[jasperry]

Am I wrong to be skeptical that this was a thought author had at 8 years old? I don't doubt that 8-year-olds can learn programming and advanced math, but even the brightest 8-year-old would still be in the "sponge" stage. It's hard to believe they would have a sufficiently fixed idea about algebra to be troubled that X = X + 1 is "wrong".

[SatvikBeri]

Kids can be flexible but also rigid about the most random things. My two year old gets really annoyed if I use the wrong spoon to stir my tea, saying certain spoons are only for food or cereals. I don't know where she got that – it's definitely not a practice we ever enforced!

[rramadass]

Yeah; the author is full of it - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45896992

[isaacremuant]

It's a common Tactic to pretend children are some sort of tabula rasa full of innocent wisdom that can be use to prove points.

It's ridiculous, usually fake and hide the biases of those who nurtured them to believe whatever they believe, even if it's by pure imitation.

So you're absolutely right to call BS.