Precocious and Fearless

Explode Your World With Possibilities
By Saleem Rana

You have enough brains to run a galaxy! What are you doing with it?

Neuroscientists have estimated that the average human brain has 100 billion cells, and that each of these cells is connected to 20,000 other ganglia and dendrites. This means that you have more brain connections than molecules in the known universe.

If this does not make you gasp, then you may have to question your ability to fog a mirror.

Naturally, with all this brain-power, you may wonder, as I did, when I learned these startling facts, is why does even my computer and calculator seem smarter than I am?

The answer is historical and social conditioning.

Yes, ever since you were little you have been educated to use less than your capacity. In studies of child prodigies, it has been found that they were raised in an extraordinary way that went against the prevailing social norms. They were exposed to sufficient intellectual stimulus at an early age and subsequently performed in a way that was truly remarkable.

I'll give you an example:

Instead of the disciplinary punishment so common to education, Boris and Sarah Sidis, believed in nurturing a precocious and fearless love of knowledge, into their son William.

This was an unusual idea in the early 20th century. They received much criticism for it. Nevertheless, they persisted.

The result of exposing young Sidis to educational information when most parents breathe a sigh of relief that their child can walk and talk was that young Sidis could read the New York Times at 18 months, taught himself Latin at 2, Greek at 3, wrote four books at 4, and knew Ten languages (English, Latin, Greek, Russian, Hebrew, French, German, Turkish, Armenian and Vendergood, his own invention) by age eight. And this was just the beginning. By the age of 11, William Sidis mastered higher mathematics and planetary revolutions, became youngest student to ever enroll at Harvard, and lectured Harvard Mathematical club on "Four-Dimensional Bodies.' He graduated from Harvard, cum laude, on June 24, 1914, at age 16. And two years later, entered Harvard Law School in 1916.

Now with this impressive start in life, you would expect that he lived a happy and productive life.

Actually, he went into obscurity, took on low paying employment, lived in horrible poverty, and even went to great efforts to hide his intelligence.