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A Savant Explains His Abilities
numLocked writes "Of the few hundred autistic savants in the world, none have been able to explain their incredible mental abilities. Until now, that is. It seems that Daniel Tammet, a mathematical savant who holds the record for the most digits of pi recited from memory, is able to explain exactly how he intuits answers to mathematical problems. Tammet is quite articulate and speaks seven languages, including one he invented. The Guardian is running an article about his amazing abilities."
Of the few hundred autistic savants in the world, none have been able to explain their incredible mental abilities.
They're too busy counting...
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
Since his epileptic fit, he has been able to see numbers as shapes, colours and textures. The number two, for instance, is a motion, and five is a clap of thunder. "When I multiply numbers together, I see two shapes. The image starts to change and evolve, and a third shape emerges. That's the answer. It's mental imagery. It's like maths without having to think.
So presumably 69 is Jenifer Lopez, and 303 is the goatse guy?
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
FTA: "Savants have usually had some kind of brain damage. Whether it's an onset of dementia later in life, a blow to the head...
Item 1, check. Item 2, check.
So how come I aren't a genius now?
This is clearly false advertising.
...first post savants
Table-ized A.I.
the seventh doesnt count if he is the only one using it
"Weapons should be hardy rather than decorative" - Miyamoto Musashi
I think that goes for OS's too
The number two, for instance, is a motion, and five is a clap of thunder.
I'm wondering, do you think that perhaps if we could present someone with this man's abilities an interface to some kind for a programming language that he could also achieve amazing things?
maybe vocal recognition or a motion-capture interface? He did say he is making his own language.
For instance, if he combines these abstract ideas in his mind in a mechanical way he is showing the ability to visualize details of und use complex concepts with amazing precision.
what is a chunk of code if not merely an amazingly complex concept?
I speak Twi'lek. I learned it playing "Knights of the Old Republic". It's easy, there's only three or four spoken phrases, each of which means everything you can conceive of!
In Repressive Burma, it's not just your connection that dies. slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=314547&cid=20819199
... as "an idiot savant... without the savant part".
... show him the Google logo - it'll blow his mind!
Btw, do you think if we put a bag of ice on his head he'll run faster?
I can imagine the two...
Ali: What you're sayin' is like.. They is smart, 'cos they got brain damage?
Simon: Well, not quite. A savant isn't quite what we usually mean by..
Ali: An' drugs? Theys give ya brain damage?
Simon: Yes, they can..
Ali: So if me was to like, drop a pile of E, I could, like, do maths and stuff?
Simon: Well, I wouldn't..
Ali: RESPECT!!
You must love the threading feature on your email client...
http://chrono.posterous.com/
I suffer from attention surplus disorder.
The ability to organize complex, structured data (which is basically all a jigsaw is)
I think you mean a jigsaw puzzle there, Bub.
Wow. What a nitpick, he's less socially adaptible then you and has a higher computing power making you less geek.
Mod parent down.
Go sit in the corner and wear the conical hat this very instant!
For the love of Pete.
How could you turn an article about an Australian Autistic Savant who happens to be gay into an "America sucks" comment?
For once, put your hate of your nation aside and read the fucking article.
I can't explain it, it is just a natural ability I have.
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
Hi, my name is Robert Beck and you might call me a "savant". I'm currently working at the NSA and `(@#&&!^^#!@!>>~~NO CARRIER
Cool! Amazing Toys.
Spoiler Alert: It turns out the zebra did it!
and I invented 7 of them!
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
Wait, so all gay christians should become one atheist?
to put it in terms any slashdotter can understand: leviticus is deprecated.
about AIDS...
Lesbians have the lowest infection rate for these things... it seems to me that it's not homosexuality that's harmful... it seems it's more a matter of going anywhere near a penis.
Same for those idiot churches that say AIDS is a punishment for homosexuality... if that's the case it seems lesbians are God's chosen people.
read the gender though. Man lie with a man as he would a woman?
The gay guys I know lie with thier men like men.
Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
I may not read much, but I read my Bible, and all I need to know is I don't care what you liberal city boy types think about the Word of God: what's wrong is wrong, what's a sin is a sin, and you degenerate sickos better watch yer asses when you see my pickup comin' cos I'm gonna take a 2-by-4 bash in the head of the next GOLLDAMN PREVERT I see wearing a cotton/polyester T-shirt.
So what if he held a gun to a priest's head and force him to give absolution? Does that still get Hitler into heaven?
No, the priest needs to be clenching his biceps the right way and think of lingonberries to grant an absolution. If he only does the other thing, the patient will "feel" like having given absolution, but will still go to hell.
You atheists fail to grab even the most basic realities of religion...
Can a priest give himself absolution for having sex with the children in his congregation?
"Making love", my friend, "making love".
Save your wrists today - switch to Dvorak
Funny that no one has noticed. The word "mänti" in Finnish means "a gullable person".
Could it be that the savant in question has studied
Finnish and is just waiting to see how long it takes
the professor to understand that he indeed is
pretty gullable or "mänti"?
Just my 2 eurocents.
As I understand it, Aspergers is normally characterized in "real-time" communication, as the afflicted either cannot organize their thoughts before communicating properly, or cannot focus on the conversation.
/some/ people have them.
As a person with my own afflictions, I took it upon myself to study at least an overview of many of these "disorders".
What I find hilarious is that while people appropriately call them disorders, the stigma associated them is one of exclusivity - as if only
Read the DSM IV sometime - there are a few references on the web, and when you realize that the only people that don't have disorders are characters acted in some thursday night sitcom, you might have a rude awakening. If you want to dismiss it as a "soft science", remember that the next time your doctor offers you a prescription for your RSI troubles.
Psychology is a science, and as with most medical sciences, a good portion of guess work with miniscule emperical evidence or "case studies". However, the goal is not only to map out those who have serious problems, but everything. I'd shudder to think of the consequences if chemists around the world agreed that the components of air were pointless to study.
As a result, knowing even a "10,000 foot view" of psychology has an amazing effect on recognizing your own misgivings, mostly reactionary or autonomous. It can also help you isolate issues with others and smart people will learn to react to them appropriately. I find that all that most people know about Psych is that Freud says you want to fuck your mother and that coke is good food, of course, that boy in "Deliverance" sure could play a mean banjo.
Some people call this "Street Smarts", but for those intent on batch producing stickers to place on people so they can figure them out, "Psychology" will have to do.
To put it nicely, expecting perfection, or even a high-standing ideal out of anyone is a fault of yours, not anyone else's. You become the social equivalent of "Nick Burns, your company's computer guy" and are hated by many and loved by few. Everyone's limit is different of course, but realizing that the guy that has trouble forming sentences that other people understand, and the guy that just "doesn't know english", and how you treat them differently is more of a reflection on you than anyone else.
I'm willing to bet that a significant portion of the upper echelons of academia and big business are cracked in the head somehow - realistically, Fred and Wilma seem closer to aligned than most of the people I've met in those professions. The sheer demands on the psyche require at least a small bit of insanity, if not only a need to continually generate rationale for hubris.
No one likes to work with intolerant people, but everyone works with imperfect ones.
(egh, that was long - to be clear, the word "you" is abstract.)