The secret of Daddy's tummy.

Fintan has a whimsical sense of humour, that tends to ambush you when you least expect it.

Today, over dinner, Fintan, seven, looked over at his Daddy, and remarked: "Daddy has a baby in his tummy...". That, in itself, was a not inaccurate description of my shape, however before I had time to reply, he continued: "It is four years old, now."

Thank you, Fintan, I am not THAT big.

My thoughts were drowned by the laughter of all around the table, including, reflexively, myself.

So, now you know just why I am the way I am. I am carrying a preschooler in my tummy!

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.htmlI also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is at http://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

The Glenn Doman Assumption.

Glenn Doman is the originator of a method of teaching children at a very early age. He has many enthusiastic followers, around the world, who rave about his methods. However, according to a Wikipedia article that references him, the scientific support isn't really there, for his approach.

Anyway, that is besides the point. What moves me to write, today, is that, ever since Ainan emerged into the public eye, I have seen people refer to him as a "Glenn Doman" child. They state, without any knowledge or evidence, that Ainan is the product of the Glenn Doman method. He is not. It is an absolute lie to say that he is. We have had nothing to do with the Glenn Doman method and, indeed, know very little about it.

When Ainan was four months old, a salesman for a child development company came to our house, selling the Glenn Doman method as an intervention. He observed: "You have a super baby". Our response? "How do you know?". I suppose he might have picked up on the fact that the baby was crawling at four months. We, however, thought Ainan was perfectly normal, being, as we were, first time parents.

We sent him on his way - and did NOT buy anything from him. That was the first, last and only time we have had contact with Glenn Doman's representatives.

Personally, I find it annoying to see Ainan's name used by promoters of the Glenn Doman method. There are many sites linking to my website that list our blog under "Glenn Doman related sites". Well, this is NOT a Glenn Doman related site. We have never had anything to do with Glenn Doman and have no interest in having anything to do with him or his methods. Indeed, I think it is immoral, unethical and misleading of the Glenn Doman promoters to state that Ainan is a product of a method we have never used and have never had any access to or interest in.

So, let me state it clearly: following the Glenn Doman method will not make your child into an Ainan. The reason for this is simple: Ainan was not made in that way. He emerged, quite naturally, and became the way he is, without any commercial programme or intervention of any kind.

Don't be fooled, therefore. If you are being sold a Glenn Doman programme on the basis that Ainan is supposedly a product of it, just don't buy it. Ainan has never been exposed to the Glenn Doman method. You cannot expect, therefore, to invest your child with Ainan's qualities, using a programme that played no part in his development.

I am left to wonder whether all the links we have seen from Glenn Doman related sites are a commercial policy of the Glenn Doman organization. If anyone knows anything about this, please comment below. Thank you.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.htmlI also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is at http://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

In the event of fire.

About a week ago, Syahidah asked her two youngest sons:

"What three things would you take, from the house, in the event of a fire?"

Syahidah's voice was neutral, with no invocation to a particular answer or style of response.

Fintan, seven, took the question seriously and answered with certainty: "I would take my blanket, the PS3...and mummy." His sobre eyes spoke of love.

His mummy was touched.

I had been watching this exchange and piped up at that moment.

"What about Daddy?"

Fintan looked over at me, and dismissed the matter, with an implied shrug.

"Daddy," he said, explaining the obvious, "You can run."

Ah. I could look after myself, it seemed. He hadn't, however, considered that the athlete of the house, was actually his mother, not his father. I rather think that he was labouring under an unconscious bias: everything he had chosen to take, was a source of comfort to him - his blanket, which kept him snug and warm at night; his PS3 which he so enjoyed playing - and his mum, all full of hugs and kisses. Fintan, would seek to save all that brought him most comfort in life. I don't suppose a hug from big, cumbersome old Daddy was half as comforting, as one from warm, huggable mummy.

Tiarnan's answer to the same question was rather more inwardly directed.

"The Xbox, the PS3 and the laptop.", he said, quickly.

"But how could you carry all those?", said Syahidah, practically, to her littlest son, four.

"I would have to!", he said, his face all defiant, for an instant, at the thought that reality might challenge his aspirations.

