Re: "Boy with Incredible Brain"

From: Tennessee Leeuwenburg (tennessee@tennessee.id.au)
Date: Tue Mar 21 2006 - 19:54:44 MST


These kinds of feats are suprisingly common. They are usually specific
abilities which do not translate into their general IQ.

One article on a savant of this kind had him discussing the process. It
was more like a process that he didn't find difficult than anything
else. It seems that some people are able to engage their visual
processing in other areas -- such as people with synaesthesia. There are
also plenty of Autistic savants around.

This kind of thing isn't sl4 to me. Interesting, but not I think holding
great promise for AI research.

Cheers,
-T

On Wed, 2006-03-22 at 02:35 +0000, H C wrote:
> Pretty neat stuff.
>
> "Daniel claims that since the age of four, he has been able to do huge
> mathematical calculations in his head. So the makers of this documentary put
> him to the test, asking him to calculate 37 raised to the power of 4. He
> completed this in less than a minute, giving the correct answer of
> 1,874,161"
>
> "Next he was asked to divide 13 by 97. This time the researchers had the
> answer to 32 decimal places"
>
> "He is very gifted with words and speaks nine languages and claims to be
> able to learn a new one in just seven days."
>
> "Daniel had his own surprise, in Oxford, England, he would recite the number
> Pi to 22,500 decimal places, in public in front of a team of invigilators to
> verify his accuracy"
>
> - http://www.mymultiplesclerosis.co.uk/misc/danieltammet.html
>
> Also,
>
> "Kim has a double photographic memory and can recall everything he has ever
> read. He speed reads by scanning opposing pages at the same time, one page
> with each eye. "
>
> "Orlando Serrill was just 10 years old when he was hit, hard, on the side of
> the head by a baseball. Since when, he has been able to recall the day, date
> and weather of every day since the accident. "
>
> :)
>
>
> -hank
>
>



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