Achieving an endless existence is next on the agenda for an 11-year-old boy colloquially referred to as “Little Einstein.”
Indeed, 11-year-old Laurent Simons (a.k.a. Little Einstein) recently completed a quantum physics bachelor’s degree in only 18 months at the University of Antwerp in Belgium and is now—per a report earlier this month from Australia’s The Age—planning his doctorate studies.
Per the young scholar’s parents, the current plan is for studies to take place in the U.S., the UK, Israel, and his home country of Belgium.
In comments to reporters, the child’s mother said critics who have argued that her son should be engaging in other activities at this age simply don’t understand and can’t relate to the experience of raising such a child.
“Everyone, including psychologists, who want to give advice, just can’t, because there’s never been a case like this before,” the boy’s mother, Lydia, said.
According to reports, the decision to include Israel in the assortment of upcoming doctorate locales was inspired by Simons’ longtime interest in the pursuit of technology that could theoretically lead to immortality for humankind.
In a post shared to an Instagram account operated by the Simons family back in 2019, the intellectually prolific 11-year-old detailed his ambitions in the immortality space, proposing that we could replace as many body parts as possible with electronic substitutes “until the human brain/conscience is left.”
All quite impressive, and all certain to make most of us feel entirely inadequate, but—surprisingly—this isn’t the first story of its kind. Earlier this year, a 12-year-old from North Carolina made headlines for graduating high school and college in the same year.
