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“I built a fusion reactor in my bedroom – AMA”

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Re: “I built a fusion reactor in my bedroom – AMA”

#121

Post by messick »

mbesto wrote: post #113
vinceguidry wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, you can look at it this way, he would have never been well-served by the traditional society-determined path anyway. A project like this has the tendency to just blow away all other considerations. If you were hiring for a physics position, would you take the guy who got straight A's on his physics coursework, or the guy who built an effing nuclear reactor in his bedroom?

I could be wrong, but isn't this a situation where a university like CalTech would take a student like this?

CalTech takes in 200 total freshman a year (well back in 1999 it was 200) from the entire world, so they'd just choose the kid who built his own reactor AND had straight A's.

Re: “I built a fusion reactor in my bedroom – AMA”

#122

Post by googletazer »

JacksonGariety wrote: post #56
vinceguidry wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, you can look at it this way, he would have never been well-served by the traditional society-determined path anyway. A project like this has the tendency to just blow away all other considerations. If you were hiring for a physics position, would you take the guy who got straight A's on his physics coursework, or the guy who built an effing nuclear reactor in his bedroom?

There's more to life than applying for jobs.

Underrated comment.

Re: “I built a fusion reactor in my bedroom – AMA”

#123

Post by [deleted] »

nlh wrote: post #43
sthatipamala wrote: post #11

This kid is awesome but this particular comment really made me sad: "Spending 3+ hours a day on a project during junior and senior year did not help my grades. My counselor told me that I wouldn't get into the top colleges because of this reason. I believed her and didn't apply to my dream colleges."

And at least from my experience, that is wrong wrong wrong. I was a solidly B student in high school, but I had some extracurriculars (not quite building fusion reactors) that I devoted an absurd amount of time to and excelled at. And I got into MIT.

[deleted]

Re: “I built a fusion reactor in my bedroom – AMA”

#124

Post by [deleted] »

fletchowns wrote: post #50
nlh wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And at least from my experience, that is wrong wrong wrong. I was a solidly B student in high school, but I had some extracurriculars (not quite building fusion reactors) that I devoted an absurd amount of time to and excelled at. And I got into MIT.

I would have to imagine these days average high school GPA for incoming freshman to MIT is > 4.0

[deleted]

Re: “I built a fusion reactor in my bedroom – AMA”

#125

Post by [deleted] »

lsllc wrote: post #67
sthatipamala wrote: post #11

This kid is awesome but this particular comment really made me sad: "Spending 3+ hours a day on a project during junior and senior year did not help my grades. My counselor told me that I wouldn't get into the top colleges because of this reason. I believed her and didn't apply to my dream colleges."

That comment is why I submitted this. Shame on that counselor for saying that, they should have been encouraging him to go for his dream! Building a fusion reactor should get this kid an invite to somewhere like MIT (as Ahmed Mohamed did for the clock incident last year).

[deleted]

Re: “I built a fusion reactor in my bedroom – AMA”

#126

Post by sn9 »

eggy wrote: post #74

Amazing work by this young man! My children will love this. My son and daughter are both doing well, but my son loves to experiment outside of school. I have been encouraging my son to experiment and learn, and he has taken it to a higher level than I had imagined. I have bought him a telescope, and a 3D printer over the years. He works for his own equipment and supplies too. More each year. Some of his experiments o…

Your son may enjoy universities with project-based curricula like Olin College.

Re: “I built a fusion reactor in my bedroom – AMA”

#127

Post by zardeh »

Godel_unicode wrote: post #71
zardeh wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1,700,000 SAT takers -> 17,000 people in the top 1%. Selecting the top 10% of those gets you 1700 students, which is quite close to the size of Harvard's acceptance statistic (of 2000)

Your implicit assumption is that anyone with a top 1% SAT score would also have good ECs and 4.0+. This is untrue.

No, my assumption is that there are perhaps 10% of people with high GPAs, and those with a top 1% sat score are no exception.

Re: “I built a fusion reactor in my bedroom – AMA”

#128

Post by eggy »

facepalm wrote: post #101
eggy wrote: post #76

I made a lengthy comment below about my son, but now after watching the YouTube video, I am sad I do not have the resources to let him have such equipment. My son pulls off some cool experiments all on his own (I stay out of it apart from the phone call consultation, or YouTube video call) with salvage and other workarounds, with the money he earns and my contributions. These brothers have a freakin' mini-Tony-Stark…

Don't fret - constraints can be a boon, too, making your son more creative. It is not really important to build a fusion reactor, you can just as well build other cool things that cost less. Or you can learn business and marketing skills, which you will need anyway if you want to do something great. For example, your son could set up some sort of Kickstarter collecting money for his fusion reactor. Or get in touch wi…

Thanks guys. This is why I visit HN regularly to read and hear others, and voice my own humanity.

He started down the Kickstarter, Patreon road, but after a slew of failed and negative stories this past year on unfulfilled projects, angry supporters, he decided to go it his own.

He does juice out as much as he can with what he has to overcome any given constraints, but that only goes so far. Believe me, I am now living in the rice fields of East Java, and sometimes no amount of time or creative thinking wins the day for certain things out here (lack of cobra anti-venom, or time to get it). I do enjoy the challenge though, and have done some cool stuff on a shoe-string budget.

He's starting his won business fixing things people otherwise throw out - The ReAnimators! (not of the Lovecraftian movie). Sort of like the old TV/Radio repair shops that are gone. The business would not be too viable years back, but there is a lot of movement this way - the environment, built-in obsolescence (which is now being challenged by consumer groups and repair-oriented companies in court), and the joy of keeping the old piece of junk you are comfy with!

Re: “I built a fusion reactor in my bedroom – AMA”

#129

Post by eggy »

sn9 wrote: post #126
eggy wrote: post #74

Amazing work by this young man! My children will love this. My son and daughter are both doing well, but my son loves to experiment outside of school. I have been encouraging my son to experiment and learn, and he has taken it to a higher level than I had imagined. I have bought him a telescope, and a 3D printer over the years. He works for his own equipment and supplies too. More each year. Some of his experiments o…

Your son may enjoy universities with project-based curricula like Olin College.

Thanks for helping me pull my head out of my ass. I never heard of Olin; I'll check it for sure.

It looks like a great school!

Re: “I built a fusion reactor in my bedroom – AMA”

#130

Post by eggy »

lostlogin wrote: post #99
eggy wrote: post #74

Amazing work by this young man! My children will love this. My son and daughter are both doing well, but my son loves to experiment outside of school. I have been encouraging my son to experiment and learn, and he has taken it to a higher level than I had imagined. I have bought him a telescope, and a 3D printer over the years. He works for his own equipment and supplies too. More each year. Some of his experiments o…

What were you hoping would happen to your mother?

I was hoping I could somehow sap the plant of some or all of its life force to bolster my mother's health. I even knew then it was a bit of quackery, but I was more evenly split between just doing and just thinking. Nowadays, I feel I have strayed to the too much thinking, or 'paralysis by analysis' syndrome.

Years later I read a fringe 'science' book about bioelectricity and limb regeneration. I guess I never kicked the Frankenstein thing (I visited Mary Shelley's grave site in Bournemoth, England in the 80s). It seems to be making a real science comeback. [1]

[Edit] the fringe book I wrote of was 'The Body Electric' mentioned in the article I cited just before.

[1] https://medium.com/matter/could-this-man-hold-the-secret-to-...

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