| Recently, my biology teacher showed me a video in class about a short documentary on a person called Daniel Tammet. Thought I would like to share this, though many may find it boring and even unsurprising. Tammet is one of the few "savants" of the world, that is, his brain was somehow damaged before, and developed a disorder which actually makes him, literally, a genius. However, it seems most savants are also associated with another mental disorder, autism. Tammet, however, displays no noticeable mental disorder, and can explain, somewhat clearly, what is happening in his brain that allows him to learn and memorize things extremely quickly. What can he do? His math skills are extraordinary, and it isn't that he studied that much. He stated that he can see the numbers in his head, which allows him to calculate numbers extremely fast, without a calculator of course. "It seems magical", "apparently doing math without even thinking". His memorization and his ability to learn are also extraordinary. Recently, he was challenged to learn the Icelandic language in 7 days, and be able to speak it fluently on television. This, of course, was done successfully as well. Doctors and scientists can not properly explain this phenomenal. The brain is still shrouded in mystery still, and now it seemed Tammet, who "suffered a massive epileptic seizure" at age 4, had actually became a genius, if not a little crazy, instead. Personally, I was skeptic at first, but after watching the video (can be found on Youtube), I am amazed that these kinds of people actually exists and lives. Though most suffer autism, he was one of the first, if not the first, to display an ability to live independently and able to communicate normally with others. What do you think? Lame? Amazing? Skeptic? Sources: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=AbASOcqc1Ss <- Only part one of the video though. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/26/60minutes/main2401846.shtml |
TachiiJan 28, 2009 2:21 PM
| Scientists better figure out what makes his head tick. I'll be pissed if they don't give me something awesome by the time I'm into research. |
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| ^they can do it to you temporarily also by puting a magnet to pulls the left side of your brain to temporarily turn it off and make you more that way... i saw it on something The ones that are autistic dont impress me because they are like walking computers ....... i would rather just buy a computer but the guys that are more normal like and functional I think are pretty cool |
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| ^ I remember also seeing something to that extent. Though, I think there was a problem with the cutting off of other functions of the brain that one really wouldn't want to lose. Of course the cut off was only during the duration of the procedure. Too tired and lazy to look it up and make sure. |
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| Once we just figure out how this works exactly, we might be able to accelerate people's brain functions. Would have been awesome if we managed that without any significant drawbacks. |
| Old news, this has actually been discovered during the 80s and they have been freaking out about it since then. Seems that if you stimulate parts of your brain (or take them off) that give you certain abilities they will increase (or reverse). The fact that most people that suffered of this are now autists is probably related to mixing brain functions in the process, or damaging more than one part. |
 Waratte Oemashou Sore ha Chiisana Inori |
| Hmm, maybe I should have a massive epileptic seizure.. |
AnimusNathan said: I'm a skeptic of this guy, honestly. Especially his "language" that he made. If reciting the number Pi to 22500 decimal places, in public, doesn't satisfy you, then you've got serious problems. |
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| The world would end if we figured out how to get this to happen to everybody. -.- |
| I'm back. |
| His ability to somehow see numbers amazed me. This is where, literally, you can say "I see images in my head" and I won't be skeptic about it. |
Vagabond said: AnimusNathan said: I'm a skeptic of this guy, honestly. Especially his "language" that he made. If reciting the number Pi to 22500 decimal places, in public, doesn't satisfy you, then you've got serious problems. He recited Pi? I want to marry him, then. Pi=<3 |
Waratte Oemashou Sore ha Chiisana Inori |
| reciting pi endless job opportunities right there saw something on nat geo about this |
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| I'm pretty sure for a guy who already knows 9 languages, to learn Icelandic in 7 days, can learn any kinds of language in a week, especially when he's a genius at memorization. |
| I remember seeing another case where someone with a case of autism was an amazing artist, although I don't remember any details about it. And I wish I could learn any language in a week. D: |
    There is nothing in this world more ugly than imperfection |
| isn't it interesting that individuals with extraordinary mental abilities have some sort of "disorder" associated with them? it may be that everyone is dumb, and these people may have attempted[though not deliberately] to leap beyond the limitation of the human brain that we are all stuck with. perhaps we are born with limiters to prevent us from utilizing the excellent abilities that our brains come with. for obvious reasons of course, imagine if we could create better weapons...since warfare is still in the top 3 degenerative aspect of humanity still plaguing our society. that is just one example. it would not surprise me that in the future we will see individuals like this every where. when we have learned to tinker with the brain without destroying the host we may even be able to produce geniuses artificially. |
