From Child Genius To Jobless....How?

At one point in time he was the smartest child in all of China, but now he's grown up He refuses to work, and he's still living off his parents. What's going on here? Yeah, at one point we thought you're a child prodigy and now you are an adult oddity. We're talking about Zhang Xingyang, Andrew He's 28 years old now But this guy was deemed a Chinese prodigy at the age of 2.5 because he could read 2,000 Chinese characters, that's a lot of characters And then he went to college at 10 Andrew when he get his PhD at 16, or he became a PhD student But then when he was 16 Andrew he started to show some cracks It took him about eight years to get his doctorates and now he's 28. He doesn't want to work He wants to live off his parents, and he's given a bunch of interviews about it. It's going viral all around Asia right now Yeah, I guess so we're gonna go through the comment section. We're gonna be breaking down this issue Should you care if your kid is a child prodigy and what else matters in life? Please hit that like button check out other episodes of the hot pop boys, but I can tell you what's also a prodigy That's very young. It's my last sauce. I'm just kidding. It's very delicious, but a lot of people are trying it right now They're getting theirs in the mail and get order yours and get it in time for the holidays Yeah, what happened to Zhang Xingyang man? Let's take a look at him when he is a child here. He's smiling He like he looks normal. He's a cute kid, and there was such a cute kid. Yo, I'm not gonna lie first of all I'm not saying that this is true Andrew, but how come it looks like all the math that he studied It looks like he was doing meth. Yeah, it's dead physically They don't have meth over there, but I'm just saying what was what's going on? Yeah, yeah, it wasn't it clearly wasn't substances because that would never get passed in China But I think he looks quite uncute compared to his kid pictures I think he grew up Diet probably spending time in front of the computer probably long hours a lot of stress a lot of pressure Think about it. You're a child prodigy. You got a lot of pressure on you. He has not lived a normal life, so Unfortunately, yeah, I mean he probably should have got braces along the way, but anyways guys regardless of his physical features, right? We can tell you that as a kid He looked a lot more regular, but anyways, I guess what's your initial reaction David? I mean, I think it's 2023 the idea of child prodigies or even child sports Prodigies petering out and not achieving their potential Andrew. This is well documented It happens all the time with athletics and in academics But then it's interesting because some people almost go too far the other way where they're like, yeah Everybody who's a child prodigy fails because they feel so entitled where I'm like, I don't know guys Elon Musk was also a child prodigy. Yeah, I mean so to me child prodigies Andrew. They're almost like rocket ships They got this rocket ship upward explosion power that very few people have but the rocket ships They either explode or do they go to the moon? Yeah. No, and uh, there's this one interview I was watching of a Chinese professor that was talking about him and he said, you know He has a strong ability to learn independently But a poor ability to live independently and I think that living and learning Especially learning in an academic sense is very different than living on your own, you know, we're talking about real-life practicality There's a lot of people out there who can live a happier life than him who probably can't number crunch even 110th as good as him, you know, I think that that's a common thing Like everybody knows that Albert Einstein who was incredibly effective He was a little bit weird in his IRL life, too But at what point do you become so have such a lack of ability to operate in IRL? It almost starts to affect impact your ability to create academically. Yeah, I mean and also You know at the end of the day and and this is actually a hopeful statement for him So right now he refuses to work a regular job He's kind of laying flat as they would say Yes, they would say in China and then he's living off his parents and he knows he can live off his parents for a long Time, but I think the key is if he's still motivated and passionate about some things He still has time to make it worth it. You know what I mean? Like if Ian I'm not saying he is but what if he does invent something in the next five years and he's living off his Parents, but that invention is a big deal. Then that's still worth it. We don't know yet He hasn't fully been spoken for I know a bunch of 26 year olds 28 year olds who kind of live off their parents in Different ways, you know what I mean? So it's like you talk about creative directors in New York No People who are getting subsidized by their parents and parents have some savings whatever if they're gonna get a house after they're you know Inherited from the parent whatever it is. I'm just saying I guess he looks hopeless now But as long as he is motivated to do something He still has potential to make something happen. He's still got the big-ass brain. Yeah, I mean His dome is his head's just kept growing when he got older. That's crazy You filled it up with a lot of knowledge or some fluid or something I would say that I'd be interested to know what his regimen was Like was he put on actual IRL projects or all theoretical things? Because if you look at Elon when I'm talking about Elon was a prodigy He was making his own games at like eight or nine years old. That's a real-life thing It wasn't like he was just crushing books, right? Right, right. Um How much do we want to acknowledge here that his looks may have been a factor? I don't know. You know what I mean? Like I think that that's something that a lot of people it's un PC to talk about but sometimes The way somebody looks it can affect their interactions and then their interactions affect their motivations. That's what I think. I don't know I'm just throwing it out there. I think he's so in my opinion. He's so smart. He's in that like Super geek lane where like you talk about like I don't think it looks like Noel Harari I don't think there's a lot of super smart people I mean like I don't think like he's around like Hollywood beautiful the Chinese superstars all the time So I feel like he's not doing the model walk on doing. Yeah, I don't know if it was about that But clearly, you know, he probably just wants to be happy and maybe he wasn't happy his whole life