Tiarnan's choices are all things he enjoys doing. They are, in fact, reflections of the same thing: computer games. Perhaps, at his age, he cannot imagine anything more valuable.

Considering this memory, makes me realize that I shall have to sit both Tiarnan and Fintan down and tell them that, in the event of a real fire, the most valuable "things" to save, are people, followed by uniquely irreplaceable items, like art, or writings with only one copy. Apart from Fintan's last choice, all other items are replaceable, and need not be bothered with, in the event of a fire. It will, I think, be a valuable lesson to our two youngest sons.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.htmlI also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is at http://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

ICELD 2010 International Conference on Learner Diversity

ICELD 2010, the International Conference on Learner Diversity, has just come to a close in Bangi, Malaysia. I mention it, because yesterday, I presented a paper at the conference.

My paper was entitled: "The synaesthete: a new type of "gifted" student and how to teach them". The title is self-explanatory, since the paper proposed synaesthesia as a type of giftedness (presently unrecognized), argued why it should be seen as such, showed in what ways synaesthetes are blessed and then outlined the best way to educate them, to fulfill their growth potential.

I had not known what to expect from the audience, indeed, before I began, I wondered whether there would be an audience, at all. There were only four people in the room, excluding myself, some quarter of an hour past the supposed start time for the presentation. The problem was abundantly clear: the Plenary session next door, was dragging on and eating into the time for the next round of presentations - and everyone was in that cavernous hall. The presentations that were to follow, had empty rooms.

The Chair of the presentation room, in which I waited, was a most impatient young lady. To her, the passing of minutes, seemed to cause personal offence.

"Can't you start?", she said to me, stiffly, with no effort at pretense of politeness.

"What would be the point of starting, when there is no audience? That defeats the whole purpose, which is to communicate one's work."

My answer displeased her.

"Some of the other presentations have begun, even though there is no-one there."

"Well that is just silly. They should wait until the Plenary session is over."

She stomped off, saying, quite loudly, "If this goes on, I will be here until 6 pm!"

Ah. Now, I saw the problem: this young lady was not the professional she was supposed to be, but was, in fact, a clock watcher. She wanted the presentations to start, even before the audience could arrive, just so she could get home, on time.

I resolved to ignore her.

We began to wait, for the Plenary session to end. Though, I had expressed the belief that people would turn up, once the Plenary session had ended, inwardly I was not so certain. Would anyone come? I asked myself. All I could do was hope, and wait.

The young lady fidgeted in the background. Her irritation was clearly growing.

We waited some more. Still no-one.

"You should go outside.", my wife suggested, with a look over at the impatient Chair.

I shook my head. I wasn't going to be hassled out of the room, by an ill-mannered, unprofessional woman.

In the background, she was getting truly restless.

We waited some more. Minutes crawled past.

Our least favourite officiator, could be heard to complain to those nearest to her: "How LONG are they going to wait?"

We waited some more, despite her evident peevishness.

Finally, the door opened and a miracle walked in: a long column of people, arrived from the finished Plenary session. In very little time, I had a fairly full room to speak to.

As I began, I had no idea how my work would be received. Yet, something marvellous began to unfold as I began to speak: everyone listened raptly, some leaned forward in their chairs, others pierced me fixedly with their eyes...but I could tell, from their attentive gazes, that my words were most welcome.

The applause, at the end, when it came, quite startled me. It was not a polite applause, meant only to fulfill a social requirement, it was a tumultuous applause, a loud, raucous clapping that went on, way past the moment required for sheer politeness. They had really liked it. Indeed, it was obvious that the applause was far louder than anything I had heard in the Plenary sessions for the invited speakers, or indeed, in any of the other sessions, I had attended (quite a few).

The questions then came: intent, excited, elaborate. The response was so much better than anything I could have expected. I found myself explaining in return, with an energy I rarely felt. I was, as it were, transformed by the occasion, enlivened and awoken. I think it was the excitement of having my work so well received.

The final remark came from a lady from Malaysia' gifted programme, Permata Pintar. She called me over to her: "I haven't read anything, about synaesthesia being a type of gifted..."