| It's strange that he hasn't attempted any formal postsecondary education. Because there's more to math than memorization? Because success stems mostly from work ethic, not innate brilliance? Or because he doesn't care for it? |
| His face reminds me of a shark.. And his ability isn't that remarkable. All it means is that his brain is extremely good at pattern recognition and memorization. ladyxzeus said: Hate to break it to ya, but he's gay. He's living with a French guy named Jerome. XDHe recited Pi? I want to marry him, then. Pi=<3 |
| I think I will watch the whole thing... |
kisami said: Maybe in the far future, but it is a nightmarish future indeed.it would not surprise me that in the future we will see individuals like this every where. when we have learned to tinker with the brain without destroying the host we may even be able to produce geniuses artificially. Solanio said: I think, if he did (I don't know if he did), he would finish and graduate extremely fast; just like how he learned how to speak Icelandic fluently in 7 days. He probably won't get a sense of success that much, unless it's something extremely hard. And as I watched the videos, he stated that he sees numbers in his head, with different sizes. When a scientist tested him with a memory work involving numbers, he aced it easily. But when the scientist changed the size of the numbers, into all the sizes that he doesn't see it in his head as, he struggles with it. So, it brings me back to the one question: How exactly does the brain function?It's strange that he hasn't attempted any formal postsecondary education. Because there's more to math than memorization? Because success stems mostly from work ethic, not innate brilliance? Or because he doesn't care for it? |
Tachii said: Tammet is one of the few "savants" of the world, that is, his brain was somehow damaged before, and developed a disorder which actually makes him, literally, a genius. However, it seems most savants are also associated with another mental disorder, autism. Tammet, however, displays no noticeable mental disorder, and can explain, somewhat clearly, what is happening in his brain that allows him to learn and memorize things extremely quickly. Are you sure you don't the information a bit mixed up here? There was an article on this guy in one of the papers here recently, advertising his new book (Embracing the blue sky? Embracing the wide sky? something similar to that). Either way, I'm sure its the same guy what with the pi reciting and the language learning and language creating, and his brain was never damaged, and he never 'developed' a disorder because of any brain damaging. The "it seems most savants are also associated with another mental disorder, autism" applied to him too, so that "Tammet displays no noticeable..." is incorrect, at least with regards to the previous statement, as he has Aspergers and is a high functioning autistic (There was another part of the interview where he mentioned how he disagreed with genetic screening against autism). He also said he wasn't particularly fond of the name "Brainman" :P |
EphidelJan 28, 2009 6:26 PM
| Yes, I was quite vague with the information before I wrote it. I just suddenly remembered that the video watched in bio class was surely interesting for discussion, so I wrote it in a whim. If I do elaborate now, (after watching some other parts of the video), he does have autism, like you said, a highly functioning autistic. I'm pretty sure he did have the "massive epileptic seizure", since he said it himself, in the video, and in another news source. And it might, not entirely sure, influenced his brain. But it's what some scientists hypothesized, of course, I apologize again if the information was vague. Lol, he did say he wasn't fond of the name. Still, it was a quite interesting topic starter hm? |
| I don't have anything constructive to add, except that this is extremely old and discussed to death. |
hikky said: I don't have anything constructive to add, except that this is extremely old and discussed to death. I'm pretty sure this fellow was mentioned in the old savant topic. Mind you, I think this topic already has more posts than that one. |
OranSolusJan 28, 2009 7:03 PM
| Your search on "Oran Solus" returned the following quotes: "Oran Solus? I know him. What a wanker. He still owes me a tenner." Oscar Wilde "Oran, you're so intelligent and awesome <3" Bakayaro "Oran's sexy." LolitaDecay "Oran is a sophisticated penguin." Drybananna "Oran is a Hand-Eye you faggots." EddieSpaghetti "Oran for Prime Minister." the_prime_one "Oran is all that is stated in his sig and more." orbitzz |
Tachii said: kisami said: Maybe in the far future, but it is a nightmarish future indeed.it would not surprise me that in the future we will see individuals like this every where. when we have learned to tinker with the brain without destroying the host we may even be able to produce geniuses artificially. Solanio said: I think, if he did (I don't know if he did), he would finish and graduate extremely fast; just like how he learned how to speak Icelandic fluently in 7 days. He probably won't get a sense of success that much, unless it's something extremely hard. And as I watched the videos, he stated that he sees numbers in his head, with different sizes. When a scientist tested him with a memory work involving numbers, he aced it easily. But when the scientist changed the size of the numbers, into all the sizes that he doesn't see it in his head as, he struggles with it. So, it brings me back to the one question: How exactly does the brain function?It's strange that he hasn't attempted any formal postsecondary education. Because there's more to math than memorization? Because success stems mostly from work ethic, not innate brilliance? Or because he doesn't care for it? Of course, mathematics beyond high school has very, very little to do with actual numbers. All the tasks he excels at are simple and algorithmic. Perhaps he can just run the algorithms very fast. I'm wondering if his talents extend to more abstract spaces. Being able to decompose an integer into primes or memorize pi requires a much different set of skills than those needed to write formal proofs, which is what mathematics is all about. |
