12 year old knows more than you ever will

[bedub1]

Autistic boy,12, with higher IQ than Einstein develops his own theory of relativity

A 12-year-old child prodigy has astounded university professors after grappling with some of the most advanced concepts in mathematics.

Jacob Barnett has an IQ of 170 - higher than Albert Einstein - and is now so far advanced in his Indiana university studies that professors are lining him up for a PHD research role.

The boy wonder, who taught himself calculus, algebra, geometry and trigonometry in a week, is now tutoring fellow college classmates after hours.

What will this kid provide us with? A new battery? New telescopes? Hoover boards? Shields? Bunch of stupid math that nobody cares about? "Ooo....a new theory of relativity...big fucking shit. How about something USEFUL!"

[tkr4lf]

Wow.

Austism is crazy. Some of them, this dude and Rainman, for example, turn out to be total geniuses, and others are just fucked for life.

It's a crazy world.

[Army of GOD]

I'm smarter.


Also, what's a 12?

[pimpdave]

That's the funny thing about autism. Some of them are like this kid, and just happen to be obsessed with math. Others, through no fault of their own, happen to be obsessed with collecting lawn mower catalogs.

[Army of GOD]

I don't really understand what makes a doctor diagnose someone with autism.

To me, this kid has a case of the "Holy shit he's fucking smart", not autism.

[TA1LGUNN3R]

Well even the "math" autism isn't good. In fact all the autism I've ever seen is horrible.

-TG

[Symmetry]

I should have put this in the Posting Etiquette thread.

Don't believe anything you read in the Daily Mail.

I think the National Enquirer might be something similar in the US, but British tabloid newspapers are worse, and the Daily Mail is just made-up news for idiots, but with a lingering scent of fascism.

[bedub1]

I should have put this in the Posting Etiquette thread.

Don't believe anything you read in the Daily Mail.

I think the National Enquirer might be something similar in the US, but British tabloid newspapers are worse, and the Daily Mail is just made-up news for idiots, but with a lingering scent of fascism.

http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/03/26/12- ... elativity/
http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/entertainme ... relativity
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/2 ... 41577.html

[Symmetry]

I should have put this in the Posting Etiquette thread.

Don't believe anything you read in the Daily Mail.

I think the National Enquirer might be something similar in the US, but British tabloid newspapers are worse, and the Daily Mail is just made-up news for idiots, but with a lingering scent of fascism.

http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/03/26/12- ... elativity/
http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/entertainme ... relativity
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/2 ... 41577.html

Thanks- I didn't want to give those guys any revenue by clicking.

[shieldgenerator7]

some autistic people are smart, but they lack social skills. although this may not always be the case, social skills and logic skills generally have an inverse relationship. Social skills go up, logic skills go down; and when logic skills go up, social skills go down. Like i said, this isn't always the case, but it seems to be for autistic people.
What will he add to the scientific community? Who knows, but it should be interesting.
Shield technology is already being developed (yes, "I" am in the process of going from science fiction to science fact http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shields_(Star_Trek)) but he could make some significant discovery that enhances it further.
Also, he might actually find a way to make teleportation possible.
Curing cancer's out of the question. many people have found viable cures, although it seems it remains uncured.
Warp drive would be a cool thing for him to develop.
I hope he has an imagination

[maasman]

Here's what we do.
1. Collect all the autistic people
2. Find out how we can reconfigure the brain to function like an autistic by studying them
3. Turn willing people autistic
4. Have them work endlessly with their new found powers to advance human kind in every field available
5. Profit

[pimpdave]

4. Have them work endlessly with their new found powers to advance human kind in every field available

Yeah, like making detailed video descriptions of any elevator found in England.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-8-aih4K68

[Army of GOD]

Here's what we do.
1. Collect all the autistic people
2. Find out how we can reconfigure the brain to function like an autistic by studying them
3. Turn willing people autistic
4. Have them work endlessly with their new found powers to advance human kind in every field available
5. Profit

WHERE IS YOUR QUESTION MARK STEP. DOES NOT COMPUTE

[shieldgenerator7]

Here's what we do.
1. Collect all the autistic people
2. Find out how we can reconfigure the brain to function like an autistic by studying them
3. Turn willing people autistic
4. Have them work endlessly with their new found powers to advance human kind in every field available
5. Profit

I don't want to be autistic. But engaging futuristic tech full throttle sounds cool. I do it all the time in videogames.
What if you thought you were normal but the doctor told you you were autistic?

[jonesthecurl]

Here's what we do.
1. Collect all the autistic people
2. Find out how we can reconfigure the brain to function like an autistic by studying them
3. Turn willing people autistic
4. Have them work endlessly with their new found powers to advance human kind in every field available
5. Profit

I don't want to be autistic. But engaging futuristic tech full throttle sounds cool. I do it all the time in videogames.
What if you thought you were normal but the doctor told you you were autistic?

See another doctor.
See several other doctors.
In fact, start a doctor collection.
Make notes.
Compare and contrast.
File carefully.

[john9blue]

speaking from personal experience: "autistic" actually means "diagnosed with asperger's syndrome", which actually means that he is very intelligent and not socially inept, so psychologists need to invent a disorder in order to avoid admitting to themselves that the boy is more intelligent than they are and they will never understand how his mind works.

[Symmetry]

speaking from personal experience: "autistic" actually means "diagnosed with asperger's syndrome", which actually means that he is very intelligent and not socially inept, so psychologists need to invent a disorder in order to avoid admitting to themselves that the boy is more intelligent than they are and they will never understand how his mind works.

Sorry, but this is massively wrong. I can accept that you've seen this from personal experience, but it seems like you've experienced only a few cases of autism and then extrapolated that to make a wider judgement.

There's a massive spectrum of autism, and it often comes packaged up with a lot of other problems. Only a small percentage of people with autism can be classified as Asperger's. It's very far from being the norm. Additionally, people with Asperger's have massive problems with social interaction.

Autism isn't something invented by psychologists to make themselves feel better. It's usually diagnosed by medical doctors in conjunction with parents. There's a weird myth that autistic people are all secret savants. It's not even mostly true. Autism is horrible and an immense burden on families.

[Eddy_26]

speaking from personal experience: "autistic" actually means "diagnosed with asperger's syndrome", which actually means that he is very intelligent and not socially inept, so psychologists need to invent a disorder in order to avoid admitting to themselves that the boy is more intelligent than they are and they will never understand how his mind works.

Speaking from personal experience: what you just said is bullshit. My teenage brother has Asperger's. He's not very intelligent. He is socially inept. Even though he's much better off than full on Autistic kids, life is still a big struggle. Thankfully he's got a lot of people who understand him, which has helped with the social side of things. I've looked after someone's Autistic kid. He can't speak yet. He's 6. It's not some excuse for being smart at all.
That being said, what this 12 year old is doing is pretty amazing. It'll be interesting to see what he comes up with.

[Khiva]

...Additionally, people with Asperger's have massive problems with social interaction.

Autism isn't something invented by psychologists to make themselves feel better. It's usually diagnosed by medical doctors in conjunction with parents. There's a weird myth that autistic people are all secret savants. It's not even mostly true. Autism is horrible and an immense burden on families.

Sorry Sym, but you're wrong. I think you mean that those mentally special, are differently abled, and that everyone has a gift and the world would be better off if we recognized it because their lives, like all life, is a blessing.

Anyway, this is supposed to be the kid on Youtube

[karelpietertje]

Damn, this kid completely grasps the things I'm struggling to understand.

[john9blue]

Speaking from personal experience: what you just said is bullshit. My teenage brother has Asperger's. He's not very intelligent. He is socially inept. Even though he's much better off than full on Autistic kids, life is still a big struggle. Thankfully he's got a lot of people who understand him, which has helped with the social side of things. I've looked after someone's Autistic kid. He can't speak yet. He's 6. It's not some excuse for being smart at all.
That being said, what this 12 year old is doing is pretty amazing. It'll be interesting to see what he comes up with.

Sorry, but this is massively wrong. I can accept that you've seen this from personal experience, but it seems like you've experienced only a few cases of autism and then extrapolated that to make a wider judgement.

