Blog Debunks 13-Year-Old Scientist's Solar Power Breakthrough

Originally posted by 547000

Originally posted by newcovenant
reply to post by DerepentLEstranger

 

One of the most valuable things that kids have is the desire to excel and make a difference in the world. It doesn't take too many doses of negative feedback and embittered criticism to make a kid lose their enthusiasm and love of discovery. Soon they fall in line with the rest of the ticky-tacky unoriginal kids because teachers do not know how to handle exceptional-ism. Genuine inspiration and budding genius is squashed like a bug in favor of outcomes that all look the same. One of the worst things you can be guilty of in this life is dashing the dreams and aspirations of a child to make them be like everyone else.

On the flipside always telling them they're special little darlings can also lead to massive fail.

Can it?

How?

reply to post by newcovenant


It will lead to ego problems and a lack of drive to suceed.

"The Capacity Factor" really as a fantastic blog but for some reason it was closed. Still, the blog talks about a lot of energy issues and is really worth reading in its entirety. For a 13 year old the project was extremely impressive, but the media took it as gospel and as we know, the media is not made up of electrical engineers. It gave people a false solution so it needed to debunked.

His debunking is a measly two paragraphs in which he says voltage was recorded and the design is not optimal. The debunking looks more like an opinion than actual science.

Uhm... what? This stuff is taught in a first year EE degree. What do you want him to write? A peer review paper showing that voltage is completely different to power which has been known for eons? Or a peer review document paper showing that arranging a bunch of planar solar panels so they are shaped like a tree doesn't make more energy? That stuff is just obvious.

As for why the result is impossible. I'm not sure I understand the confusion by which people think there could be some advantage, to orienting panels at sub-optimal angles. That somehow combining sub-optimal panels, together, makes them generate more energy in the net. Here's my argument, in case it helps clear up misconceptions.

The most optimal position for a solar panel to be in, is where it directly faces the sun. Combining many sub-optimal panels together doesn't make it absorb more light. Which part of this is an opinion and not fact?

Genius is a rare but splendid thing. However, I don't think that Genius can be subdued, crushed or destroyed. If a child possesses it, it will find a way to come out. I am sure Einstein wasn't told that he was a special snow flake, even once. Have a lookey at this Site as it tells of how many of the people we admire and would classify as genius became their famous selves despite adversary conditions early on their lives.

Originally posted by 547000
reply to post by newcovenant

 

It will lead to ego problems and a lack of drive to suceed.

It will if you do it WRONG.
But not if you also provide many other things a child needs.
EGO problems can be addressed by balancing humility and self respect as well as by teaching appreciation for diversity and the uniqueness of others. This forces you to accept your own _______ (insert things people are born with, cannot change and still hate about themselves.)

You can fix that "success" thing by instilling a healthy love of money.
Acquisitions 101 - I think actually IS a part of the curriculum in schools today.

Instead of "drive to succeed" I would instill self reliance and a useful skill.
What is success anyway but how you see yourself?
I would judge this by how happy you are and surprisingly this has little to do with money.
Couple of kids, a loving wife and a decent job. Most people would call that success.

Maybe you mean MOTIVATION?

You teach that along with responsibility, allowance and reaching achievable goals.
In my experience, children have to watch people be lazy to learn how to be lazy themselves.
They don't come that way. You have to stop them an awful lot.

Originally posted by Lebowski achiever
Genius is a rare but splendid thing. However, I don't think that Genius can be subdued, crushed or destroyed. If a child possesses it, it will find a way to come out. I am sure Einstein wasn't told that he was a special snow flake, even once. Have a lookey at this Site as it tells of how many of the people we admire and would classify as genius became their famous selves despite adversary conditions early on their lives.

edit on 27/8/11 by Lebowski achiever because: HTML fail

Please do not tell me you think this kid is a genius. The only thing going for him is he actually tried to do something. Many middle school and high school kids are intelligent they just do not apply themselves.

In the end it looks as though he did not research his hypothesis well enough to get a good understanding of what he was trying to do. Looks more like he saw a tree and thought "Oh a tree has to be better then how we do it now." then made a disproportionate experiment.

Originally posted by newcovenant

Originally posted by 547000
reply to post by newcovenant

 

It will lead to ego problems and a lack of drive to suceed.

It will if you do it WRONG.
But not if you also provide many other things a child needs.
EGO problems can be addressed by balancing humility and self respect as well as by teaching appreciation for diversity and the uniqueness of others. This forces you to accept your own _______ (insert things people are born with, cannot change and still hate about themselves.)

You can fix that "success" thing by instilling a healthy love of money.
Acquisitions 101 - I think actually IS a part of the curriculum in schools today.

