9 year old discusses the meaning of life and the universe

Originally posted by Logos23
Not sure how much of this as been brought about by his own understanding....but I will say that we grossly under estimate children.

People have a wrong view on how to teach. They invent schools to teach and hold exams to verify intelligence while they can use digital teachers, artifical intelligent even if they could only see how their children in the future would make things better instead of wanting short term gains like money or prestige. In reality, everything a brain has been exposed to is recorded, it is only because of mental problems like whether or not someone can pass a test is what makes a failure. This all comes down to self confidence, the belief in recollecting one's memory, the idea someone cannot or has a lesser ability in recollecting is what hampers the brain in doing so. One passes a test and compares the results with others and places oneself at some level of intelligence which should be accepted by everyone. Which sounds good, except not everyone has the same chances from the beginning and this is not going to change unless society changes so you have a bad economy going nowhere, it's just few can see beyond their own generation to really understand where it all leads to. This is the short version, there is a longer one but I would digress.

AI as teachers would be better because the teachers who have mental issues would not pass these on to the students, who bring it home and ofcourse vice versa, teachers who have to deal with mental issues students bring from home. It would also eliminate the need for people to gather in schools so there is less chance of mental disorders or false views on life to be passed on and ofcourse there wouldn't be shootings anymore while people can defend their own territory (until authorities arrive).

Students could still socialize over the internet which could serve as a barrier or buffer zone so that wrong truths could be talked about within the family before they become real to students who might cause problems later in life which diminishes their chances on becoming succesful and in the bigger picture create a troublesome society to exist in.

Point being people underestimate the capabilities of the brain and this has become a self fulfilling prophecy, an illusion very difficult to see through.

Very often children have far greater wisdom and a grasp on deeper truths then most adult's, even if they express them in a less mature way.

There is no way anyone can look inside anothers' brain or mind, perhaps in the future when technology can be implanted in brains and thoughts can be printed out like a picture and then they could be compared to pictures from other brains and then you could really truly see the contents of what another is saying. Ofcourse knowing humanity such technology will undoubtedly be used in a bad way. But still, that is the only way, even using tests to rehearse information is not a guarantee someone actually gets a concept or just explains it in the exact same way as the first person who convincingly did so. The gain an insight requires a lot of prerequisite information which the original brains who thought of a concept did but present day brains just don't have the same experiences, maybe similar at best but it is rare for someone to actually get something or just feel like they got it and then convincing everyone of this to reinforce their belief, only to find out later in life they really didn't or only partially.

I have had my eye's opened more than once by the "off the cuff" comment's and observation's of a child.

Why were they closed, were they really open at some point in your life? I mean, if you see something good then your eyes should stay open so why the need for a child to remind you. Or did you give up that good so someone else could continue with what they want you to see as something better.

This kid speaks on a fairly profound subject. This isn't memorization, he is actually thinking through and analyzing the questions. The brain is incredibly powerful and people are capable of far more than society produces today. We are so saturated with material and outlying garbage that our brain is somewhat "lazy" from a young age. I was constantly trying to understand life and death as a child, probably more so than most adults do. I had some pretty existential thoughts as a kid and these sort of waned as I entered Jr. High and Highschool because I was so overwhelmed with other stimuli.. (Friends, Sports, Human Interaction, Learning, Gadgets, Impressions, Girls, etc). After Highschool I began exploring existential ideas far more deeply and over the course of a few years I had come to many of the same conclusions that this kid had.

I wish I could say I had come to those realizations at that age but it took me until my late teens/early 20's to really grasp the concepts beyond societal and human constructs. The thing that confirms to me this kid understands what he is talking about is not only his comparison of humans to ants, but his understanding of truth and theory. He understands already that there are no definite truths. The sky is blue because we as humans perceive it that way.. it isn't an absolute truth. Perception and reality are created by us and perpetuated by our actions and thoughts.

reply to post by Dragonfly79


I think you are over analysing the simple point I was trying to make...when I speak of a child opening my eye's with their observation's and comment's I meant that a childlike wisdom and grasp of life can sometime's teach adult's something about the world that we miss with over complicating thing's.

I'm going to listen to this boy tomorrow morning9hubby's sleeping+i can't find my earphones tonight,but im looking forward to it.
My own 6 year old son said to me,when he was 5: "This life is just a dream,and we will all die while we are dreaming" I asked him:"So if we die here in the dream,do we wake up in the real world?"
He then said:"We wake up in the future-we are alive there" He pointed up at the night sky,way into the distance,and said again:"There,wayyyy in the future-we are alive there"

reply to post by Raxoxane


This made me smile

reply to post by joeyv23

It was one of those goosebumps moments in my life,definitely

reply to post by joeyv23


I love that he keeps admitting that he "could be wrong". That's really a specially capacity that he has to realize this to be true, and if he can retain that capacity, then he's going to be an even more amazing thinker than his obvious intelligence suggests. I really appreciated the dissonance that is on display between the deep, resonant thoughts he's expressing and the hyper-kinetic physicality that he's locked into as a 9 yr old boy. I wish I'd had someone - anyone - in my life, when I was that age, that would've asked me such questions. I don't know what my answers would've been, but I sure could've benefited from the overall subject matter being a part of my intellectual environment as I was growing up. Questions like that simply didn't exist in Upstate New York, and still probably don't.

