Ainan on the ethics of knowledge.

On July 19^th 2013, Ainan posed one of his often mischievous questions.

“Daddy, why is it ethical to destroy the unknown?”, he posed, with a little smile peeking from the corners of his lips.

I knew, at once, what he was saying. To come to know something, is to destroy the mystery that existed before that knowledge was acquired. Ainan was playing with our ideas of ethics, and extending them in ways they were never intended to be.

Yet, there was also something else in what he was saying, I think. Man has a long history of not dealing very well with that which is Unknown in other societies. When “modern” man has come upon less developed societies, those “unknown” societies, usually end up being extinguished, not by knowledge but by the sword, or gun.

There is something of the philosopher, at times, in the questions asked by Ainan. He likes to play with meanings, expectations and paradox. In so doing, he points out interpretations which others have usually not noticed were implicit in the words themselves. Thus, it is, he examines words at a deeper level than their conventional meaning. This tack has promise, if applied in more serious circumstances, for noting matters which have been long overlooked, not just in philosophical thinking but in other areas too. Besides, it can often be simply funny – which is more than enough justification in my book.

I think Ainan is likely to destroy a lot which is unknown, in his life, by coming to know it. That, of course, is the aim of every scientific thinker. I look forward to that “destructive” enlightenment.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

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Children observing the wildlife.

A couple of days ago, Tiarnan, five, was out with his mother, Syahidah.

They were ambling by the roadside, when Tiarnan suddenly pointed at something.

“See that squirrel crossing the road...”, he began, with a certain air of whimsy.

Syahidah duly looked. There was, indeed, a squirrel crossing the road. She tracked it, with her gaze, like her son.

“...it is following the chicken.”, Tiarnan observed, tellingly.

She had to laugh. What a witty boy.

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page. To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

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A family "emergency".

As I walked through the TV room, on the evening of the 3rd of January, Fintan’s distressed, urgent voice assailed me:

“Daddy! Daddy!”, he said, quickly, strainedly.

Clearly, something was wrong: was he in pain?

“Ainan hit me…”, he continued.

I prepared to be riled at the “crime”.

“…last year.”, he finished, to his own evident amusement, for there was a little curl to his lips, as he said it.

What a joker. There is, in Fintan, seven, a wonderful whimsy, which comes out on occasion, often when least expected. He has his own way of thinking and seeing the world and, at times, is able to find humour in it. To my mind, this is a gift that is sometimes overlooked. Far more interesting to me, is the child who can make a joke like this, out of their own thinking and original impetus, than a child, for instance, who is intensely bookish and aces every exam. I rather think that the Fintan kind is more likely to lead an interesting life and make an interesting contribution, than the conventional, ideal child (from an Asian point of view, where bookishness is all). It is the power to be original, even whimsical, which sets people apart, in the end, when the sum total of their lives is done. For only those with some spark of it, in them, have the prerequisites to do something different with their lives. The Asian ideal student, is prepared only for a conventional life and outcome.

Thank you, Fintan, for this whimsical memory.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

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Tiarnan's gift for daddy.

A couple of days ago, Tiarnan, just turned three, a few days ago, did something strange and wonderful for me.

We were sitting at a bus stop, waiting to go into town together. He turned to me suddenly and said: "Daddy close your eyes!"

He always does this when he is about to present a surprise.

I did as he asked and closed my eyes.

Then, after a while, I opened them.

His arms stretched out, pointing at the road and he said: "Duh duuuh!"

Tiarnan had just introduced the world to me and more specifically the road, as a surprise.

I laughed out loud, for I understood in his gesture, echoes of other things. For me, it seemed like the act of an artist, to present the world as a surprise - yet Tiarnan had done just that.

He was laughing with me, mischief in his eyes.

Tiarnan is a child who manages to surprise, not just by what he does, but by what he thinks. Here he thought to present the world as a surprise. There seems to me to be a great profundity in that, in a way. Knowing him, I fully expect that profundity to be intended in some way.

Actually, the funny thing is that he DID surprise me. By presenting the road to me, in this way, he could not have done anything more unexpected. He had, therefore, managed to create a surprise out of the most unsurprising thing: a road filled with passing cars. Perhaps that was just his intention, to surprise with the unsurprising.

How surprising he is.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

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Ainan's recipe for Fish and Chips

Unusual knowledge, gives rise to unusual perspectives - and, it seems, an unusual sense of humour.

It is Saturday. In England, where I once lived, on a Saturday night, one would often see people queuing outside Fish and Chip shops across the land. It was, in some strata a tradition, to "down a pint" with their Fish and Chips, of a weekend. The most modest of outlets was often able to attract quite a crowd, if they had the fatty flavour just right.

The other day, Ainan jested about a recipe for the flavouring of Chips (as in Fish and Chips). For those who don't know, chips are "french fries" - but thicker and generally softer than the variety sold in MacDonald's, Burger King and the like.

In England, most people added vinegar and salt to their chips, for flavouring.

Ainan looked at this situation and laughed to himself, before remarking:

"Why not add HSbF6 and CsF, to them?"

