Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

A 17-year-old designed a novel synchronous reluctance motor

smithsonianmag.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

241–250 of 296 posts

Re: A 17-year-old designed a novel synchronous reluctance motor

#241

Post by fragmede »

krater23 wrote: post #217
adventured wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of the mainstream chain supermarkets in the US don't sell guns (Kroger, Target, Whole Foods, Costco, Albertsons, Ahold, Publix, Sams, HEB, Meijer, Aldi, et al.). Walmart is the primary exception there. Overwhelmingly that's now handled by independent gun stores, or a select few sporting good chains (eg Dick's Sporting Goods - the largest sporting goods chain in the US - which sells a restricted set of rifles and…

WTF?! You really have Aldi in the US? As a german I never supposed that.

Fascism as well (albeit less widespread)

Re: A 17-year-old designed a novel synchronous reluctance motor

#242

Post by hawkeye224 »

sbf501 wrote: post #169
bckr wrote: post #84

This is inspiring, and let's look at why so many of us have the impulse to figure out what the flaw or missing part of the story is. For me, it's because I hadn't done something so cool at 17. That makes me think, huh, I wonder if I'm not a "natural born engineer". I start going through my life story so far and beating myself up for playing too many video games, or not going deep enough on my interests. Then I start…

> why so many of us have the impulse to figure out what the flaw or missing part of the story is. Why? Because that's literally what engineers are paid to do: make things, break things, fix things. It's all about tearing things apart to understand them, and then making them better. Just like this kid is doing. I don't think DC motor engineers took it personally when he decided to "figure out what the flaw" was in cur…

Good point, and it’s hypocritical to admire the impulse in one person while criticising others for the same

Re: A 17-year-old designed a novel synchronous reluctance motor

#244

Post by mattwilsonn888 »

bckr wrote: post #84

This is inspiring, and let's look at why so many of us have the impulse to figure out what the flaw or missing part of the story is. For me, it's because I hadn't done something so cool at 17. That makes me think, huh, I wonder if I'm not a "natural born engineer". I start going through my life story so far and beating myself up for playing too many video games, or not going deep enough on my interests. Then I start…

People don't understand that in the worst case scenario, an avenue of potential innovation is eliminated and makes future work easier. Too many people identify as scientists, especially online, for the sake of their ego rather than intellectual development. Anyone exploring possibilities has contributed.

Re: A 17-year-old designed a novel synchronous reluctance motor

#245

Post by tomthe »

moffkalast wrote: post #142
mortenjorck wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is the right angle to take. Unlike a lot of breathless "engineering breakthrough" stories, this piece, as well as young Mr. Sansone himself, readily acknowledge that this is a work in progress and may not pan out. Even if it doesn't, what an incredible achievement for a high-schooler – and just imagine the great contributions to the field this kid is poised to make in the coming decades.

> and just imagine the great contributions to the field this kid is poised to make in the coming decades Well let's curb the expectations for now, it can be quite damaging for a kid be held forever to an potentially unrealistic standard just because they did something great once. I mean sure for the occasional genius it turns out fine because they live up to it, but for the rest it's a self hate and imposter syndrome…

Correct. Expect regression to the mean.

Re: A 17-year-old designed a novel synchronous reluctance motor

#246

Post by sidewndr46 »

ad404b8a372f2b9 wrote: post #133
PaulHoule wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want to be cynical about it see https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/03/why-sc... (of course that is another clickbait article from a magazine that was good before the web but now specializes in clickbait)

I remember when I was in high-school agonizing for over a year over the 100$ fee to publish an app on google play. Ultimately it's hard to ignore the pattern when you see the stories about these precocious kids on the news, they always come from wealth.

At the end of the day, most people are after wealth to give their children advantages. Either advantages they had growing up, or advantages they didn't have growing up. Granted there is diminishing returns here, i.e. a billionaire's children aren't likely to be much more advantaged than a child from a family with a net worth of $100 million.

Until the US gets away from the idea that education is a for-profit industry and something you pay for, almost all highly accomplished children will come from wealthy families.

Re: A 17-year-old designed a novel synchronous reluctance motor

#247

Post by CoffeeCollector »

bckr wrote: post #84

This is inspiring, and let's look at why so many of us have the impulse to figure out what the flaw or missing part of the story is. For me, it's because I hadn't done something so cool at 17. That makes me think, huh, I wonder if I'm not a "natural born engineer". I start going through my life story so far and beating myself up for playing too many video games, or not going deep enough on my interests. Then I start…

Why are you making this about you?

Re: A 17-year-old designed a novel synchronous reluctance motor

#248

Post by robotresearcher »

Consultant32452 wrote: post #78
ekianjo wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most 17 years old don't have access to 3d printers. Equipment is a big factor in making something tangible.

One third of 17 year olds cannot read at grade level.

Do you mean in the US, globally, or what? HN has lots of readership outside the US.

Re: A 17-year-old designed a novel synchronous reluctance motor

#249

Post by gumby »

tomthe wrote: post #245
moffkalast wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and just imagine the great contributions to the field this kid is poised to make in the coming decades Well let's curb the expectations for now, it can be quite damaging for a kid be held forever to an potentially unrealistic standard just because they did something great once. I mean sure for the occasional genius it turns out fine because they live up to it, but for the rest it's a self hate and imposter syndrome…

Correct. Expect regression to the mean.

... and then be excited and supportive if/when he's an outlier.

Re: A 17-year-old designed a novel synchronous reluctance motor

#250

Post by andyferris »

krater23 wrote: post #217
adventured wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of the mainstream chain supermarkets in the US don't sell guns (Kroger, Target, Whole Foods, Costco, Albertsons, Ahold, Publix, Sams, HEB, Meijer, Aldi, et al.). Walmart is the primary exception there. Overwhelmingly that's now handled by independent gun stores, or a select few sporting good chains (eg Dick's Sporting Goods - the largest sporting goods chain in the US - which sells a restricted set of rifles and…

WTF?! You really have Aldi in the US? As a german I never supposed that.

We have lots of Aldi's in Australia, too.

> Internationally, Aldi Nord operates in Denmark, France, the Benelux countries, Portugal, Spain and Poland, while Aldi Süd operates in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Hungary, Switzerland, Australia, China, Italy, Austria and Slovenia. Both Aldi Nord (as Trader Joe's) and Aldi Süd (as Aldi) also operate in the United States with 1,600 stores between them as of 2017,[11] and the U.S. is the only country to have both Aldi companies operating outside of Germany.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldi

Post reply on HN