Instead of "drive to succeed" I would instill self reliance and a useful skill.
What is success anyway but how you see yourself?
I would judge this by how happy you are and surprisingly this has little to do with money.
Couple of kids, a loving wife and a decent job. Most people would call that success.

Maybe you mean MOTIVATION?

You teach that along with responsibility, allowance and reaching achievable goals.
In my experience, children have to watch people be lazy to learn how to be lazy themselves.
They don't come that way. You have to stop them an awful lot.

A man who has never had opposition or challenge is a pitiable man.

The love of money comes from parents and media, not just school. Both the poor and the rich have a love of money, either through greed or through envy. The schools only make it worse by teaching kids they are entitled to things.

Drive to succeed might be better read as drive to excel. I personally feel success is exceling.

Originally posted by Lebowski achiever
Genius is a rare but splendid thing. However, I don't think that Genius can be subdued, crushed or destroyed. If a child possesses it, it will find a way to come out. I am sure Einstein wasn't told that he was a special snow flake, even once. Have a lookey at this Site as it tells of how many of the people we admire and would classify as genius became their famous selves despite adversary conditions early on their lives.

edit on 27/8/11 by Lebowski achiever because: HTML fail

True true true but tip o the iceberg.

The ones that did not make it but might have are the unmentionable number... already gone.

What a different Nation this could be with them flourishing, all of us flourishing (as these kinds of minds benefit us all) instead of dragging the line. Exceptional-ism should be encouraged and not beaten out of you so only the few and the strong survive.

...Tesla was a brilliant inventor that had flashes of insight so intense that plans for his inventions appeared whole in his head at once in every detail.

Tesla and Thomas Edison were bitter enemies... Edison famously said, "Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration."

Tesla's response, recalling the time he spent working for Edison, was,

"If Edison had a needle to find in a haystack, he would proceed at once with the diligence of the bee to examine straw after straw until he found the object of his search.

I was a sorry witness of such doings, knowing that a little theory and calculation would have saved him ninety percent of his labor."

Edison was of his age, approaching the problems of the world as a laborer.

Tesla was more of our age, creating ideas easily and watching them spread... or not.

Here's another quote of Tesla's,
“The practical success of an idea, irrespective of its inherent merit, is dependent on the attitude of the contemporaries.

If timely it is quickly adopted; if not, it is apt to fare like a sprout lured out of the ground by warm sunshine, only to be injured and retarded in its growth by the succeeding frost.”

www.creativecreativity.com...

reply to post by 547000

Drive to succeed might be better read as drive to excel. I personally feel success is excelling.

Success is living to tell about what you might have excelled at. If you excel and you are dead now because you were such an excellent whatever...overcome by stress and drive to achieve ...what does this profit a man? Makes for an impressive tombstone.

A man who has never had opposition or challenge is a pitiable man.

This is why animals "play' they are being taught life lessons in a safe playing field. They are shown in no uncertain terms - you see what I might have done, if you were not my own.
In a healthy upbringing these are called games. Preparations for life skills. In these first rounds the child cannot get hurt playing with people that love him or her to challenge and counter point. There is not always a need to oppose. Some people ARE always right. I think I know them all.
What I am saying I guess is, be PROACTIVE: teach the better way rather than oppose.
I think results will be quicker. Though at the same time I WILL admit that sometimes for somethings your way is necessary...someone HAS to get a little bit burned now to prevent a deadly hurt later. Can't think of an example right now but I get that.

reply to post by newcovenant


Well, I disagree. Everyone should TRY to excel. And people shouldn't be coddled. Then again we just disagree.

Originally posted by Azdraik

Please do not tell me you think this kid is a genius. The only thing going for him is he actually tried to do something. Many middle school and high school kids are intelligent they just do not apply themselves.

In the end it looks as though he did not research his hypothesis well enough to get a good understanding of what he was trying to do. Looks more like he saw a tree and thought "Oh a tree has to be better then how we do it now." then made a disproportionate experiment.

Where in my post did I opine that this kid is a genius? I was merely commenting on the fact that people think that Genius is being suppressed nowadays due to modern teaching and parenting methods. I think that is untrue and have provided some evidence to that effect. I am not sure if this kid is a genius or not. I don't think there is enough evidence either way, do you?

...... Exceptional-ism should be encouraged and not beaten out of you so only the few and the strong survive.

Oh, I think that is overstating it a bit, don't you? Modern parenting methods encouraging treating the child with the utmost reverence and encourages children through positive reinforcement. Parents nowadays seem more like cheerleaders (Good Job!!!) than parents and it causes unreasonable expectations. The Idols and X-Factor auditions are filled with people who absolutely, positively believe that they are good, even great, and are actually surprised and disappointed when they are rejected because they are, in reality, total crap. People think they are geniuses, when they are really not, more often than the other way round. You know a few of those kind of people. Go on.. admit it.