Yes, a bitcoiner friend's kid described to me step-by-step how to build a CPU from scratch. Complete with a program counter, 8 bit memory, addition, subtraction, multiplication and several other essential operations all starting from discrete logic gates - not even flip-flops were taken for granted. From my EE101 experience, it seemed to check out but honestly I could only barely keep up with his pace. I think he's 12. Oh, and there was no pencil or paper involved, just from his memory of previously trying to build one in simulation.

I went to college with two and they both flamed out after getting distracted by social stuff.

I think so at my job. This guy did it all. From fighter pilot with the Air Force to civil engineering and now he’s a developer making web applications; completely self taught himself with a coding for dummies book. Also he does scuba rescue diving.

We linked up on Duolingo and he’s already smoked me there as well. I like to do a lot of review thus my Spanish score is low 44 he is already at 71 I had a few years head start on him.

Guy a year above me got BS econ, BS math, MS statistics, MS computer science and PhD in business in 6 years at Stanford. He had to petition to take classes for fewer units as he was exceeding the quarterly limit.

Super nice, never had to study, always having a great time chilling in the lounge during finals. He's a professor at Cal->UPenn now.

I remember working with my friend on a math problem for an hour then I knocked on his door and he smiled and answered the question before I finished telling him the problem.

Kind of reminds me of the story Jeff Bezos tells of his friend Yasantha Rajakarunanayake who made him realize he was never going to be smart enough to be a physicist.

There was a guy in my Theory of Computation class that routinely outperformed me and was way quicker on the draw when the professor asked a question (I'd never speak up, but I'd always try to come up with the answer). I've always had to work hard for what little understanding I end up with, struggling to accept/organize the rules that make something understood.¹ This guy seemed to do it easily.

I'm sure I've come across many people like this. They can be hard to spot if you're just a peer - most smart people I've met learn to downplay the disagreeable effects of intelligence. I know many stackers are very smart.

The professor of my Theory of Computation class once described an encounter with his wunderkind: a guy, unenrolled in his class, would come in only to take the tests and would do perfectly on them, performing several standard deviations better than the mean. Apparently the guy would do that in other classes too. Rogaway eventually pulled some strings to get him transferred to MIT (CalTech was too elitist to accept a transfer).

My son, to an extent.

24 now, he started reading well before he was 3. Still the fastest reader I have ever met and although he does not have eidetic memory, he has the best recall I have ever come across.

I remember all he wanted for his 5th Birthday was the Ontario Building Code, which he read and can still cite with great accuracy to this day.

I gave him a copy of Broken Money for Christmas when it came out and he read it while the rest of us were opening presents and having coffee in about 90 minutes which is about one page every 10 seconds or so. I’ve never asked him but I’m sure there are weeks where he has read 40+ books.

It’s actually really annoying haha.

Many, in my job. Some theoretical physicists are really out of this world. It's surreal.

I feel like an idiot more often than not, when talking to them.

I'm good at communicating, but not so smart.

The truly unique ones are the ones that are super smart and can communicate. I've only met a few, and these are truly a joy to interact with.

I'll come back to this if i remember some anecdotes later in the day.