Akrit Jaswal - Medical Genius or not?

Saberu

Saberu

Saberu

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I watched Extraordinary People on Channel 5 on Thursday night and it was about this 12 year old boy who was a medical genius, he had performed surgery at the age of 7 years old and claims to know the chemical structure of a synthetic chemical that can destroy a certain type of cancer.
Then again it's one thing to design a chemical structure and it's another to successfully synthesise a stable version of it.

Although there is some controversy over his talents, for example even though he scored highly (higher than Einstein) on an IQ test he had taken in the US he scored much lower on another IQ test taken in the UK.

Another question is will his potential highten as he goes through adolescence or will he become self-obsessed and arrogant a trait I noticed in him briefly during the programme. If he becomes that way he will surely lose focus of his goal to cure all cancers and diseases, or maybe it's this goal which causes the problem in that he is aiming too highly and putting too much pressure on himself as speculated in the programme.

Also he seems unwilling to partner up with other people and this lack of teamwork probably motivated by a desire for unshared fame to his future possible achievements may be his downfall.
 
I think the problem here, as discussed in my recent thread, is simply that one area of his brain will have a much higher capacity and because of this, he will suffer in other areas in much the same drastic way.

I haven't really made up my mind about the whole thing yet, but I think maybe his parents should encourage him to chill out, relax, stop thinking and just simply have some fun.

It seems that his parents need to do the opposite for him, and encourage him not to study all the time, to watch TV, to play out with his friends who will all be on the same level as he should be. This should hopefully even things out and make him more "normal" until he's about 21, when he can seriously (and sanely) concentrate on his studies :).

Edited to add:

There is no doubt that the boy is a genius. But there is a high chance that his gift will become the one thing that will destroy him.

Phil.
 
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OvertoneBliss said:
I think the problem here, as discussed in my recent thread, is simply that one area of his brain will have a much higher capacity and because of this, he will suffer in other areas in much the same drastic way.
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I disagree with the idea of capacity, I think the reason he is worse on other areas such as visuospatial as discussed in the programme is because he has spent most of his time studying biology and anatomy and very little time on practical activities.
He certainly has the capacity to also be good at the practical activities, just not the time to do them unless he sacrifcies some of the time he spends studying biology books/ papers.

OvertoneBliss said:
I haven't really made up my mind about the whole thing yet, but I think maybe his parents should encourage him to chill out, relax, stop thinking and just simply have some fun.
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This is exactly what they were saying at the end of the programme and I completely agree, although waiting till 21 is a bit much- maybe till 16-18 is better.
 
Saberu said:
I disagree with the idea of capacity, I think the reason he is worse on other areas such as visuospatial as discussed in the programme is because he has spent most of his time studying biology and anatomy and very little time on practical activities.
He certainly has the capacity to also be good at the practical activities, just not the time to do them unless he sacrifcies some of the time he spends studying biology books/ papers.
Click to expand...

I haven't seen the actual show to be honest, I'm only going on what I've heard you say and in the other thread about the show.

I'm not saying he couldn't be equally as good in other areas, just that he should really spend more time getting familiar with all aspects and areas of life. Limitation has to be the worst thing to witness in somebody with a great mind like this.

No point in having a great mind if it's a closed one.

This is exactly what they were saying at the end of the programme and I completely agree, although waiting till 21 is a bit much- maybe till 16-18 is better.
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Maybe 21 is a bit much, and I guess we can't tell him what to do as 1) We're two guys on a forum and 2) We're not his parents :p.

But if I did have the control, their is nothing I can really do once he reaches 16. At least in the UK.

It's a very interesting subject though and I really want to see the show for myself. Are there any re-runs scheduled that you know about?

Phil.
 
To me he seemed like a really clever kid who had been pushed hard, he far from seemed like the messiah he is perceived to be in India. The operation he performed was far from open-heart as well, it was slicing and dicing webbed fingers to separate them if I remember correctly. Not to say that it was easy, but with instruction I'm sure most people with reasonable dexterity could pull it off.

It seemed with his wonder cure for Cancer he had lots of vague answers and nothing in the way of actual hard science. It seemed to be a lot like "You take a pill, which alters the DNA of cancer cells to stop the cancer.......tell me how wonderful I am!".

I'm not denying the kid is talented, gifted, whatever you want to call it. I think the problem is too much pushing and pressure in Inida. The way they have him up on a pedestal is in my opinio wrong, as he's far too young to be told "you're going to cure cancer". What if he wants to grow up to play cricket?
 
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