11-year-old graduate announces plans to achieve immortality by 'replacing body parts with mechanical parts'
- Reference: 1625784068
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/07/08/prodigy_uni_graduate/
- Source link:
The gifted Belgian child, who finished high school at the age of eight and has an IQ of 145, completed the three-year course in only a year, topping his class with a pass mark of 85 per cent.
He had originally planned to graduate from Eindhoven University in the Netherlands at the age of nine in 2019, which would have made him the youngest graduate, [1]but he left the course before graduating after college authorities said he could not get his degree before his 10th birthday as he had not taken sufficient exams.
[2]
In doing so, he may have lost his chance to become the world's youngest degree holder, but he at least achieved the record for being the youngest college dropout.
[3]
[4]
The current record for youngest graduate [5]is held by American prodigy Michael Kearney , who enrolled at the University of South Alabama at the age of eight and emerged with a degree in anthropology in 1994, aged 10 years and four months.
Kearney went on to teach at Vanderbilt University while taking his second master's degree, all before he could legally drive, and later used his prodigious memory and intelligence [6]to win over $1m on a TV game show .
[7]
Simons has more serious plans for his future.
"This is the first puzzle piece in my goal of replacing body parts with mechanical parts," he told Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf , seemingly without any idea of the terror such talk can engender when it comes from the mouth of a child. He continued:
Immortality, that is my goal. I want to be able to replace as many body parts as possible with mechanical parts. I've mapped out a path to get there. You can see it as a big puzzle. Quantum physics – the study of the smallest particles – is the first piece of the puzzle.
Did it just get colder in here?
Besides exercising his prodigious intellect by studying quantum physics, pondering immortality, planning to become some sort of [8]Doctor Octopus cyborg creature, and generally coming across as the sort of frightening prospect who could do with a spell in the X-Men, Simons is also said to enjoy playing Fortnite . Because he's 11 and that's what 11-year-olds are supposed to do.
[9]Tencent uses facial recognition to enforce China's curfew on gaming kids
[10]Belgian parliament halts China Uyghur 'genocide' debate after DDoS smashes ISP offline
[11]Belgian cops crack down on encrypted phone network Sky ECC in 200 overnight raids as firm denies criminal ties
[12]US Supreme Court rules teens cussing out schools on social media is protected speech
While studying for his bachelor's degree, he was also working on a master's degree at the same time . He had hoped to complete his master's at an Israeli university studying a combination of biotechnology, medicine, and bioprocess engineering, but the COVID pandemic thwarted his plans.
He is now looking forward to [13]a specially tailored master's programme at the University of Antwerp, in collaboration with other colleges in Israel, the UK, and USA. [14]According to German newspaper Die Welt , this is so he can learn how to create artificial organs. His grandparents, who mainly raised him, have cardiac issues and he reportedly wants to help them.
[15]Youtube Video
[16]
We at The Register do not know if this is all supposed to be giving us the fear, but it's certainly coming across a bit like that. Perhaps Simons can assuage our concerns by explaining what he wants to do himself?
"Two things are important in such a study: acquiring knowledge and applying that knowledge," he told De Telegraaf . "To achieve the second, I want to work with the best professors in the world, look inside their brains and find out how they think."
He wants to look inside their brains. That did not help, Laurent. That did not help at all.
Michael Kearney is now reportedly an improv comedian, so there is hope for us all yet. ®
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[1] https://www.newsweek.com/laurent-simons-11-second-youngest-graduate-ever-plans-make-humans-immortal-1607168
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YOfJ4jdesInyNnp3rlKPEgAAANI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YOfJ4jdesInyNnp3rlKPEgAAANI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YOfJ4jdesInyNnp3rlKPEgAAANI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50856999
[6] https://www.today.com/popculture/man-wins-1-million-gold-rush-game-wbna15644751
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YOfJ4jdesInyNnp3rlKPEgAAANI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.marvel.com/characters/doctor-octopus-otto-octavius
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/08/tencent_facial_recognition_gaming_curfew/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/05/belnet_belgium_ddos/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/10/sky_ecc_encrypted_phones_belgium_police_raids/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/25/us_supreme_court_rules_teens/
[13] https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/gesellschaft/wunderkind-laurent-simons-elfjaehriger-beendet-physikstudium-mit-auszeichnung-a-e9a5e07b-5d9f-44a1-b971-d3da0413ac73
[14] https://www.welt.de/vermischtes/article205615725/Wunderkind-Laurent-Simons-studiert-in-Israel-weiter.html
[15] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKI5OwMwK-A&t=112s
[16] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YOfJ4jdesInyNnp3rlKPEgAAANI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[17] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
That would be a handfull.
I for one
welcome our new pre-teen overlord.
Re: I for one
sadly, "overLord of the Flies" is a more likely outcome (when 11 year olds get too much power) regardless of how smart they are.
Book smarts is one thing. Academic achievement another. But experience is the one thing that an expedient educational achiever can NOT master. And with experience, wisdom.
(I say give the kid something useful to do, but don't put him in charge)
then again, in the movie "Lord of the Flies', wasn't the smart kid the first one to get killed?
Re: I for one
Most "wisdom" I've ever been given seems to be firsthand accounts of horrible things happening, or why everything was better before I was born. (I've come to the conclusion that perhaps the best time to be born was ~5000 BCE given that this trend seems to crop up in ancient times as well. The phrase "misplaced nostalgia for an imagined past" comes to mind.)
The atrocity angle might be worth exploring though. Maybe stick him in a room with some modern French horror movies and give him a week at a slaughterhouse. Maybe a Dachau tour and a combat medic tent. Let's accelerate this "wizening" and see what happens. Not like he could do any more damage then the other 7 billion of us. A kid this smart might be capable of ending suffering for all humans if properly prepared.
Er ...
" Immortality, that is my goal. I want to be able to replace as many body parts as possible with mechanical parts. "
That sort of statement is usually accompanied by a clasping of hands while laughing maniacally.
" His grandparents, who mainly raised him, have cardiac issues and he reportedly wants to help them. "
For some reason I'm now imagining [1]The Colossus of New York wandering around looking for his slippers, and being unable to recall why he was at the UN Building in the first place.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Colossus_of_New_York
Just because they called Dr. Frankenstein crazy
Doesn't mean Laurent Simons is crazy as well. His motivation (to help his grandparents with failing hearts) seem pure.
Unfortunately, like most pre-teens, he doesn't understand that "look into their brains" sounds creepy (although not as creepy as when Elon says it).
OTOH, wait til he hits puberty and decides which organ is really important.
Not right in the head
A 11 year old that's already obsessed with immortality is definitely a case for some serious psychotherapy. Also the fact that he doesn't realize that even if he'd be successfully able to replace his body parts with mechanical ones wouldn't allow him to reach any kind of actual immortality (and at our current technological level would actually shorten his lifespan dramatically) makes it clear that he's not as smart as some try to make that out.
Re: Not right in the head
Many kids are enchanted with the idea of beimg a cyborg. So are many adults. They difference is this child hasnt been beaten down by society yet and still belives in himself. So he doesnt fearfully limit what he says to only what people may want to hear.
As opposed to the socialy dominated gen pop
Maybe hes smart enough to realize that something seeming creepily is just an artifact of bias and so amounts to sentimental nonsense
The topic was his goals. not what goals might Be socially advantaged to express.
I wonder if the body will have a 5G spot...
Sorry ;)