Amazing sixth grader gives TEDx talk

November 14, 2011 9:31 AM

Sixth grader codes iOS apps, gives TED talks, and - generally - makes me feel like I've been lazy my entire life.
posted by PapaLobo (30 comments total)

Judging from a lot of the iOS apps I've seen, I think most authors are sixth graders.
posted by JHarris at 9:39 AM on November 14, 2011 [6 favorites]

I think a lot of 6th graders are coding apps (I know mine is). Fewer are giving TED talks, but presumably the talk was because of the perceived rarity of kids interested in computers.
posted by DU at 9:51 AM on November 14, 2011

Side note - taking in grades is unintentionally obfuscationary, and can be kind of annoying
posted by -harlequin- at 9:53 AM on November 14, 2011 [3 favorites]

TEDx is not quite the same as TED
posted by Obscure Reference at 9:56 AM on November 14, 2011 [4 favorites]

Cue the kid-bashing. Kid-defenders, take your places.
posted by swift at 10:00 AM on November 14, 2011

KIDS ARE TERRIBLE. THEY SHOULD GROW UP.
posted by JHarris at 10:03 AM on November 14, 2011 [4 favorites]

I hate kids. Cats are better. They'd write better apps, too. If they could be arsed.
posted by Decani at 10:15 AM on November 14, 2011

Rick

Rick

Rick

I was thinking about writing an app.

But then I realised it was Shabbat.

My food bowl is empty, Rick.
posted by Decani at 10:16 AM on November 14, 2011 [4 favorites]

TEDx is like TED's stepson that he's ashamed of. I've never failed to be surprised at the never ending stream of self-promoting charismatic fluff that seem to infest the TEDx brand.
posted by Yowser at 10:17 AM on November 14, 2011 [2 favorites]

By Thomas and Ralph Suarez

Just sayin'.
posted by davebush at 10:19 AM on November 14, 2011

Just looking over the actual TED talks and.... uhh... they're just as bad. When did TED turn bad?
posted by Yowser at 10:21 AM on November 14, 2011

I love how he has the TED patter and pacing down pat. You know what I'm talking about.
posted by Tomorrowful at 10:37 AM on November 14, 2011 [5 favorites]

I love how he has the TED patter and pacing down pat. You know what I'm talking about.

I know and I cringed.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 10:39 AM on November 14, 2011 [1 favorite]

Meh. I wrote apps when I was six, and that was when the App Store was an actual store. Uphill both ways, etc.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 10:50 AM on November 14, 2011

Cue the kid-bashing.

I love kids. If you marinade them long enough.

Note: This is a joke. Everyone knows they're too stringy at that age.
posted by JaredSeth at 10:54 AM on November 14, 2011 [3 favorites]

I know and I cringed.

First you learn to mimic someone else's tried-and-true style. Then you develop that into your own.
posted by Tomorrowful at 10:58 AM on November 14, 2011

TED was always bad. I was uninterested in TED before it got uncool.
posted by demiurge at 11:28 AM on November 14, 2011 [7 favorites]

TED Sucks. I remember the first couple TED talks I saw, they seemed pretty interesting, but if you watch more then the few that are forwarded to you you realize they're all pretty lame. They're Thomas Friedman intellectualism, for the most part. Stuff that sounds smart if you don't know what you're talking about, and is unconcerned with actually being right.
posted by delmoi at 11:50 AM on November 14, 2011 [5 favorites]

I'm glad the kid's ambitious and doing something interesting and constructive, but this is not "absolutely amazing".
posted by davebush at 11:54 AM on November 14, 2011 [1 favorite]

I wouldn't be so quick to bash the entirety of TED. Still some gems in there.
posted by Glinn at 12:13 PM on November 14, 2011

Sixth graders have a lot time, remember that.
posted by rhizome at 12:19 PM on November 14, 2011

I do like the TED talk where the speaker attacks the audience with a robot seagull.
posted by swift at 12:23 PM on November 14, 2011

I bet he has somewhat pushy parents.
posted by kinetic at 1:01 PM on November 14, 2011

Eh, he's not so hot. I bet he turns on garbage collection.
posted by spamguy at 1:40 PM on November 14, 2011

On the same vein, Make has this video series.

My hobby is watching it and cringing while she uses soldering irons and solvents that can burn your skin. I'm not even comfortable using those (As in, I do use them, but I'm always circling over the safety guidelines in my mind), and I'm in college.

The moral of the story is that me and people like me coddle the children and this is why we have an employment crisis or something.
posted by mccarty.tim at 1:55 PM on November 14, 2011 [1 favorite]

I hate kittens. They are like little fluffy rats with eyes full of murder.
posted by Sebmojo at 4:02 PM on November 14, 2011

(that's what we're doing, isn't it?)
posted by Sebmojo at 4:03 PM on November 14, 2011

I like kids, but I can't eat a whole one.
posted by blob at 5:37 PM on November 14, 2011 [1 favorite]

This makes me feel even worse than the girl who lived down the hall from me in college who invented a freaking FLYING CAR. (And then, of course, gave a talk about it at TED.)
posted by madcaptenor at 5:54 PM on November 14, 2011

I feel like just yesterday Cory Doctorow was bitching about how iDevices were ruining the ability of children to hack and tinker and learn and all that stuff. Funny.
posted by pjaust at 1:55 PM on November 15, 2011 [1 favorite]