

12-yr old expands Einstein's Theory of Relativity, thinks he can prove it wrong - shawnee_
http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/03/26/12-year-old-genius-expands-einsteins-theory-of-relativity

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osipov
Seems like a deliberate scam or an unintentional case of an overly kid-
promoting parent & a gullible reporter. Check out the video here:
<http://www.youtube.com/user/mathboysmom#p/a/u/2/lNypTxvOxxQ>

The kid doesn't actually prove or say anything significant beyond what's
stated in basic physics books or in various resources on the web (e.g.
wikipedia). Kudos to the kid for being interested in these topics at such an
early age but the "genius" label should come with some results.

Also notice how the Princeton professor gently sidesteps the question of kid's
genius: "I'm impressed by his interest in physics and the amount that he has
learned so far," Institute for Advanced Study Professor Scott Tremaine wrote
in an email to the family. "The theory that he's working on involves several
of the toughest problems in astrophysics and theoretical physics."

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kenjackson
He seems like a genius (in the same way that most IMO competitors are math
geniuses -- not necessarily Einstein genius though). With that said, bright 12
year olds aren't that uncommon. I mean to his parents or even a given city he
might be uncommon. But every year you can probably find a handful of them in
the US or China for every age group.

A good movie is Beautiful Young Minds that follows a group of UK high school
students who prepare for the IMO. In particular there is a very bright and
confident student with Asperger's. While he could probably give a similar talk
at a similar age, it is important to note that he doesn't make the UK's IMO
team. He's bright enough that the average non-academic probably can't tell
when he knows what he's talking about vs when he doesn't.

I suspect the professor at Princeton heard some ambitious, if not naive
statements. Wanted to encourage, but not to give validation to the statements.

I don't sense a scam or over promotion. But I can imagine as a parent when you
have a child this bright it can almost be overwhelming. You can't really guide
the child directly and there's always a bit of fear that you're not properly
nurturing the child.

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osipov
Good point about him being uncommon to his peer group...my perspective is
skewed since I went to a school focused on math/physics studies and it was
common for kids to know basic calculus at his age. Neither teachers nor
parents considered them geniuses, just very (Asperger-like) focused on hard
sciences.

So I standby my claim, the kid is obviously very bright but not a genius, at
least not to the extent where the definition of genius requires some
remarkable results.

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tzs
Longer article, with a lot more detail here:
[http://www.indystar.com/article/20110320/LOCAL01/103200369/G...](http://www.indystar.com/article/20110320/LOCAL01/103200369/Genius-
work-12-year-old-studying-IUPUI)

This seems to be the original article that the others are either borrowing
from or that tipped them to the story.

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baddox
From the moment I saw the article reference the kid's IQ score (which everyone
knows is a joke), I knew this was a piece of pulp journalism.

~~~
tzs
How is IQ score a joke? Yes, I know there are reliability problems with IQ
tests such as cultural bias. However, isn't the main problem that things like
cultural bias cause some groups of people to score lower, so the tests report
them as less intelligent than they are? Similarly, it is easy to have a bad
day when taking a test, and get a lower score than you "should" have gotten,
or you could suck at time management, and so on. There are plenty of ways
someone can blow a test.

Thus, when someone takes an IQ test and scores low (especially a test given as
part of mass testing of a group) it would be seriously wrong to use the test
results to conclude that the person is really at that level of intelligence.

On the other, it is much harder to score way above your level.

~~~
bradleyland
An IQ score may not be a joke, but as my Psych 101 professor said, "What is
IQ? It's a score on a test." What follows is my personal account. Take it or
leave it.

When I was 11 years old and in the 7th grade, I was failing most of my
classes. I was a big problem for teachers. I talked a lot and was generally
distracted; also a distraction for other students. My teachers wanted to put
me in the "STAR" program, which was for learning disabled students. My parents
protested, demanding that I be thoroughly tested.

I spent a full week being evaluated by psychologists and special-needs
specialists. A psychologist administered an IQ test, which came back over 170.
If I recall correctly, the first score was 174. They re-administered the test
with another psychologist resulting in a score of 169. My teachers smugly
denied having thought I was dumb and fell back to the position that being in
the STAR program would help solve my "focus" issues; despite any in
appropriateness for my learning ability.

I barely made it through my first year of high school. I graduated with a 2.7
GPA. It wasn't because I couldn't solve the problems -- I liked learning the
material and passed tests readily -- it was that I wouldn't do the work.
Squandering ability is pretty stupid thing to do.

This isn't a "look how smart I am" post. Do I think I'm smart? It'd be
disingenuous for me to say no, but if I look at the outcome of my life, I can
say without any feeling of self-disrespect that having a "genius" IQ hasn't
netted me much. This isn't to say I haven't achieved success. To the contrary,
I'm the proud owner of a business that does a couple million dollars a year in
revenue and solves some fun problems, but by the measure of the greats, I've
done nothing.

So what does my IQ mean? It means I'm well suited to taking IQ tests. I
wouldn't want to discourage this 12-yr old from pursuing his dreams, but I
would caution against recognizing IQ as a universal predictor of greatness.

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orijing
> can solve up to 200 numbers of Pi

What does that mean? It must be pretty hard to compute 200 digits... But
generally that's computed once and memoized :)

~~~
tjr
I suspect that phrases like that are contributing to some folks feeling
dubious about the whole situation. The lad is probably very bright, yet
uninformed journalism makes it look like something funky is going on.

