Came across a documentary called "Fragments of a Genius" on cable tv. Interesting how they (the geniuses) are called "Idiot Savant" - they are actually people who are autistic but possess one or more remarkable "gifts" from God.
Scientifically, it was said that only the part of their brain that controls logical thinking are impaired in some ways and the impairment actually enable other parts of the brain to process other kind information in enormous chunks that is not possible with ordinary people. Furthermore, the lost of logical thinking led them to "Think" in a creative and yet unexplainable ways that baffled scientists.
The "Savants" featured are:
Derek Paravicini, who has a keen ear for music - being able to play a tune after hearing it for the first time; able to repeat 10 piano notes (max numbers of fingers one has) concurrently; able to use the piano to duplicate the music from an orchestra of 50-60 instruments - all after hearing it for the first time. Even the music scholars are amazed at his ability.
Stephen Wiltshire, who has a photographic memory of architectural structures (like geometrical shapes) and able to sketch them in details after seeing them for the first time, right to the details of the number of columns, windows or steps. Yet he has problems with counting and simple additions. As I had found out from YouTube, he has been painting city landscapes all over the world after only having taken a helicopter rides in each of these cities once.
Another one is a "dates" genius (cannot recall the name) who can tell you the day, of a certain date and year exactly, and faster than one were to key into a computer program to calculate. Ironically, he is not able to do simple additions.
Having tickled my curiosity, I found another savant in YouTube, Kim Peek. He was the man that was modeled after in the show "Rain Man" by Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise. He has the remarkable ability to remember almost everything (98%) he read from a book. He speed reads as well, taking about 10 sec to read a page which ordinary person may take about 3 minutes to complete. His father said that he is also able to use each of his eyes to read both sides of the opened book concurrently. He is permanently stationed in Salt Lake City Public Library which houses more than 10 thousand books; which should keep him busy for a while.
All these savants are showing clear signs of autism. As one of the least autistic savant, Daniel Tammet explained, "He remember numbers as a series of colours and patterns". He has the astonishing ability to recite the numerical notation of the Mathematical PIE (3.14159...) up to 22 thousand digits (and it took him about 5 hours to recite it). On top of this, he managed to learn the Icelandic language in 1 week (the locals said it is the most difficult language to learn on earth) - and he had to be interviewed on the local television in that newly-learnt language after the 1 week period. He seems to be one of the rare savants to possess more than one unusual "skills". Accordingly to Daniel in one of the YouTube clips, there are only about 25 savants in the world.
In another YouTube clip, I found that in Japan, there are schools that are teaching students to use the abacus and further development will lead them to learn speed-calculations. Maybe there are ways to train a genius?
Is there a "genius" in you? I think we do to a certain extent. Sometimes, it is whether we are able to discover our strengths and further develop them to put them into good uses.
Something for you to think about: as Kim Peek said, "You do not have to be handicapped to be different, everyone is different".
Note: All these YouTube clips can be found with the names of the savant mentioned above.
21 February, 2010
20 February, 2010
The Start of "The Revival"
It has been a very long time that I last blogged, been about 5 years so far.
Amazingly how things had changed as I grew up, or rather, technologies had changed our lives. My army days were the time when mobile phones meant "brick" (actually bigger than a house building red brick, a normal house-sized telephone handset, with circuits that were housed in a hard-cased brief case) powered by a car battery and only the top executives can afford as the subscriptions were very pricy, not to mention the exorbitant air time charges.
As with most people, making calls outside meant that you had to prepare enough 10 cents coins or carry a phone cards. Quite often during normal civilised hours, you had to wait in queue just to use the public phone.
People wanting to contact you while you are outside meant that they will have to page you on your pager, and someone may have to devise some special codes to transfer a message. Those were the "ANCIENT TIMES", but they were much better than my parents' times, where not many households even have a telephone line at home.