He thought this was hilarious. Perhaps I should explain. Vinegar is actually a 5% solution of ethanoic acid, salt is actually sodium chloride. What Ainan was proposing was that the Vinegar be replaced by Fluoro-Antimonic Acid. It is still acidic and therefore sour in taste. The only problem might be that this acid is 10 to the power 19 times stronger than Sulphuric Acid. Anyone eating it would be somewhat inconvenienced. The other suggested chemical, Cesium Fluoride, is also a salt made in the same way as Sodium Chloride - a combination of an alkali metal and a halogen. However, in this case he chose the most extreme readily available elements of their kind for the combination. By all accounts Cesium Fluoride has a truly awful taste, being far more flavoursome - in the most negative of ways - than sodium chloride.

Thus, Ainan's recipe is an analogy to the traditional one. It is still the adding of a salt and an acid, as flavouring - though with rather different effects!

(If you would like to read more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and eight months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and one month, or Tiarnan, eighteen months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted children and gifted adults in general. Thanks.)

Ainan counts calories

Ainan has his own brand of humour. Sometimes his jokes are rather technical in nature, requiring knowledge of some branch of science or other, to be understood. I find these interesting because he is finding humour where others would only see obscurity.

At other times, his remarks are more accessible. Today he remarked:

"Butter has the same energy per kilogram as TNT. It is just that it tastes better and doesn't explode."

I know which I'd rather spread on my toast, same energy or not.

(If you would like to read more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, seven years and seven months, a scientific child prodigy, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and no months, or Tiarnan, seventeen months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Tiarnan arranges time with mummy

A couple of days ago, Tiarnan, fourteen months, was leaving the house in the arms of his mother, for a trip out when he turned back.

"Look!", he said, pointing at his brother, Fintan, three. Fintan was following them out the door.

Tiarnan assessed the situation and its likely effect on his trip with his mother.

"In!" he said, to his elder brother and pointed back through the door through which Fintan had come.

Uncannily, Fintan did as he was told and went back into the house. I rather feel this was a kindness on Fintan's part - but it was funny to see the elder brother obey the command of his baby sibling.

On seeing Fintan return home, Tiarnan burst out laughing in his michievous way: he had got his way, in what was perhaps an unexpected manner.

He had a good, personal time out, with his mother - just as he had commanded.

Tiarnan is growing into a little boy who asserts himself and his needs quite directly. He is also revealing a developed sense of humour which shows itself in the way he interacts with his brothers and in the things he laughs at. He is quite a cheeky little chap - in the most endearing of ways.

(If you would like to read more of Tiarnan, fourteen months, or his gifted brothers, Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and four months, or Fintan, three, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted children and gifted adults in general. Thanks.)

Tiarnan invents the practical joke.

Many a time, Tiarnan has observed Ainan's dislike of insects.

Ainan jumps at the sudden appearance of a cockroach, or the like, spooked by them in a primordial fashion. It is the kind of instinct many of us are born with, but grow out of through over-exposure to the situation. Ainan, though, has yet to have the time to grow out of this basic instinct, this fear of the unknown, or the alien.

Tiarnan, however, does not fear them. No animal seems to excite fear, at all in him. All that is excited is curiosity.

About a month ago, Syahidah saw Tiarnan put a grasshopper, which he had found, lying dead, and picked up, fearlessly to play with, into one of Ainan's school shoes. She scolded him for doing so, and took it out. That was the end of it, she thought.

Later on, as Ainan walked with his mother, he turned to her and said: "Mummy, there is something in my shoe.", there was trepidation in his voice.

Syahidah took off his shoe - and, sure enough, there was a grasshopper inside. Tiarnan had replaced it, when his mummy wasn't looking.

To distract Ainan, Syahidah at once launched into a tall tale about her own childhood and how something similar had happened (whether or not it was true I do not know...that wasn't the purpose: distraction was.) Ainan's attention was drawn to the story and away from the dead horror in his shoe and he was able to cope with the discovery.

Knowing Tiarnan, this was done out of a mischievous sense of humour, for he laughs at many a sophisticated thing.

What I find impressive about this, is that, on seeing the grasshopper, he did not ignore it. Nor did he try to eat it. But he planned the creation of his first practical joke, with it. He must have known that Ainan would react with horror on seeing it. He must have seen some humour in surprising his older brother in this way...and he must also have understood that, in placing the grasshopper in the shoe that it would remain there until Ainan stepped into it. There was planning, dark humour, mischief and imagination in this act, all rolled into one. What is also notable is that he did not desist when his mother told him off - but that he had replaced the grasshopper, as soon as his mother's back was turned. All of this indicates quite a degree of sophistication for a twelve month old baby.

I wonder where this dark humour and liking of practical jokes will take him?

I think I had better start checking my shoes, before I put them on, lest he repeat the joke! (He hasn't so far.)

(If you would like to read more about Tiarnan, or Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and three months, or Fintan, three, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, baby genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children, in general. Thanks.)