Zetsubou1117 said: His face reminds me of a shark.. And his ability isn't that remarkable. All it means is that his brain is extremely good at pattern recognition and memorization. ladyxzeus said: Hate to break it to ya, but he's gay. He's living with a French guy named Jerome. XDHe recited Pi? I want to marry him, then. Pi=<3 quere horrer! [can't spell that right either.] |
kisami said: Zetsubou1117 said: His face reminds me of a shark.. And his ability isn't that remarkable. All it means is that his brain is extremely good at pattern recognition and memorization. ladyxzeus said: Hate to break it to ya, but he's gay. He's living with a French guy named Jerome. XDHe recited Pi? I want to marry him, then. Pi=<3 quere horrer! [can't spell that right either.] You mean *quelle horreur* I guess. |
 |
| There's a lot of amazing people with Savant Syndrome like Daniel Tammet. Kim Peek, Matt Savage, Stephen Wiltshire and so on... I'm particularly interested in this type of phenomena, I spent a lot of time studying this outside of my psychology class and it turns out that the incredible abilities that Savant's possess are because of the lack of connection of neurons in certain areas of the brain which are usually connected and as a result the neurons then connect to other unusual parts of the brain such as sight with calculation, memory with smelling and so on. Doesn't mean it's the ACTUAL cause, but there seems to be some relevance to the disorder. |
| What isn't red? What isn't blue? |
| Oh. I can't marry him. Then hikky said: I don't have anything constructive to add, except that this is extremely old and discussed to death. |
Waratte Oemashou Sore ha Chiisana Inori |
| Just watched the whole thing, very interesting documentary indeed. If only I had that ability so I could do all my homework accurately instead of writing bullshit to complete (or at least start) all my holiday homework of five subjects that are due tomorrow... Oh well. |
| Signature removed. Please follow the signature rules, as defined in the Site & Forum Guidelines. |
| *brain explodes* Man...If I only had a tenth of what this guy can do. I could probably even go to Tokyo U or Stanford with just a tenth of that. |
| His mom gave birth to a scientific calculator. Sadly, it happens... Wonder what the mom ate and stuff before she had him... I've heard of autistic people being extremely good at certain things like that. We only use a percentage of our brain, so if we can use the right percentage and part of our brain or if we can use a higher percentage, it's possible. Concentration is key, which I have none of. |
| I don't find it amazing myself. It's something that can be proven eventually. Something supernatural, something that cannot be proven nor disproved but still there, is amazing. There are so many years in the future, infinite at that. This gives us an infinite amount of chances to let this kind of genius produce again. Meaning it'll happen again one day. |
| If knowledge can create problems, it is not through ignorance that we may solve them. Zer0// |
| instead of saying he's brilliant, why doesn't he go change something in humanity, make theorems, explain the reasons for poverty, discover the meaning of the universe and so on? |
| Ask him that, truly, I don't know. He is a rather interesting man though to the scientists, and they may find out more about the brain with him. But seriously, I think some things are supposed to remain hidden in mystery without a definite answer, like that meaning of the universe, death, and etcetc. I can't fathom what would happen once we do know them. |
| hmmmm you know, dongs can do arithmetic too, perhaps we can explore that more. |
Tachii said: Ask him that, truly, I don't know. He is a rather interesting man though to the scientists, and they may find out more about the brain with him. But seriously, I think some things are supposed to remain hidden in mystery without a definite answer, like that meaning of the universe, death, and etcetc. I can't fathom what would happen once we do know them. i can. absolute nihilism. |
| I think it is amazing. And if humans could ever utilise even 50% of their brain capacity instead of the smaller percentage of what most people usually use, it is astounding what could be positive things accomplished and achieved. |
ShySorrowJan 29, 2009 10:31 AM
 |
| He's Awesome. |
shylovegrisha said: I think it is amazing. And if humans could ever utilise even 50% of their brain capacity instead of the smaller percentage of what most people usually use, it is astounding what could be positive things accomplished and achieved. but i'd rather have emotional beings next to me than a bunch of mechanical robots. Although a bit less emotion wouldn't hurt ^_^ |
Sohei said: shylovegrisha said: I think it is amazing. And if humans could ever utilise even 50% of their brain capacity instead of the smaller percentage of what most people usually use, it is astounding what could be positive things accomplished and achieved. but i'd rather have emotional beings next to me than a bunch of mechanical robots. Although a bit less emotion wouldn't hurt ^_^ ????? I never know why you saying what you do when you come back and quote something I've said. I said nothing in my comment about emotions or lack thereof or mechanical robots. Just because I reference the positive possibilities of greater brain capacity, doesn't denote using more of one's brain would lessen one's emotional capacity or usage. |
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shylovegrisha said: Sohei said: shylovegrisha said: I think it is amazing. And if humans could ever utilise even 50% of their brain capacity instead of the smaller percentage of what most people usually use, it is astounding what could be positive things accomplished and achieved. but i'd rather have emotional beings next to me than a bunch of mechanical robots. Although a bit less emotion wouldn't hurt ^_^ ????? yet again. I never know why you saying what you do when you come back and quote something I've said. I said nothing in my comment about emotions or lack thereof or mechanical robots. Just because I referenced greater brain capacity, doesn't denote using more of one's brain would lessen one's emotional capacity. Autism means a lesser degree of social interaction. therefore, the greater the amount of people who would be like this man (in terms of intelligence), the more socially recluse society would become, leading to my analogy to robots. calm down. |
Sohei said: Autism means a lesser degree of social interaction. therefore, the greater the amount of people who would be like this man (in terms of intelligence), the more socially recluse society would become, leading to my analogy to robots. calm down. Again *sigh* I don't know why you are saying what you are saying. I know what autism is, and I didn't say anything about it. No one is upset, maybe I just have added a "LOL" after my words. You always assume what I am trying to say. I made one sentence about the person. "I think he is amazing." The next sentence was a personal thought in general. Again, stop assuming: 1. assuming I know what you are talking about or even read what you said before (or that you know what I am talking about because clearly you don't), or 2. that I am bothered or concerned about anything you or what you said enough to bother to get irritated :-) Just not the case. Quit trying to make problems where there are none. LOL |
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| Sure he can socialize, but he's not hot. Fail. Perfect human where? More serious Besides, what has he done other than memorize a bunch of numbers? He can do things pretty much near all of us can't, but can he think? Quite frankly I think someone like Kary B. Mullis is much for fantastic. |
SY_IS_DEAD_IRLJan 29, 2009 11:53 AM
shylovegrisha said: I think it is amazing. And if humans could ever utilise even 50% of their brain capacity instead of the smaller percentage of what most people usually use, it is astounding what could be positive things accomplished and achieved. Utilising more of our brain could be a negative situation too. Criminals would become much more smarter, their threats much more heavier. Discovering more and more each day using our enhanced brains would just make everything boring. Call me cold if you wish, but without a challenge like disease, scientists have nothing to do but research future technology. Which in the end will get boring too. Some things need to be kept simple. |
| If knowledge can create problems, it is not through ignorance that we may solve them. Zer0// |
Zer0Naught said: Utilising more of our brain could be a negative situation too. Criminals would become much more smarter, their threats much more heavier. That's like worrying about a terrorist attack on your city. Pointless. Threats never go away, no use factoring them into the progress of technology and humans in general. Zer0Naught said: Discovering more and more each day using our enhanced brains would just make everything boring. Call me cold if you wish, but without a challenge like disease, scientists have nothing to do but research future technology. Which in the end will get boring too. Some things need to be kept simple. Interplanetary transportation? Boring? What? |
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| A new brain, new knowledge. Just another way to kill us all off. The more knowledge we have, the more closer we are to destroying ourselves because we are a selfish and arrogant race. There will be one day were interplanetary transportation will be just an everyday thing. Terra-forming too. That'll end up being a small event happening everynow and then. 'A new planet has been discovered and can possibly be terra-formed. A new place to live! Only 3000 years away too!' Things will be faster too. Our lifespan will be much longer, alot can go on. The human race will just grow and grow if we don't kill ourselves. Where's the fun in expanding, believing in a false hope that we'll find out the meaning of everything one day. Edit |
| If knowledge can create problems, it is not through ignorance that we may solve them. Zer0// |
Zer0Naught said: A new brain, new knowledge. Just another way to kill us all off. The more knowledge we have, the more closer we are to destroying ourselves because we are a selfish and arrogant race. There will be one day were interplanetary transportation will be just an everyday thing. Terra-forming too. That'll end up being a small event happening everynow and then. 'A new planet has been discovered and can possibly be terra-formed. A new place to live! Only 3000 years away too!' Things will be faster too. Our lifespan will be much longer, alot can go on. The human race will just grow and grow if we don't kill ourselves. Where's the fun in expanding, believing in a false hope that we'll find out the meaning of everything one day. Edit Sounds like fear to me. Well, say whatever you want to say, I'm still going to go into research with the goal of doubling out life spans in mind. You can't, and never will be able to, stop progress. |
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