Catalyst

[beren]

Did anyone catch Catalyst on the ABC on Thursday night ? Very interesting , part two is this week , the shows story {Wonders of the Brain} centre's around Daniel Tammet who has the remarkable gift of performing incrediable math calculations unaided. Worth a look:)

[xelasnave]

Will it make me feel better about myself or inadequate. I missed it and so wanted to see the show. I have met someone like that years ago unbeatable in that area but a little ":funny" with other things.
alex

[Dujon]

Probably "inadequate", Alex. I watched the transmission. The gentleman in question is what is often termed as 'a savant' but, unlike most others of his ilk, has the ability to explain what he's doing. If the information supplied is to believed he calculated Pi to 25,000 (twenty five thousand) decimal places - in his head and in front of five invigilators. It took many hours.

Incidentally, 'what he is doing' includes seeing numbers as colours and textures.

[beren]

Amazing ability but the 1st part really doesnt show whether he is more of a natural calculator or someone who can go beyond that ...the second part I think tests this

[iceman]

Sounds interesting, might give it a watch. Thanks for the heads-up.

[xelasnave]

So to throw in the old red herring..I wonder how his iq is rated and in the context of what he does does an iq rating have any meaning?
alex

[Starkler]

The show briefly mentioned how this ability can occur when the brain gets miswired tieing sections of the brain responsible for different functions together. This can happen with brain injuries.

In the case of Daniel Tammit, it is speculated that the brain centre for dealing with numbers, and that dealing with shape and texture have been linked together.

To us mere mortals, numbers are a fairly abstract entity compared to a person who can see them in the form of a textured landscape.

Fascinating stuff.

[beren]

Alex the interesting thing is that Daniel says he sees the answers before he even thinks about it :shrug: be interesting next week if they test/measure his IQ.....forgot to add along with this ability he can also pick up languages fairly quickly

http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/

[Ric]

I watched that episode, fascinating stuff.
There was mention of another fellow who was hit on the head with a baseball and since then could remember what the weather was on any given day. i'll definitely be watching part 2.

[beren]

Imagine copping a blow to the head from a incorrectly balanced EQ mounted scope and then being able to recite the complete NGC,IC,HD/HDE ,SAO,USNO-B1.0 catalogues....rather handy:thumbsup: