By Cole Latimer
- Episode 3 of Decoding Genius, a podcast series by General Eelectric that asks what is a genius and how you become one, is available now for download from decodinggenius.com.au or via iTunes
How many people would entrust their company's IT security to someone not yet out of high school?
How about someone still in primary school?
Young Australian genius Mitchell Clark, 17, started his first cybersecurity company at the age of 10 with the ruthless ambition and persistence needed to create a thriving business.
In the latest episode of the hit new podcast series, Decoding Genius, Clark says that, even at a young age, he knew what he wanted to do.
Are Australian schools structured to support young geniuses, or do they work against them?Credit: Janie Barrett
Cybersecurity, he tells host Lily Serna, "is what I love doing, this is what I want to do in the future, this is my goal, and I'm not going to stop until I get there".
This passion, and genius, resulted in the creation of CIT Dynamics, a business with almost 300 clients around the world.
In the podcast, Clark, from Perth, explains why so many corporate websites are under threat.
He talks about his experiences of running a multinational business while still at school, and expands on his plans to grow his company to a multimillion-dollar operation.
Podcast host Lily Serna.
Even though Clark is still in his teens, his cyber-security capabilities have drawn overseas interest; he has been recruited by the US government to increase its cybersecurity infrastructure.
Apart from a small hiccup during which he penetrated the cybersecurity system of his primary school, Clark has positive memories of schooling.
According to experts, this is uncommon among geniuses, for whom experiences - particularly in education - are not always so positive.
Serna, an SBS presenter and mathematician, says: "Many find school to be a tortuous experience, where their creativity is shackled."
It raises the question of whether Australian school systems are prepared for geniuses and whether current structures can nurture their intelligence and provide intellectual challenges for them, or if those structures inadvertently crush them.
Andrew Frank was also born in Perth and was identified early as having a genius level IQ.
"As a little boy, he just needed to learn," his mother Elizabeth Frank says.
"He was inquisitive, curious, he had a very long attention span and asked a million questions, he was a very happy child."
However, she says he "regressed" from the moment he began kindergarten.
"He lost his joy and curiosity for life, he developed physical ticks, he became very angry and argumentative; basically he just wouldn't learn," she says, blaming a mix of boredom and an inability to connect with children his own age.
"It caused incredible frustration because he had absolutely nothing in common with them," she explains.
Andrew developed a coping mechanism known as "learned helplessness", and, despite skipping grades, he began to give up. Only when he received help from a high achieving coach was he able to get his life back on track.
"The plight of a misunderstood genius isn't quirky or quaint, it's actually quite destructive," Serna says.
Would these genius children be better understood if we had an in-depth understanding of their intelligence and capabilities?
In Episode 2 of Decoding Genius, Serna spoke to geneticist and Michigan State University Professor Stephen Hsu, who believes within the next five to 10 years, scientists will be able to map out the blueprint of humanity, understanding the genetic architecture of human intelligence and the 10,000 or so genes that support geniuses. This will allow scientists eventually to predict - and choose - people's IQs.
And, within the next 10 to 20 years, scientists believe we may even have the capacity to create "super geniuses", with those parents capable of funding the procedures able to custom-design their children, manipulating their embryos to make the "ideal" child.