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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."

14 of 930 comments (clear)

  1. Well of course by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 3, Funny

    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
  2. So let's see by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 5, Funny

    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
  3. Braining my Damage by pipingguy · · Score: 4, Funny


    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.

  4. On slashdot we have by Tablizer · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...first post savants

  5. Give this guy his own GUI. by deathcloset · · Score: 3, Funny

    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?

  6. Re:3... 2... 1... by The+One+and+Only · · Score: 4, Funny

    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
  7. Re:What? by k98sven · · Score: 5, Funny
    Wikipedia is quite useful, it will also tell you such important facts like how Professor Baron-Cohen in the article is none other than the first-cousin of Ali G (Sacha Baron-Cohen).


    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!!

  8. Re:Savantism by suyashs · · Score: 3, Funny

    You must love the threading feature on your email client...

    --
    http://chrono.posterous.com/
  9. Dangerous Abilities in Today's Legal Climate by orkysoft · · Score: 3, Funny
    The blind American savant Leslie Lemke played Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No1, after he heard it for the first time, and he never had so much as a piano lesson.
    That sounds positively dangerous in today's legal IP/DMCA/DRM climate! (dons tinfoil hat to ward off Orbital Mind Control Lasers)
    --

    I suffer from attention surplus disorder.
  10. huh-- I speak 8 languages by way2trivial · · Score: 4, Funny

    and I invented 7 of them!

    --
    every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
  11. Re:homosexuality by croddy · · Score: 4, Funny

    to put it in terms any slashdotter can understand: leviticus is deprecated.

  12. Re:homosexuality by vistic · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.

  13. Re:homosexuality by RyuuzakiTetsuya · · Score: 4, Funny

    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.
  14. Re:homosexuality by flyingsquid · · Score: 4, Funny
    I think you are the one who doesn't read much. The parent's point was not the stoning, but rather the selective nature of the quote from Leviticus. If homosexuality and wearing blended fabrics are both sins with the same punishment (nevermind what it is), how do most Christians justify the picking and choosing of the ones that are most convenient or tolerable?

    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.