There's a massive spectrum of autism, and it often comes packaged up with a lot of other problems. Only a small percentage of people with autism can be classified as Asperger's. It's very far from being the norm. Additionally, people with Asperger's have massive problems with social interaction.

Autism isn't something invented by psychologists to make themselves feel better. It's usually diagnosed by medical doctors in conjunction with parents. There's a weird myth that autistic people are all secret savants. It's not even mostly true. Autism is horrible and an immense burden on families.

i'm not saying that autism and asperger's don't exist. i'm saying that, like add/adhd, they are often used as catch-all categories for a wide range of mental conditions, some of which shouldn't qualify as a "disorder" in the first place. the reason i say this is because i've personally been diagnosed with "high-functioning asperger's"... and if you knew me irl you probably would be shocked to hear that, because i have little trouble with social interaction (although i'm mostly introverted, but this is by choice). psychiatry is a hugely inexact science, and it bothers me when people like this kid are pigeonholed with the label of "autism" when he's clearly just an extremely smart boy. he puts videos on youtube featuring lengthy talks in front of the camera... that doesn't seem like a person with interpersonal issues.

[pimpdave]

4. Have them work endlessly with their new found powers to advance human kind in every field available

Yeah, like an exhaustive cataloging of every inconsistency in Star Trek

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42Q-pFlzung

[john9blue]

why does it not surprise me that dave has no respect for autistic people?

[shieldgenerator7]

yeah, interesting point about ADD. I friend of mine in school was diagnosed with ADD early on in life, but her father got her out of it (i'm not sure how) and now she doesn't "have" it anymore. I think sometimes these mental diseases are named just so the researcher can acquire fame, or to give an excuse for a certain behaviour. They even named a disease for being rebellious to authority. imagine that.
Rant about Star Trek:

Spoiler

Star Trek is sometimes inconsistent. The funny thing that in TOS, many of the tech were thought up mainly due to budget restrictions, e.g. transporter - they didn't have enough money to film ships landing on planets. Klingons another example - didn't have big enough budget to give them the characteristic facial features they have in other series.
There are many science falsehoods in Star Trek, such as phasers. The beams are not visible unless they're pointing right at your eyes, but in Star Trek, they show the beam anyway. Explosion sounds - there's no matter around for the explosion to be heard by the crew members, but in Star Trek, they play the explosion sound effects anyway. Shields and transporters - although this is strictly Star Trek, as a rule ships cannot use their transporters while their shields are up, although in several episodes they violate this rule and do it anyway. There's more of course, but the main reason why these falsehoods get out in the show is to make the show entertaining. C'mon, if you watched a scifi that didn't show the laser beam that's supposed to be inivisible and didn't play the sound effects from an explosion that was supposed to not be heard, would you enjoy it? I wouldn't (unless it had a good story). A lot of the science falsehoods in Star Trek are for entertainment purposes.

[pimpdave]

why does it not surprise me that dave has no respect for autistic people?

Glad I decided to view this post. I actually have an appropriate amount of respect for autists. I have a life long friend who happens to have Asperger's. We've worked really well together on some projects, especially since I appreciate how socially awkward he can be and accept him in spite of it (or perhaps because of it). He's really lucky that he happened to develop an obsession with Wall Street at a young age, instead of with discovering absolutely every glitch in Mario Brothers ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvY1MNF26-w ).

I'm sure guys like that can make great quality assurance personnel. Or how about this guy, who cataloged every single continuity error in The Matrix ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJ0v5H3Uctw SIDE NOTE: I love this guy as a narrator. I'll watch anything if he narrates it. Nature shows, take note!). If I were a big time Hollywood director, I'd definitely want this guy working for me as a line producer. It'd take that pressure off of me (honestly, that kind of work bores me -- but this guy loves it!) and would let me spend more time on the big picture.

So you're interpreting it all wrong. If their obsession happens to be something that can be practically applied, and people can manage to work with them, they can lead productive and fulfilling lives (although often cloistered). In other cases, well, it's not my fault they put up their silly obsession on YT. It's not disrespecting them to be entertained or even sometimes laugh at the silly things they produce (like furries. They can be absolutely hilarious). But I won't laugh at them for their condition.