You will continue to be amazed, kids nowadays have grown up with instant access to an incomprehensible wealth of knowledge via the internet.

Yup. I was at a ML meetup and one of the kids who was only 12 or so knew advanced level coding and Tensorflow. Another one was a 16 year old who had been coding C++ for more than half a decade. They both credit a lot of it to the internet and the ease of learning which books to acquire.

In chess, there have now been four 12 year old grandmasters. ('Grandmaster' isn't an easy title to achieve, needing besides incredibly strong play, a high rating and doing very well in 3 tournaments with strong international opposition.) It's because of computers and the internet making every facet of chess learning/study incomparably faster than a few decades ago. And you can get a game in seconds anytime online..

There's no-one from before the chess + computer age on the list of the 36 players who've become Grandmasters before their 15th birthday : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_prodigy#List_of_youngest...

And also regular wealth. Have you seen the photos of it? It looks like a pre-assembled Radio Shack kit. Probably cost thousands of dollars in professionally machined parts.

> He has also repeatedly told my that my high school will be writing me a recommendation letter good enough to get me a 4-year scholarship to the school of my choice. This justified the price of the reactor for my parents.

Just the right amount it seems.

And his mother is a CPA working for local Memphis government. When asked about Jackson’s achievements, she just shrugs and laughs. I don’t think this is a case of the ol’ “kid’s science project” for him by his parents.

Considering the kid is on a forum asking questions, its likely not much the parent.

It really is amazing what can be accomplished with intellect, vision, concerted effort, and funding.

Any one of the four lacking would have stopped this project cold. It’s no small feat for a small child, even with a big budget, it’s a good measure of the other 3 traits to take this project on and reach this milestone!