studying, right? I think my last quick thought is that uh The comments that you're gonna see from the Western commenters and the Eastern commenters because I pulled some off Eastern Asian Comment sites are very different not super different but like have different details because the knowledge base is different Anyway, let's just get into the comment section Somebody said I always assumed that 85% of prodigies would turn out the way Turn out this way because it's impossible to pack enough maturity in so little time and a lot of people had a ton of comments About like I thought all little child child geniuses failed Do you think the perception of child geniuses is different from the East and the West? because it seems like when you say I got a child genius in the West the immediate response from an average person is like Hey, you might be weird and it might explode on you. Whereas in the East there's like, oh, yeah I'm so hopeful for the next Einstein or perhaps like Warren Buffett if he is more financial minded Yeah I think that when you call a kid a genius early on not just like a very smart kid but I'm saying when you start using the word genius and slapping that onto a kid you have to understand like there's a lot of pressure and Also a lot of like babying that's gonna come along with having that genius kid and like try it You never know what's gonna happen though, because like that's such a crazy label to put on people But do you think it's true that the West they do focus more on holistic life skills or social sociality? Yeah, dude, listen Listen, if you're a genius in America, they want to know if you can help build the next weapon Okay, that's probably what their essential next rocket weapon Oppenheimer H bomb a bomb whatever it is They want to know if your brain is going to help them help the country in what they care about Right, you're saying execute some sort of are you gonna invent? There's that sort of agenda Are you gonna invent a new medicine for big pharma? I want to know that, you know That's like kind of the thing in America. Well, maybe I think in China. It's almost like oh You got a big brain Praise this kid Um Somebody was just like yeah, man I had a friend who had photographic memory and then he's just in jail because he's got multiple addictions and someone said yeah It's because he could never forget the bad things either. Yeah, that's really interesting Somebody said incredible gifts like that sometimes mean that other parts of the brain are lacking because they just got all the game VC points Got over distributed to those certain points. Yeah. Yeah. Do you think that's true? Imbalanced IQ is not the same as being motivated hard-working successful or likable Someone said the gifted sometimes struggle to find purpose This guy said, um, you know personal growth was missed in the early stages of development because they got pushed Academically to bring glory to the family because the family feels so cool because there's kid is so smart But their kid the whole time is being underdeveloped in other things that aren't gonna show up until way later I mean, I guess it even happens to young kids that are really good at sports, right? Sometimes they could get babied and they're not developing the coach ability or the other things like that Somebody said well Why take on the stress of holding a job and paying bills when you can pass that stress on to your elderly parents and someone? Said yeah, maybe this guy's actually super smart, but he's just super lazy So he just actually like pulled off exactly what he wanted to do Yeah, well, nobody says anything about his ideals, you know, and this guy Andrea this guy who's coming in he was Chinese and this was on Yahoo comments He basically blamed it on the society for saying just like man They just didn't have any development Chinese culture is so unbalanced because China is not a full meritocracy Nothing really comes from hard work other than bringing honor to your parents But if your parents still aren't the right type and you know, like from the right families, it doesn't fully matter So then basically this guy uses an opportunity to criticize the entire structure of the system Wow But then other people were really blaming it on the parents So, what do you think it is? Is it like the parents trying to milk the kid too young or is it really like this in the entire society? But I was thinking it's probably both. Yeah, it's probably both. Yeah, he's like talking about a Yao Ming You know interestingly enough Andrew he compared this guy to Yi Jianlian because Yi Jianlian got Shown as a basketball prodigy, but obviously he never learned the other skills like communication and gameplay IQ at a high level Basically, this guy said I'm a school psychologist The biggest predictor of success is not intelligence or completing a college degree It is mental health too many parents ignore that and instead push good grades and academic accolades None of that matters if you are not mentally stable Yeah, no, that's a really good point. And I definitely think that that is overlooked overseas Somebody said I always say that life is kind of like a video game when you build a character Literally if you have all the points in intelligence, but very low points in motivation It is not gonna give you a lot of Good things in life other than provide you bragging rights at dinner and then somebody just said yeah This guy got shortchanged in the looks department. He did not get any VC distribute Yeah, I mean without motivation in life man, a lot of talent doesn't matter It really doesn't man even in basketball in sports if you and if you have talent at a young age But you're not staying motivated or with a direction or mentally or emotionally You can't handle it because maybe he maybe he just wanted to live a regular life maybe he just wanted a girlfriend and maybe he just wanted a Maybe he's watching all these douyin like Xiao Hongshu videos and he's like wow Like look at the life that these right kids are like why Henry? He's watching like a higher brother Yeah, like why work my work. I'll be a rapper like Robin gone You know smoke Station your PlayStation will never break up with me. Yeah That's crazy, I mean it's true man, it's dude life is so complicated There's so many things everybody's like trying to you know, maybe he felt like y'all nobody ever asked me I just wanted a baddie and to hit the club and pop bottles with models and nobody ever asked me what I want They just wanted me to calculate this equation. So Andrew these are comments from the East this guy made a