long, fulfilling life sharing his talent in a way that makes him happy.

While I don't know if this is the right path for the kid, or if he really is a genius (from the article he seems very smart) your comment comes across as mean spirited.

Do you not believe in the existence of genius, or that people vary in intelligence? If not, why do you doubt his intelligence? Terrence Tao is an example of a child prodigy who became a famous mathematician, although I would say winning gold in the International Mathematics Olympiad is a more objective standard than admission to Cornell.

I think he/she means to say we never know what they are doing later in life most of the time. I assume you've seen stories about kids who are very intelligent and there would've been news about child prodigies every year since decades so why don't we hear about the ones who are adults today?

My take is that there are those child prodigies making great scientific progress but we don't hear about them because they want to keep their past private.

Although I agree the quotes kinda give a doubtful vibe to the child's prodigy, which I definitely disagree with.

I think the real issue is that once child prodigies turn into adult prodigies, their stories are much less interesting. Of course the WP is going to write a story about a 12 year-old genius, but readers won't be so interested in a 24 year-old wunderkind.

People usually hear about child geniuses when they enter post secondary at an early age and less than a decade later when they finish their PhD. Sometimes you don't hear about them because the media isn't interested in their field of study

why the quotes? whether he ends up burning out early or not, he is undoubtedly a child genius.

Depends on what you mean by genius. I always assumed that people meant by it someone who made an original contribution to the world, did something unexpected and clever in the widest sense of the term.

Most of the few child prodigies that I am aware of haven't done that.

But I don't begrudge him the chance to get ahead if that's what he wants. Starting early means more time to change direction later. Missing a childhood, well, one person's idyllic childhood is another's vision of hell so let's not all judge too harshly.

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