A very good Saturday essay that two of my Facebook friends told me about, and I'm glad to see that it was already submitted here, as it deserves a read from all of us who have ever commented in threads about "genius" or "geniuses." And the first two comments here, by kenjackson and j2kun, are very good too. What Jordan Ellenberg, a member of the Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth, writes about here is based on the extensive modern research on the development of advanced young learners of mathematics and other subjects. I recently heard a talk about this line of research by David Lubinski[1] (mentioned in the article) and I have been following this research[2] for years.
Summing up the research, yes, it's good to be supportive rather than oppositional to children developing their special talents in their youth. But the most talented young people will not save the world. We will save the world together through lots of incremental improvements, the kind of incremental improvements we discuss here on Hacker News. Personality traits (one could also say qualities of character) like curiosity and persistence matter quite as much as raw brain power in allowing young people to gain the best development from having good learning opportunities, and good learning opportunities are important for all learners.
Summing up the research, yes, it's good to be supportive rather than oppositional to children developing their special talents in their youth. But the most talented young people will not save the world. We will save the world together through lots of incremental improvements, the kind of incremental improvements we discuss here on Hacker News. Personality traits (one could also say qualities of character) like curiosity and persistence matter quite as much as raw brain power in allowing young people to gain the best development from having good learning opportunities, and good learning opportunities are important for all learners.
[1] [vid] http://mediasite.csom.umn.edu/Mediasite/Play/2eeb0fa1c5f6408...
[2] Related articles: https://my.vanderbilt.edu/smpy/publications/david-lubinski/