I was trolling Yahoo! today and saw this piece of a young kid (12) who is apparently a math freak, but also seems to be pretty normal socially for a gifted kid. The article mentioned the kid was diagnosed with aspergers, but from the video, you might not guess that right off.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110329…
I have always wondered if having aspergers, or being autistic or mentally handicapped on the other end was binary (you are or aren't) it seems to me that there is a continuum along which people's brains tend to function.
I am curious what you all think about the following question: Do you think that all people who are genius level mathematicians/scientists have these various "syndromes" by the very nature of their brain's function, or do you think that it is random, in that your higher level thinking abilities have no basis on your social intelligence, etc.
The reason I wonder this is because I think back to my undergrad days and think about all the computer science nerds who would stick forks in toasters in the dining hall, things like that, but then would do other thinking at a very high level. At the other end, the most socially able people would then typically not be found trolling the physics department.
What do you think? Is your IQ automatically negatively correlated to your social IQ?
michael burry has asbergers
I saw that too. I think it's a function of focus. They can focus on something so intently and they have the capacity to get great at it, but it comes at the expense of social interaction. Social skills are just that, skills, which also need to be developed.
Kind of like people on Adderall permanently.
nailed it ^
Pretty heavily correlated
I agree with monkeymark, also.
I view it as there being a tradeoff in developing any type of skill and some people have minds that allow them to develop skills much more efficiently than other people.
There was this third grade kid in my k12 school who took the AP Calculus exam. He had many friends. I thought he was normal. Life is just unfair. That's it.
Probably some combination of (mild) autism, high intelligence, and extreme parental pressure. 12 year olds (even the brilliant ones) just don't think "Gee, isn't real analysis cool? I want to spend my free time doing that,".
Regardless of how smart the kid is, by advancing that rapidly, he is leaving his peer group behind. While potentially beneficial to his career as an academic (more years at peak mental ability), 12 year olds do not think about their careers so pragmatically. I don't think he would want to abandon a social life without either parental pressure or some form of autism.
I'm not sure that it's parental pressure. I've known some pretty brilliant people who enjoy learning and reading about things that us mere mortals would find a chore. To them it's interesting and a bit of a challenge. The way most kids who play grand theft auto and keep trying to beat the game, the brilliant ones read about physics or math and find it interesting.
Or they could play halo and completely pwn everyone else too.
Additionally, this is probably like an adult want to 'chill' with a 5 year old...most aren't going to have anything in common. Granted as a kid you probably enjoy playing to some extent but if you are on an entirely different intellectual plain your mind is geared to think about different things (from what your peers think about) in different ways (than your peers...again) and has to be exhausting/boring for him to ignore his yearnin' for learnin' and try to interact with people who (intellectually) like to point at rainbows and yell "pretty colors".
Regards
definitely not parental pressure. some of the smartest minds come from the poorest families where the parents would rather look for food and water and pay the household bills than worry about sending their children to the best private schools.
think maslow
I'll agree that there are some natural geniuses out there. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_James_Sidis
But, especially with people like the "tiger mother", I really wonder when I see kids doing extraordinary things...especially when those things are what parents seek.
Of course, if this kid's parents are autoworkers, he is a genius. If Dad is a math PhD, I would begin to wonder...Of course, this ignores the heritability of IQ
I think Target schools automatically select for people with high IQ and EQ. You just don't normally see them doing both at the same time.
@westcoastrainmaker: I scoff at the idea of parental pressure. Sure there exist WANNABE's that claim to be tiger parents and write a book about it to make a buck. I've talked to successful parents, and the author of "Tiger mother" is so off the mark. She's not a real "tiger mother" she's just what the average American dolt wants to believe is a "tiger mother".
@westcoastrainmaker: By claiming that he has abandoned his social life, I think you're making assumptions about his peers. Depending on your peers, some may be jealous, some may not care, and some may hail you as a hero. True being a Prodigy is a role, but so is Queen Bee and Football Jock.
@cphbravo96: I agree that sometimes a person might be happier amongst there intellectual equals than their like-age peers. Can you imagine being put in a 5 year old's body and then expected it sit in class listening to the teacher teach colors for the fifth time?
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