The psychological effect of fame.

I noticed something very odd the other day. Ainan, 11, was going for an interview for something or other (no need to discuss it further, just yet). Standing to one side, holding a form that I had just filled in, was a young woman. A little shudder passed through her, as I gazed at her. How curious, I thought.

“What’s up?”, I asked, gently.

She clutched the form, concerning my son, more tightly, in her hand. “I am nervous.” She shuddered again, as she said this.

Now, I hadn’t expected that. I didn’t enquire about what, for I knew, at once, what must have been making her nervous. It was all rather strange. SHE was part of the team interviewing Ainan – yet it was not Ainan who was nervous, but HER. It was Ainan’s fame that was affecting her so, it seemed. To her, Ainan was a personage she had read about in newspapers – a somewhat legendary figure, therefore – and so, to meet him, in the flesh, was for her a matter of some challenge.

I led the conversation away from the thought that made her nervous and on to the task that Ainan had to complete, that day. As her thoughts turned to her work, she seemed to relax somewhat – for that domain was more in her control.

The moment was a startling one for me. It made me realize that, though Ainan is very young, he is, already, to many eyes a “famous person” – with all the psychological effects on people that come with that. I am led to wonder how much this effect on others will grow, over the years, as he continues to achieve unusual things and continues to become better known, thereby. To me, he will always just be my son – but to others, it is clear, he is already becoming something else – a figure of some weight, in the world, at least in terms of the effects he has on people’s minds. This little incident was just a hint of what fame can be. I learnt something from it: when a person becomes famous, it is not they who change, but the whole world in response to them. My son, Ainan, was still my son Ainan – he had not changed in any way since becoming well known – but, at times like this, it was clear that the world had changed in response to him. The world was no longer the same – it was gradually becoming something else, something new.

I hope that whatever the world becomes, in response to Ainan, that it continues to be welcoming and accepting, as it has been so far. I know this, however: that whatever happens, Ainan, being Ainan, will remain centred and calm, in the middle of it all. Ainan’s fame will change the world, as it appears to him – but Ainan will remain as he is: a quiet observer of it all.

I am left with one question, as I reflect on that twenty-something woman’s reaction to Ainan. How will girls behave towards him, when he becomes a teenager? If a twenty-something woman can be led to shudder at his presence, how on Earth will teenagers react when Ainan, himself, is one? Perhaps this particular young scientist will have something of the “pop star” about him. There are, after all, already signs of some perturbations in the social world. I wonder what Ainan will make of it all? We shall have to wait and see.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

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I 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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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 athttp://www.genghiscan.com/

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

Changing the English language.

Today, someone arrived on my site, with the search terms: "Is Ainan a name?"

I found that most revealing. You see, to use Ainan's name, they must have heard it. Yet, to ask the question, they must also not be conscious of who he is. Thus, Ainan has influenced their knowledge of the world, by placing the word "Ainan" in their mind - but he has not informed them of his existence. This is very interesting and it is overwhelmingly likely to be because of my son, Ainan, for he is the most well known bearer of that name, in the world.

It is a funny thought, but by naming Ainan, Ainan, we have made that word better known. Of course, we could not have known, in advance, what Ainan was going to be like. However, in choosing such a rare name, we have had the effect of making a rare name, widely known. This person in Brighton, East Sussex, in England, who was searching today, has clearly heard our son's name - even if all other details of his story have been stripped from his name, such that the name stands alone and unadorned with any identity, as it appears to be in his or her mind.

It is a strange thought, that. Somehow, Ainan's name has become known to this person, without any other details of his life story or actual existence being known to them. Had they known that a boy called Ainan existed, they wouldn't have to ask whether his name was a name: his use of it, makes it a name, by definition, for he is so named. Thus, they know Ainan's name, but do not know of his existence. To me, this means one thing: Ainan is actually changing the choice of words available to English language speakers - and most probably speakers of other languages, too, around the world. The word "Ainan" is becoming known to them, perhaps by word of mouth, indeed most probably so, since were it by direct media, this person would know Ainan's story well and would know that a boy of such a name existed.

So, even if Ainan has no other effect on the world, (which I doubt), he has already left an imprint of his name upon it. That imprint is growing and spreading and becoming a word in the minds of people all over the world. Some know that he is a boy and of what a boy he is - but others, like my searcher, know nothing but the word. Ainan has, therefore, become part of the languages of the world, a sound in people's minds - a word that ranges from no attached meaning, to much attached meaning, depending on what else they know about who is the most famous bearer of the word.