Now with wi-fi, and gps being common utilities, we are really spoilt to the brim. Yet the communication industries are thinking of more ways to milk your $$$.
What will become of us when there come a day when such "conveniences" are taken away from us? I am sure human will adapt when the eventualities come - revert to "ancient" ways, like what we do in the army then, using communication cords or a 2-wire system to send pulses down the line, or even using smoke signals to communicate to a further destination. Like some ancient religions say, everything must go the beginning.
How some people have come to take things for "granted", as in a "must have". Interestingly, how some people are using "techno" as and when they wish, without due concerns for the people around them, be it their friends or business associates, or students in the midst of their lessons.
Oh yes, the last one is true in my experiences during the course of my work. Some of them are trying their luck to see if they can get away with it. I always caution them, not so much as to "confiscate" their phones or PSP, but to educate them in the way of the civility of proper behaviour. Imagine if they are constantly doing that in the company of their beloved - then the question will come as to how sincere one is in the relationship/companionship of their loved ones.
Much as I dislike my companions to be chatting incessantly on the phone in my presence, I do make it a point to minimise doing such inconsiderate acts. While at home with my family, I do not consciously place my HP beside me, just to preserve some of the privacy that I want with them. I guess that's my way of feeling more for them than anything else outside their lives in my free time.
Even with all the negative thoughts of technologies' "side-effects", I can only safely come to the conclusion that these "gadgets" are good for our daily undertakings but self-restraint to moderate the use should be the solution to prevent over-indulgence or over-reliant lest you will lose your humane self towards your relations.
To end the note, my life would be complete once I can revive my hobby ....
Amazingly how things had changed as I grew up, or rather, technologies had changed our lives. My army days were the time when mobile phones meant "brick" (actually bigger than a house building red brick, a normal house-sized telephone handset, with circuits that were housed in a hard-cased brief case) powered by a car battery and only the top executives can afford as the subscriptions were very pricy, not to mention the exorbitant air time charges.
As with most people, making calls outside meant that you had to prepare enough 10 cents coins or carry a phone cards. Quite often during normal civilised hours, you had to wait in queue just to use the public phone.
People wanting to contact you while you are outside meant that they will have to page you on your pager, and someone may have to devise some special codes to transfer a message. Those were the "ANCIENT TIMES", but they were much better than my parents' times, where not many households even have a telephone line at home.
Now with wi-fi, and gps being common utilities, we are really spoilt to the brim. Yet the communication industries are thinking of more ways to milk your $$$.
What will become of us when there come a day when such "conveniences" are taken away from us? I am sure human will adapt when the eventualities come - revert to "ancient" ways, like what we do in the army then, using communication cords or a 2-wire system to send pulses down the line, or even using smoke signals to communicate to a further destination. Like some ancient religions say, everything must go the beginning.
How some people have come to take things for "granted", as in a "must have". Interestingly, how some people are using "techno" as and when they wish, without due concerns for the people around them, be it their friends or business associates, or students in the midst of their lessons.
Oh yes, the last one is true in my experiences during the course of my work. Some of them are trying their luck to see if they can get away with it. I always caution them, not so much as to "confiscate" their phones or PSP, but to educate them in the way of the civility of proper behaviour. Imagine if they are constantly doing that in the company of their beloved - then the question will come as to how sincere one is in the relationship/companionship of their loved ones.
Much as I dislike my companions to be chatting incessantly on the phone in my presence, I do make it a point to minimise doing such inconsiderate acts. While at home with my family, I do not consciously place my HP beside me, just to preserve some of the privacy that I want with them. I guess that's my way of feeling more for them than anything else outside their lives in my free time.
Even with all the negative thoughts of technologies' "side-effects", I can only safely come to the conclusion that these "gadgets" are good for our daily undertakings but self-restraint to moderate the use should be the solution to prevent over-indulgence or over-reliant lest you will lose your humane self towards your relations.
To end the note, my life would be complete once I can revive my hobby ....
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