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Do you feel like you experienced social isolation or bullying as a result of your gifts, either in childhood or later in life? I was a child chess prodigy from

Do you feel like you experienced social isolation or bullying as a result of your gifts, either in childhood or later in life? I was a child chess prodigy from age 7-12ish before resuming something resembling normal life. I feel like there was a dark side to the prodigy label where being really good at something made me into an "other" and potentially led to resentment from other kids. Wondering if that was just me or if other early achievers ever experienced something similar.

raphlinus 7y ago
Yes to both. The isolation was pretty bad because I grew up in a rural area and thus there just wasn't a large group of friends to draw on, much less those with similar interests and drive. So I experienced quite a bit of resentment, and strong feelings of social awkwardness. For me, "resuming normal life" was going into the PhD program at UC Berkeley at 22. I wasn't the only former child prodigy (hi NJ if you're reading!), wasn't the smartest kid in the room. More importantly, I had peers I could bond with. I keep up with a lot of my grad school friends, not so much from the small town where I grew up. Btw, here's some publicity from the time (there wasn't much, which I think was very wise of my parents): https://archive.org/details/marybaldwin1980mary/page/9 https://archive.org/details/marybaldwin1980mary/page/9
- thoman23 7y ago
  I took a look at your Wikipedia page. Are you actually a practicing Quaker? I know it’s none of my business. It’s just so unexpected to see from a UC Berkeley PhD, computer science prodigy, that I find it fascinating.
  - raphlinus 7y ago
    Yes, quite seriously - I go to worship most every week, annual session most every year, am on several committees, including the one that does memorial services. There are actually a few computer people at our meeting. Having a spiritual practice really helps keep me grounded. Keeping it relevant to the article, it's something I would recommend.
    - thoman23 7y ago
      Thanks for the reply. I will admit I live in a bit of an atheistic bubble, so it’s interesting to hear a different perspective, especially from someone as incredibly accomplished as you.
- mindgam3 7y ago
  Okay, first of all, that news article is awesome. "he has his own computer which allows hexadecimal computations" may be the best thing I've read on HN all week. The "not too much publicity" thing is on point. Glad to hear you were able to find your community in grad school. Not being the smartest person in the room is really liberating and one of the reasons I keep coming back to hacker news. Your comment makes me wish I had done grad school myself. But I struggled with pure CS and only found my intellectual passion/home base in senior year undergrad (Symbolic Systems, basically CS+psychology+linguistics+philosophy). By the time I thought it would be cool to coterm or do a masters I was already on my way into industry. Best of luck with your current projects! Look forward to seeing some more results from a "bright young man in the right place at the right time" :-)

raphlinus 7y ago

Yes to both. The isolation was pretty bad because I grew up in a rural area and thus there just wasn't a large group of friends to draw on, much less those with similar interests and drive. So I experienced quite a bit of resentment, and strong feelings of social awkwardness. For me, "resuming normal life" was going into the PhD program at UC Berkeley at 22. I wasn't the only former child prodigy (hi NJ if you're reading!), wasn't the smartest kid in the room. More importantly, I had peers I could bond with. I keep up with a lot of my grad school friends, not so much from the small town where I grew up. Btw, here's some publicity from the time (there wasn't much, which I think was very wise of my parents): https://archive.org/details/marybaldwin1980mary/page/9 https://archive.org/details/marybaldwin1980mary/page/9

thoman23 7y ago
I took a look at your Wikipedia page. Are you actually a practicing Quaker? I know it’s none of my business. It’s just so unexpected to see from a UC Berkeley PhD, computer science prodigy, that I find it fascinating.
- raphlinus 7y ago
  Yes, quite seriously - I go to worship most every week, annual session most every year, am on several committees, including the one that does memorial services. There are actually a few computer people at our meeting. Having a spiritual practice really helps keep me grounded. Keeping it relevant to the article, it's something I would recommend.
  - thoman23 7y ago
    Thanks for the reply. I will admit I live in a bit of an atheistic bubble, so it’s interesting to hear a different perspective, especially from someone as incredibly accomplished as you.
mindgam3 7y ago
Okay, first of all, that news article is awesome. "he has his own computer which allows hexadecimal computations" may be the best thing I've read on HN all week. The "not too much publicity" thing is on point. Glad to hear you were able to find your community in grad school. Not being the smartest person in the room is really liberating and one of the reasons I keep coming back to hacker news. Your comment makes me wish I had done grad school myself. But I struggled with pure CS and only found my intellectual passion/home base in senior year undergrad (Symbolic Systems, basically CS+psychology+linguistics+philosophy). By the time I thought it would be cool to coterm or do a masters I was already on my way into industry. Best of luck with your current projects! Look forward to seeing some more results from a "bright young man in the right place at the right time" :-)