really really good insight into the Chinese Family where he was saying his parents probably told him when he was young that they were very rich and they gave him some sort distorted sense of purpose and distorted sense of entitlement as Evidenced by the fact that he was demanding a 1 million dollar flat to live in Beijing just to go finish his PhD So basically he was saying that it's interesting because sometimes in the West Parents might lie to their kids and or about how much how little money they have to give the kid motivation But in China because it's a descendant of an imperial society. That's very like Aristocratic centric the parents might lie to the kid about how rich they are How weird is that I mean that is I don't want to say it's a hundred out of a hundred But it is true that sometimes Asian families try to hide from the child their financial situation. Yeah, that's true But I think it's weird that the kids want to stay motivated in China if they feel rich But here kids stay more motivated if they feel poor No, it just goes to show you how different the motherboard is if somebody said yeah, this is a strawberry generation They are so easily bruised like a strawberry That's a funny one somebody said yeah reincarnated happy Buddha just follow his life to gain enlightenment is it maybe he just found Buddha Well, he just desires nothing. So he wants nothing. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know about eating the rotten vegetables though Somebody said the world doesn't owe him a living neither do his parents owe him. He owes society a Responsibility and I think actually this is what he's rebelling against. You know what I'm saying? Because you take a guy I don't know. I mean he was cute when he was a kid But let's just say he was like not consider good-looking by the time he's 18, right? And he's got this crazy gigantic brain on him. Everybody's looking at him like yeah, what are you gonna invent for us? What algorithms are you going to solve at least the basis of this fundamental theory? So somebody else can go build something in industry. Yeah progress the society and he's like Nobody is asking me what I want. Yeah, and that's I think that's comes as a that's a short That's a downside of like not develop being a personality that people want to cheer for I think if you're a really smart person and people want to cheer for you you the world is at your fingertips You can rise up people will follow you. You'll feel motivated but like this guy, you know His parents probably didn't care if he was likable because they were like, ah, it's just so smart But then if he's not likable then people don't like care about his life, you know So, yeah, it's crazy it looks like he used to look like Shanghai poppy when he was young It could seem like that. He Maybe was feeling used by society almost like hey, you have this brain. So help us out It's almost like he felt like and there may be evidence to support it The society was squeezing his brain for the juice, but who cares about the whole? Like he's like, I'm not just a brain like quit squeezing my brain Yeah, like like he had a duty to forego his adolescence to not have fun when he was younger to not release dopamine to not live a regular life and his obligation and duty Was to do something great in academic and it's also already like, you know that dou shu run culture in China Which is a like a scholarly thing. It's existed for longer than anywhere else on earth. It's not a oxytocin Yeah, I mean releasing lane to be you know, you used to have to be a eunuch this guy's from a fourth tier city I'd want to talk to his friends I mean I think that to find out more you'd have to talk to his friends any Girls or people that he had relationships with kind of see how do you think it's unfair that somebody looks at this guy? Chong and it's like you failed society you failed China But then if you're like a rich f-boy or f-girl of a like a very wealthy family and you're not smart Nobody ever tells you yeah You have a responsibility with all the wealth you inherited because those a lot of those kids just go in and have fun Yeah, yeah but then you're like a poor kid with a huge brain and they're like everybody's like look at it you're already up not as I Already not gonna be tight. You're looking at a life of just brain crunching for the rest of your life and everybody's like you have a responsibility Yeah, I always thought that was that is messed up. I think it is I think I think people look at smart people more as tools that they should do something for me because that's why you're smart Versus like if you're even just good-looking and rich What is anybody gonna tell you no, you know what everybody looks at you and goes I'd do the same thing if I was in your situation. You look like you're releasing a lot of dope for me It's unfair man. You gotta treat smart kids as regular people to listen guys. Life is made up of a lot of parts, man I I think you got the zone you're born into and it's just like Hunger Games Everybody's born into a different zone. Then you got base camp training camp, right? How did you perform in training camp then did you you get shot off out? You know out of this cannon onto the mountain, right and then you get a bicycle but not everybody got the same bicycle and some people land with a Squad of bicycles like Lance Armstrong other people are on a solo bicycle And then once you hit the trail up the mountain, you got to make reads on which path you want to ride You can't you got one bike one body one soul and you can't ride all the paths up the mountain So you got to deviate from the one you're born into or didn't maybe you got shot into that one It just makes more sense with the natural inertia, I'm just gonna ride up maybe you get distracted by a hot spring Maybe you are mission imperative is to reach the peak or maybe it's to go whatever did you save other people? You know I'm saying in the crazy thing about life Andrew is while you're on this crazy Amalgamation of different video games you still have to have a good time And maybe this guy just figured like I'm opting out at this point, right? Yeah So anyway guys, let us know what you think of this story in the comment section below It's going viral all around Asia a little bit in the West But mostly in Asia because they they just care about really big academic brains with big processors I think more over there plus this guy's Asian. Let us know what you think in the comment section below I think a lot of valid points on all sides until next time with a hot pot boys. We out peace