Anyone think this is pertty sad that a 9yr old is talking about this sort of thing WHY. Because when your this age all you should know is how to climb a tree and how to make friends..I got a feeling that the mum and dad are realists and thats great. But to push it onto a very young boy is not so good in my book.

Originally posted by ThePeopleParty
He's probably just repeating what his parent told him,

Can you provide proof or even evidence of this?

I know my kids don't repeat stuff like this and I am babbling on about it all of the time.

Sounds like someone is a hater.
Does his intellect threaten your fragile ego?

What gives?

Originally posted by Logos23
Not sure how much of this as been brought about by his own understanding....but I will say that we grossly under estimate children. Very often children have far greater wisdom and a grasp on deeper truths then most adult's, even if they express them in a less mature way.

I have had my eye's opened more than once by the "off the cuff" comment's and observation's of a child.

My son just turned 10, and ever since he's been able to hold a conversation, he's been blowing me away with unexpected, occasional pearls of wisdom that he thought up. Two years ago, I suggested that he give one of his semi-precious gemstones to a family friend as a gift, so he brought out five gemstones and told her exactly what they did and exactly why she needed them... which was a staggering psychological analysis of her that just absolutely floored me. He was spot on and what he said was incredibly deep. Never underestimate kids, even the younger ones.

People are very capable. The human being is the most intelligent life form on earth, however, stories like this are not always true. In particular on conspiracy or counter culture related sites stories like this are cooked up specifically for the purpose of making counter culture individuals feel stupid. The government and other wealthy entities want to hurt the self esteem of the counter culture individual. They want you to feel small and insignificant, they want you to feel stupid. They want you to lose your self confidence, become introverted and isolate yourself from society so you don't hop on facebook and start spreading your anti-government counter culture ideas to others.

Conspiracy theory is occasionally discussed in the mainstream media and I'm sure you've noticed that words such as stupid and crazy are often used to describe those who do not support the government. These words are used not only to paint government opponents as the bad guys in the eyes of the governments current supporters, but also to lower the self esteem of the governments opponents. These tactics are employed across the board from companies that want their potential employees to think less of themselves so they're willing to work for lower pay to governments that want their opponents to be afraid to speak up.

They want you to shut up.

If this is unscripted, this kid is definitely going places.... it's good to see the youth of today actually being taught valuable lessons..... hopefully he will grow up and save this place!

reply to post by CMReilly86


I am reminded of something I heard on a television program the other day. Don't remember the exact quote, but it went something like "Why do we wait for something to happen that inspires us to become good people when we could've been doing it all along?"

I thought I would never say this, but he just tells everything "out of the story his farther told them both a 100 times". I can't see whether they actually understand this. If you ask them - just a question about what they just told - they will answer the same as they learned, without any other knowledge. When I was young, I could actually learn a 10 pages poem within 30 minutes. It does not mean I knew the exact details.

reply to post by Logos23


You nailed it. Don't underestimate children. They think without the shackles of experience. Filtering everything is a survival strategy humans have developed. Moral philosophy should be left to children.

Originally posted by ravon300
Anyone think this is pertty sad that a 9yr old is talking about this sort of thing WHY. Because when your this age all you should know is how to climb a tree and how to make friends..I got a feeling that the mum and dad are realists and thats great. But to push it onto a very young boy is not so good in my book.

Why is a child question the nature of his reality sad?!?! Who's to say that he's not making friends, climbing trees, and pondering the universe all that the same time? IMO some of us come here (incarnate) with the intention of learning/teaching about all this. A lot of us are here to do just this. We have fun along the way! I do agree with you tho that pushing ideas onto young ones is not good practice. We have to encourage them to come up with their own ideas based on reasoning, logic, (and a bit of intuition doesn't hurt) and to support them in their endeavors as a learning/growing individual. Then and only then can we raise a generation of people, not blinded by the media/internet/etc and can read through the deception as easily as we read the words on this thread.

Originally posted by ravon300
Anyone think this is pertty sad that a 9yr old is talking about this sort of thing WHY. Because when your this age all you should know is how to climb a tree and how to make friends..I got a feeling that the mum and dad are realists and thats great. But to push it onto a very young boy is not so good in my book.

I don't know. He seems to actually be considering the questions, and his answers aren't coming across as rout memorization. And, as far as climbing a tree and making friends, it's obvious that this kid knows a lot more than just that, but it's not clear that he doesn't know how to climb trees or make friends. I learned how to climb trees in an afternoon. Okay...now what? Hell, I could've used a grown-up with a half a brain wandering around the neighborhood, but forget it. I grew up in public housing, where you were taught how to fight, get your ass kicked, mistreat women, and hide from the cops.

There are guys that I grew up with in my hometown (I'm 56 yrs old) who still don't know much more than that, and as far as they're concerned, no one should know more than they know.

You'd probably like those guys just fine.

My God, a well-spoken American child. Has hell frozen over?

reply to post by 123143


Hell will freeze over when we see a thread about an innocent child that isn't Trolled by an anti-American.

reply to post by ZiggyMojo


American children are idiots. Their vocabulary consists of two words, uh and duh.

Watch any interview with an American kid. They can't speak an entire intelligible sentence about anything of substance.