[bjnewman85]

This is a nice idea. But it appears the trend of "Look at this astonishing youth!", then in paragraph 8, "whose parents own a recycling company near Shenzen...and connected him with manufacturers" so this is a joint venture between his parents company and some of their friends to back their son's business idea. Very newsworthy.

[jonny_eh]

"No man is an island."

Also, "If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe" -Carl Sagan

Nobody accomplishes anything of note alone.

[latexr]

What’s more impressive: That a sixteen year old came up with a novel and useful idea, or that a seventy year old did?

What if the teenager was born to a rich family with supporting parents which were themselves geniuses in the field and nurtured his learning since he was five, while the senior lived in poverty in an isolated village and didn’t even know the subject matter existed until a year prior? Suddenly the sixteen year old isn’t that impressive.

This focus on the age of the person who did something is utterly boring. Especially since more often than not it doesn’t lead to anything. Go to any of these “teen does X” stories from years ago and try to figure out what it lead to. If you can even find any information on it, chances are it turns out what they came up wasn’t practical for some reason. Which is fine, just stop with the age worshipping.

[Gud]

Yes, but there is a difference between “18-year old”and “18-year old born into riches”.

This also seems like a gimmick. In what way is this better than just reducing the monitor brightness using software, e. g with xrandr?

[cobertos]

While true, it is nice to know the powers that produced an accomplishment up front. Otherwise we are stuck with a warped view of how things happen

[tobyjsullivan]

Not sure how relevant that is. Anyone who does anything impressive will always be dependent on their support network.

It is unfortunate that the most driven, intelligent person won't accomplish much if they don't have the network. But I don't see why that diminishes this person's accomplishments.

[utopcell]

It is quite relevant if the focal point is the person's age and not the product by itself.

[lsofzz]

why?

[yieldcrv]

I used to care about that

But play the cards you’re dealt

There are plenty of people with resources that do nothing with their lives, all the way to ultra high net worth trust funders, so celebrate that they applied themselves

If you have nothing, then you need to get a job and it doesn't matter what your drive or intelligence commands, nobody is going to back you. These stories of epiphanies dont apply to you

I respect people that apply themselves