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A remarkable kid has died in Newcastle, Utah

deseret.com

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Re: A remarkable kid has died in Newcastle, Utah

#161

Post by hutzlibu »

barry-cotter wrote: post #86
ceres wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they end up an unremarkable partner at a law firm or something, not POTUS or Bezos or Musk This doesn’t make much sense because people inherit their parents’ wealth and businesses all the time. People also inherit their country’s political leadership e.g. political families and monarchs. To suggest that it requires a special breed of people to get these positions without proof is rather silly

This logic would work if competition didn’t exist and no one ever made huge unforced errors. In the world as is Buffet, Gates, Bezos and Musk are among the richest people ever. Their parents were wealthy but nothing remotely comparable. The Carnegies and Rockefeller families are still rich but even if you add all of them together they’re not a shadow the importance the founders of the fortunes had. Political dynastie…

"Who’s the most important Kennedy under 40? Whoever they are they’re not that important. "

Well, the most famous Kennedy right now is probably Robert F Kennedy Jr. But he is over 40 and luckily is not a succesful leader. But he probably dreams about being one (fighting against the system of evil vaccination).

Re: A remarkable kid has died in Newcastle, Utah

#162

Post by towaway15463 »

didibus wrote: post #134
peteforde wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I consider this rebuttal to be exceptionally well-argued, and I thank you for it. You do raise several excellent points, and I have no interest in being a shill for the LDS church. And yes, Bari Weiss should be considered a red flag. My bad for letting her name slide past without a sniff test. I stand by my point that we shouldn't be so damn skeptical that there are exceptional young people, because I've known them p…

I remember reading some article about why there are no adult prodigy, only child prodigy. It went something like, the reason there are only child prodigy, and no adult prodigy, is because other kids eventually catch up. And that child prodigies are basically just children that are ahead compared to other kids of the same age. It looked at the data, and showed that once adult, child prodigies just distribute themselve…

Wouldn’t an “adult prodigy” be referred to as a genius? Surely you believe there are people who are far more accomplished than 99.999% of the population that could be considered as such.

Re: A remarkable kid has died in Newcastle, Utah

#163

Post by morelisp »

ookdatnog wrote: post #158
soared wrote: post #36

I mean, do we believe any of this? An 8 year old isn’t running a business and selling to restaurants in a different state. No business would purchase from an 8 year, no business would ship goods from an 8 year old, no bank gives a loan to a 9 year old. The list goes on and on. Incredibly sad that a child has died, but this reads as pure fantasy.

Likely there's a kernel of truth here: a kid growing up in desperate poverty and having to be resourceful to survive. But it seems pretty clear that there are people who have a lot riding on his story: looking up "Cole Summers" brings up mostly blogs for me, typically associated with either the home-/unschooling movement or conservatism, presenting his story with the underlying message: "See what happens if you don't…

For a kid who loved farms and hated smartphones, he spent an awful lot of time posting.

Re: A remarkable kid has died in Newcastle, Utah

#164

Post by rendall »

aerovistae wrote: post #137
rendall wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, have feelings, whatever those are. Anger is valid. This is more what I was responding to: ...and I just didn't feel as bad . I wonder if your anger matches that which his caretakers feel at themselves.

To clarify my words, what makes me feel bad is fate reaching out of nowhere in an inevitable way to take someone away. A drunk driver driving in the wrong direction on the highway - literally nothing you can do but hope it doesn't happen to you, or that you're in a different lane (which I was - he passed by me on the inside lane, or I wouldn't be here typing this.) I dread something like this happening to someone I c…

Understood.

Re: A remarkable kid has died in Newcastle, Utah

#165

Post by poisonarena »

mandelbrotwurst wrote: post #83
rkuykendall-com wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

30 years ago in central Texas we visited northern Mexico many, many times a year. 20 years ago we thought it was funny other people were starting to be scared to do so. 15 years ago we stopped going. We haven't been back since. It's so weird that, from a central Texas perspective, we used to be a short drive from visiting another COUNTRY, which is now effectively a blank space on the map of the world around us. Ski w…

Would you mind elaborating a bit on what has changed from your perspective please? I have never visited Mexico and would love to although I will admit hearing things of this sort and some of the footage I've seen of carjackings and machine-gun fire and the like is admittedly somewhat of a deterrent, but then I consider how many scary things happen here as well and I wonder what's true and what's an exaggeration or si…

drug war, notably shift in power from Colombia to Mexico. Various power plays between different organizations advancing on eachother and government interventions. Much more dangerous for civilians in the 'wrong place at the wrong time'. But violence against tourists is by and large greatly exaggerated, even at the height of narco-violence in Mexico. It is still a safe place for a tourist in every single city and most rural areas.

Re: A remarkable kid has died in Newcastle, Utah

#166

Post by rrwo »

lkrubner wrote: post #2

This story is especially clear and dramatic (and well documented) but I've often thought this happens in every generation: the people who lead (businesses and nations) when they are in their 40s and 50s are often people who boldly go out and discover the world while they are in their teens and 20s, and so they take on a bit more risk than the average citizen, and this includes physical risk (whether in travel or info…

Hence the term "Surviorship bias".

Re: A remarkable kid has died in Newcastle, Utah

#167

Post by formerkrogemp »

bequanna wrote: post #47
fock wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, to understand tax law, you need to understand language quite well (see another post these days on the frontpage...) - which usually comes with some skills in applying it. It smells a bit fishy, if you claim a person can do the first, but not the latter.

Wait, you’re claiming that someone needs to be able to diagram a sentence or spell perfectly to understand tax law? That’s ridiculous.

I work in tax. Yes, you need to be able to read and write well to understand the changing tax law in the US. The tax code is also used as social policy in the US, and it's important to know for liability reasons that even the person you're paying to do it for you is doing some parts correctly. Did your payroll employee not withhold key taxes? That's a pretty large headache and fine you have coming.

Re: A remarkable kid has died in Newcastle, Utah

#168

Post by formerkrogemp »

SyzygistSix wrote: post #154
TrispusAttucks wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree with this sentiment. You wish to take away the very condition which made him uniquely special. He seems like he was enjoying his childhood. Adversity breeds character and this kid had more than character than some entire classrooms.

Adversity can potentially breed character. Sometimes it just breaks people or merely stunts their growth and potential.

Adversity most often instills trauma. Character is entertainment in works of fiction. Character is not often a healthy, well-adjusted person.

Re: A remarkable kid has died in Newcastle, Utah

#169

Post by TrackerFF »

lkrubner wrote: post #2

This story is especially clear and dramatic (and well documented) but I've often thought this happens in every generation: the people who lead (businesses and nations) when they are in their 40s and 50s are often people who boldly go out and discover the world while they are in their teens and 20s, and so they take on a bit more risk than the average citizen, and this includes physical risk (whether in travel or info…

You should check out the MBA programs at leading business schools (Harvard, Wharton, Stanford, etc.) - those classes are a fairly good proxy for the people leading companies and similar 15-30 years down the road.

Probably 60-70% of the classes have the same cookie-cutter Finance/Tech/Consulting backgrounds. Some of the most risk averse and carefully planned professionals you'll find.

Re: A remarkable kid has died in Newcastle, Utah

#170

Post by JeremyNT »

jandrewrogers wrote: post #106
soared wrote: post #36

I mean, do we believe any of this? An 8 year old isn’t running a business and selling to restaurants in a different state. No business would purchase from an 8 year, no business would ship goods from an 8 year old, no bank gives a loan to a 9 year old. The list goes on and on. Incredibly sad that a child has died, but this reads as pure fantasy.

You may be underestimating the traditionally rural parts of America, which empower and encourage kids to start adulting at an age that may be surprising to many people. If you are from those regions, seeing a precocious young kid who is mature beyond his years is surprising but not entirely unexpected. As a frame of reference, where I grew up, you could legally drive heavy agricultural lorries (think 5/10 ton dump tr…

I grew up in a rural area. I couldn't have saved up enough to buy a $50000 tractor at age 11 no matter how many lawns I mowed.

> In this specific case, I expect the Mormon connection was doing a lot of heavy lifting behind the scenes.

Well yes, this is the meat. Tight knit, insular, often wealthy (or connected to wealth).

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