12-Yr-Old Expands Einstein's Theory of Relativity, Thinks He Can Prove It Wrong | Hacker News Reader

12-Yr-Old Expands Einstein's Theory of Relativity, Thinks He Can Prove It Wrong

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27 pointscwan12 comments

"The 12-year-old taught himself calculus, algebra and geometry in two weeks, and can solve up to 200 numbers of Pi." and "Autistic boy,12, with higher IQ than Einstein develops his own theory of relativity."

Ignoring the bizarreness of some of those claims ("solving numbers" for "memorizing digits") and the irrelevance of others (IQ?) what's hellish is that there is no mention of what he actually thinks. The world is astonished that he has an opinion; no one cares what it is. Reporters make a big deal of having no idea what he's saying; that speaks poorly both of the reporter and the theoretician.

It'll be news when he polishes his thoughts and explains them to someone who is willing to try to understand. For now its a circus, and that's no good for anyone.

If he makes himself, he'll be big. If he's pushed into the spotlight and commanded "make math!" by professors and societies, he'll never be more than a cool gem we found that makes some interesting patterns when the light hits it just right. I doubt the kid doesn't like the attention, but he has to be treated like a mathematician who may be credited by way of his accomplishments, not accomplished by way of his credit.

I agree with you for the most part, but consider for a moment that few people will never understand the type of math he explains. For most people, what he says sounds like gibberish. I know my math pretty well, and while my interest was piqued by the outlandish title, I was even more impressed by the boy's ability to explain these concepts so clearly while writing the proofs at the same time. That shows deep understanding.

You may think that this "circus" doesn't do anyone any good, but I disagree. He will get far more attention than he otherwise would have. And I bet there will be someone who will hear about his story in the press with the right patience to develop his mind to the genius it has the potential to be.

Misleading headline. The professors at Princeton only acknowledged he's bright and charitably encouraged him to keep studying in the nicest terms possible. Already he's scored 15 points on the Crackpot Index which is not bad for 12 years old.

Posting a link since I hadn't heard of it before, assuming we're talking about the same one:

http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/crackpot.html

Oh the poor kid. No one measured Einstein's IQ. He looks to be up to about grade 12 maths -- still an accomplishment for someone so young. He claims to "debunk" the Big Bang theory, and now to be developing a new "relativity". I wish the media wouldn't do this to kids. Every single time I had an article written about me as a kid it contained gross inaccuracies. Half the time they couldn't even get the country I was in correct!

"The 12-year-old taught himself calculus, algebra and geometry in two weeks..."

That is real smart.

How come I have never heard about this 12 year old before? The world needs more stories like this.

Because he's only been 12 for less than a year (last year you would've heard about an 11 year old and next year about a 13 year old) and hasn't really had a few decades to make a name for himself yet. He and Google would be in the same grade together.

This was also posted yesterday: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2379419

Every generation seems to create a genius. The media, the ensuing circus and hero worship usually end up killing the spark.

I'm starting to think the time-of-day you post on HN is critical

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2378099

Though admittedly this title is better.

This kid lives only a few minutes from me. I'm surprised I hadn't heard about him earlier.

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