The thought gets stranger as I hold it in my mind. Is this the first effect of a person upon the world, who is to change it? Do they first change the language...alter the choice of words and terms available in people's minds? Ainan is now a word in hundreds of millions of minds, where once there was not such a word. Over time, the meaning of that word, will grow and change. Should he affect the world enough, the word Ainan, might be a noun of more general meaning, than just a name - or even an adjective. It would have become a word that, perhaps, embodies not only the sound of his name, but the essence of his person. Ainan might one day become a concept, in people's minds: a word that captures what Ainan is. This process has already begun, for he is already a word in people's minds, who know so little about the word, that they do not even know it is a name.

I wonder what the word "Ainan" will one day, mean? What associations will accrue to it? Will they be permanent connotations, that never fade from the languages of the world? Will the word, Ainan, become a ubiquitous one found in many of the world's languages, carrying much the same meaning in each? This is possible, for the unitary concept behind them, at present, is Ainan himself. That he is one being, with this name, presently known and becoming more known to the world, could so easily mean that, one day, his name might enter all the languages of the world, in countries that communicate with mass media. His name might become a single concept present on all tongues.

For, now, however, he is my young son. I know what "Ainan" means for me - and it is something richer, deeper, more rounded and resonant than it could possibly mean for anyone else, except my wife and his siblings. Yet, I know this: something of Ainan is seeping into the world, and staining it with his hue: he is becoming an influence on the wider world, part of it, a shaper of it, slowly, and who knows what, eventually. Though he is but 10 years old, he has already become an idea in some people's minds - and a word, divorced from all attendant meaning, in others. He has began a journey, whose ultimate end cannot be known, in which what Ainan is, reaches out to the world, to touch it. I cannot know the full extent or nature of that touch or its reverberant effects: but that search today (and many other signs) tells me that it has already begun.

Ainan is my young son - but to the world, perhaps, one day, he will seem to be much more than one man's son. I cannot know what that will be, but at its core, there will be a concept, one that grows over time, deepens, enriches, until it is something rather complex indeed. It will be something known to all, understood by some. That concept will be the sum total of the effects of my son, upon the minds of the world.

The way I have written of this, it might all seem rather exotic - but it is not. This process of which I speak, is common to all who influence the world in any way. So, it is not just Ainan who is becoming part of the wider world - but all who become known, in any way, that impinges upon it, in any tangible fashion. To me, however, it is strange that it is Ainan, my son, who is becoming part of the world in this way. I see him as no others can - but I also see how others see him. I see the bridge between the two, as how I know him to be, connects with how others see him. The former, informs and flows to the latter. To my mind, it looks like others awaken to him. It looks like that, at first, all slept, but now some stumble around in growing awareness. We, however, are already awake to what Ainan is. Thus, we watch as the world awakens from its sleep - some to surprise (at him), others to delight, a few, perhaps, to envy...but more and more, awaken each passing year. It feels strange to watch it unfold. First it begins with a word in people's minds, whose origin they do not know, and one day, it might end in changes profound in the way things are. For that is what thinkers do: they change the world, at the level of our perception of it. The world is made anew in the minds of true creators. Ainan has the cognitive foundations of such a creator - but I cannot say what world he will make, one day, or how he may change the one we have.

I know, for sure, however: it all begins with a word, in people's minds, that appears there, one day, and puzzles them. Today, in Brighton, a person wondered: "Is Ainan a name?"

I don't think it will be long before they and all the people like them, will know the answer.

(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 power of word of mouth.

I find myself, quietly astonished, sometimes, at the power of word of mouth. Today, for instance, someone searched for "Ainan Cawley", from Gaborone, the capital city of Botswana. Now, I found that rather startling, that someone, from a third world city, of 191,000 people, should know of Ainan. How did they find out about him? What had they heard of him? It struck me as rather unexpected.

Yet, this is not the first time this kind of thing has happened. People have arrived on my blog, searching for Ainan or myself, from the most far flung parts of the world - parts which I am sure have never had any media coverage of either of us. Yet, word of us has penetrated those countries and reached cities we will never visit and people we will never meet.

All of this is a strong reminder of just how interconnected the world is. One cannot, now, do anything of note, in one part of the world, no matter how seemingly isolated it might appear to be - without the rest of the world, even in its most distant parts, eventually getting to hear about it. It is a commonplace idea to say that it is a "small world"...but in truth, it is not that the world is small, but that it is highly interconnected. Only a few people and a few conversations lay between any of us, and everyone else in the world. We are not "alone". We are, in fact, all conjoined, as one.

So, welcome readers from Botswana, St. Helena and Cambodia...and all the other unusual places...I don't know how you heard about us...but I know that you have. Happy reading.

(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.html

I 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.

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.)