"That," I began, with a sense of occasion, "is because today is the first time someone has made such a declaration. Today is the putting of the flag into the ground."

Our grumpy Chair couldn't resist one barbed remark: "Ah, but how deep into the ground does it go?"

What she meant, remains ambiguous. I ignored her, for she had not contributed positively to the afternoon in any way.

The real telltale of how well the paper had gone down, came the next day, when, on a few occasions, people who had not been at my presentation, told me that they had heard about it and expressed the wish that they had seen it. I directed them to Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences by Elsevier Publishers - in which the paper will shortly be published (by about December).

I enjoyed the conference and the opportunity to introduce some of my research work to academics from all over the world. I would like to thank HELP University College, for sponsoring my attendance at the conference.

If anyone would like to read my paper, please look out for the Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences - in December 2010 or so. Thanks.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.htmlI also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is at http://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

Eduwebtv interview of Ainan on Velociperception.

Eduwebtv, which I understand is a Malaysian government TV initiative, recently interviewed Ainan and myself, on our recent research work.

The interview gives a general overview of Ainan's life, to date (a quick sketch) - and looks at some aspects of the new sense perception which Ainan discovered, Velociperception, and which we then worked on understanding and characterizing together, through experimentation and testing of theories.

The link to the interview follows:

http://www.eduwebtv.com/index7.php?PageSelId=21&idmod=41&vidgrp=1&vidid=1287565368457345&fileid=

Ainan, ten, is rather shy, on camera, and in the presence of strangers, but I think some of him does manage to come across, particularly in unguarded moments, when a little humour creeps in (note the moment when he sneaks out of camera shot, in what I know, from his sense of humour, to be a moment of Ainan style comedy).

Though impromptu, since we didn't expect to be interviewed, I think the journalist did manage to tease out a fairly good outline of parts of Ainan's story (and mine). Thanks to Eduwebtv for taking an interest.

(Eduwebtv is an initiative of the Ministry of Education of Malaysia).

So, take a look at the interview, and if you have any thoughts on it...scribble them below. Thanks.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.htmlI also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is at http://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

Robert Gates on USA's love for its allies.

Wikileaks is leaking again. Apparently, they are expected to upload 500,000 documents on the Iraq War. Why 500,000? That was the same number of pager messages uploaded for the 9/11 attack. It must be a good number in the world of leaks.

Anyway, whatever you might think of what Wikileaks is doing, whether you consider it good or bad, well-intentioned, or otherwise, I would like to draw your attention to something which, to my mind, is more informative than all of the Wikileaks put together. It is the words of Robert Gates, U.S. Defense Secretary.

Robert Gates, in a letter of August 16th, is quoted as saying, regarding the identification of Afghan collaborators, who might then be hunted down by the Taliban:

"Gates said disclosing the names of cooperating Afghans, who could become targets for the Taliban, could cause "significant harm or damage to national security interests of the United States." "

Hmm. I, personally, found those words rather shocking, for how the USA apparently views those who choose to ally themselves to them. It seems that the deaths of untold Afghans, who just happpened to have helped the USA, is harmful to the USA. Well, excuse me for speaking up at this point: but what about the tortured, dead Afghans and their bereaved families? Do they not count?

Primarily, the hunting down by the Taliban, of Afghan collaborators is NOT an issue of harm to US interests...it is a tragedy for those families who thought that they could do some good by helping the US. The fact that the US loses "useful" people in the tribes of Afghanistan should be the last thing on Gates' seemingly rather limited mind - or is that "rather limited heart".

A nation that thinks purely in terms of its own interests- as Robert Gates is doing on behalf of his nation - is not a nation that is doing good in the world. It is a nation that is serving itself and itself alone. If I were an Afghan tribesman and I had come to understand that my death would mean nothing more than "harm to US national security interests", I would not, in any way, cooperate with anyone who represented the US, in any endeavour whatsoever. For I would understand this: the US would be doing nothing more than using me and my people to serve its own ends, without any real care for us at all.

Now, I wonder how widely that comment of Robert Gates has been reported? Has it reached the Afghan tribesmen - or the Iraqi equivalent? If so, I would expect a rapid withdrawal of cooperation in those territories, with the US. That unwitting comment, in the true sense of lacking wits, of Robert Gates is, in my view, far more damaging to the US, than all of the Wikileaks put together. The most damaging aspect about it is that it is the truth. The US, as Robert Gates makes clear, sees its allies solely in terms of how useful they are to the US. It does not see them as real human beings, living real lives, with hopes, fears and aspirations, with families and loved ones. It sees them as "assets", to be deployed for its own ends, to aid its "national security interests".

There is a coldness in Robert Gates' world that makes me wonder what he really understands about life. In the values he expresses, there is no mark of humanity, no mark of concern for his fellow man - just an interest in an abstract idea: "national security interests". He has taken a tragic possibility - the hunting down and inevitable torture to death of those who helped the US in Afghanistan - and turned it into the emotional equivalent of a number. He has emptied it of life, of feeling, of tragedy and made it into something mechanical: the harm to national security interests.

It makes me shudder, a little, that a man with so little apparent, displayed humanity, is in charge of America's military, in a bureaucratic sense. If he cares so little for the lives and wellbeing of his allies, does he care as little for the men under his charge?

I don't know about you, but in a role in which life and death decisions are made, I would want a very human, human being in charge - not a robot. Robots make decisions that do not count the costs in terms of human lives and human suffering - so robots make decisions that lead directly to the loss of human lives and the infliction of human suffering.

It seems ironic to me that Robert Gates, should have a name that reminds me of Bill Gates, whose lifework is entirely robotic, in character. It seems as if the US Defense Secretary was given a name to imply his character.

It doesn't really matter what the Wikileaks contain - for nothing could be more harmful to the image of the US, than the truth that Robert Gates has spoken. Those who help the US are, in his view, and implicitly in the view of his nation, or its leaders, anyway, nothing more than instruments of national security. Now, do you want to be considered an instrument of national security...or a human being filled with life, love and hope? Would you work with someone who thought of you as an instrument of national security, and who would, not only not mourn your death, in the line of helping him, but who think purely in terms of the harm HE had suffered by your death?

I wouldn't. Nor, I imagine, would anyone else who learns just what Robert Gates thinks of them.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.htmlI also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.Y

ou can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is at http://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

On being young, in a dying world.

A few days ago, I asked Ainan to consider his place in the world, a few decades hence.

He gazed headlong within, at that unborn future.

He pursed his lips a little.

"A few decades from now, there will be no more humans left," he opined unmournfully. There was in him an acceptance of the inevitable.

He looked up at me, as if knowing I would need an explanation.

"Because they are depleting the world's resources."

So bleak was the future he had painted, in so few words, that I felt I had to argue against him.

"Ainan, it won't happen so soon...", I began, but then petered out as I noted his expression.

He looked completely unmoved, not because he didn't want to be moved, but because of his certainty about the futureless future. He had judged the stupidity of Mankind and found it vast. He also knew, in that helpless way of children everywhere, that there was nothing in his range of influence, that he, personally, could do, at this time, to forestall that future, to make it into a better one. He could only stand by and watch, whilst the "adults" destroyed the world in which he lived.

The thing is, of course, he is right. Unless Mankind does change its ways, Ainan's apocalyptic future, will be the only one Mankind will know. The remarkable thing about Man, is that although individually, people can be very bright, collectively, nothing is more stupid than Mankind. The reason for this is clear. Most of us pursue immediate gain, in our daily actions, and never consider the long-term consequences of what we do. We only consider what we can get NOW. Very few of us consider what that means for tomorrow's world. So, collectively, we all act to destroy that tomorrow for a better today.

One day, too, too, late to do anything about it, Mankind will awaken from this self-deluding delirium and see that the consequences of its actions, are irreversible. Sadly, however, a hung man, cannot be unhung - and Man is busily hanging himself and his world with him.

I hope that wise boys, like Ainan, might grow to be wise men, who influence the mass actions of others, so that Mankind might change its collective ways, before our world is at an end. Otherwise, what is the point of bringing children into the world, who will have no adult world to live in? Do we really want to build an abyss for them to fall into?

So, do what you can, each and every day, to ensure that Ainan's dark future, never sees the light.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.htmlI also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is at http://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

The fleeting nature of TV fame.

About a week ago, I was surfing the Internet and I came upon a list of well known individuals in science. It was an accidental moment of surfing, since I had been looking for something else.

Ainan was looking over my shoulder and perused the list, briefly. It had the usual suspects: Einstein, Feynman and so on. Amongst the names, Ainan singled out one, for comment: "Carl Sagan".

"Who is he?", he asked, slightly miffed to see Carl Sagan's name. "I have never heard of him."

"Oh Carl Sagan? He is famous. He was an astronomer."

Ainan's eyes widened a little in surprise, with a hint of disbelief that such a thing could ever be.

I decided to explain further. "He was famous mainly for his TV programmes."

"Ah. I knew it had to be TV - no-one gets famous by being an astronomer." He seemed somewhat relieved that his world order had not been upset and that his presuppositions about who is accorded fame, in the modern world, proved to be correct.

His reaction to Carl Sagan's name set me thinking, however. Carl had been a prolific writer in his lifetime and was author or co-author on many papers in his field. Yet, none of this work had been distinctive enough to create a reputation for him, independent of his TV shows. Ainan was too young to have seen his shows since they stopped showing them before he was born. Thus, Carl Sagan's entire life and output had left no mark upon Ainan at all. Then again, none of Carl Sagan's academic work was being publicly quoted and referred to as part of everyday discourse - as the work of Einstein was, for instance - so there were no reminders of Carl Sagan in his cognitive sphere. Basically, no matter how famous Carl Sagan had been in his lifetime (and for most, he had been a bigger celebrity than Einstein at the height of his TV fame)...there was no real trace of it in modern life. Carl Sagan was dead - but not only that, his reputation was fading too. There is a whole generation born since his death, in 1996, who have no idea who he was. Ainan is one of them.

TV fame is a funny thing. Those who achieve it probably feel that they are going to be famous forever...but this is just not so. Almost everyone who ever achieves TV fame, of any kind, is going to be forgotten - completely forgotten as if they had never ever been - once the generation that saw their programmes, passes on. The generations that come, thereafter, will, at best hear only whispers of the "famous person" who once had been - and it will not be long before even those whispers are gone. TV fame is not fame, at all: it is momentary awareness, temporary adulation - followed by an endless nothingness, in which, no-one will know the "famous" person had ever been.

Lasting fame, comes from creating ideas or products, of some kind, that have a durable utility to the cultures that follow. If, for instance, the first person to invent the wheel had actually autographed his work and all wheels thereafter had carried this mark, we would know, today, the identity - or at least have a symbol for - the inventor of the wheel. Such a person would still be famous today, for their invention still has use today.

True fame, therefore, comes as a side effect of worthwhile creativity. Carl Sagan's fame will not last, precisely because the vast bulk of it, came from a kind of documentary style entertainment programme. When that is no longer shown - as it isn't - the fame will pass.

It is notable that all the names of people who had contributed worthwhile scientific ideas to the world, were known to Ainan. Thus, young though he is, at but 10, every single one of the scientists who had made a substantial contribution to thought, were "famous" to Ainan. None of them garnered their fame, however, from TV programmes.

So, if you want to be famous, really famous, forevermore, think of something that hasn't been thought of before and communicate it to the world. If fame is what you really want, I wouldn't be too concerned about TV, however - for that is only fame for a day, and not fame for eternity. (Well, as long as ideas are relevant to Mankind, anyway).

On a final note, I must say I enjoyed watching Carl Sagan as a young boy - and at that time, his presence on TV did make him seem famous or "important" to me. But then, I was very young when his programme began to show - 12 - and had little time to understand what true fame is. Nevertheless, I did enjoy his work and it was a pity that he died so young, at 62.

At least one cohort of people will remember Carl Sagan, for the duration of their lives. That, unfortunately, is the duration of almost all TV fame.

Rest in peace, Carl Sagan.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.htmlI also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

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