[Barry Scott]

I watched a documentary on an autistic man called Kim Peek, he featured in the film 'Rain Man,' he does literally have a photographic memory. This amazing person can read two pages in a book simultaneously in a matter of seconds, while remembering 98% of the information in the book. He literally spends his life in the library and currently has memorized over 9000 books. If you tell him your date of birth, he will tell you what day you were born on, he will also calculate when you will turn 65 and be able to retire, in a matter of seconds. Im very interested in these amazing powers, does anyone else know of any autistic talents?

[InfiniteNow]

The interesting thing is that these "abilities" are an emergent property of an overall "disability." In theory, it could be presented that we each innately have the same (what you call) powers, it's just that the impact of the mental disorder in these cases allows the individual to access them more noticably.

There isn't really a category of "altruistic talents," no set of skills common among all effected. Each individual will express differences in presentation of these characteristics based on their specific genetic and socioculutural combinations.

[hallenrm]

Another way to look at this phenomenon would be to recognize, that in 'normal' people the innate energy is distributed amongst the various degrees of freedom in a human being.

These extraordinary skills are a result of all the energy being directed towards very few skills. (I am indeed reminded of the lectures in physical chemistry, about the energy distribution amongst various energy states of a molecule in a gas)

[Jay-qu]

I saw a doc on this kid, who was born blind and mentally disabled. When he was three his dad bought him a keyboard (piano) and he just started playing it. Now as a 10 year old you can play any note on the piano and he can tell you what it is! Once he has heard a song played he is able to play the whole thing back, just by listening to it. Incredible stuff!

[somasimple]

Hi,

These extraordinary skills are a result of all the energy being directed towards very few skills. (I am indeed reminded of the lectures in physical chemistry, about the energy distribution amongst various energy states of a molecule in a gas)

I'm not sure that neuro-scientists agree with this tale. It is sure that energy is the source of all life but it seems quite sure that neurons are the players of these skills.

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by Barry Scott

I watched a documentary on an autistic man called Kim Peek...

After getting Kim & his father's permission they ran a special brain scan of some kind on Kim and discovered he has no corpus collosum; the physical connection between his brain hemispheres is absent.

[EWright]

Originally Posted by Jay-qu

I saw a doc on this kid, who was born blind and mentally disabled. When he was three his dad bought him a keyboard (piano) and he just started playing it. Now as a 10 year old you can play any note on the piano and he can tell you what it is! Once he has heard a song played he is able to play the whole thing back, just by listening to it. Incredible stuff!

I saw this doc... while many musicians with perfect pictch can tell you what note, notes (a few), interval, etc your playing... this kid could listen to a chord with something like ten notes played *simultaneously* and know every note and play them back to you. It was absolutely amazing. He'd also take a classical piece written by one composer and play it for you "as if" it were written by another, with a slightly different rhythmic variations, etc. And it really felt that way! See it if you can!

[Barry Scott]

Yeh i find it incredible too Jay-Qu, i did some research on it. Like the kid who can play any song perfectly once hes heard it, theres a person with a similar talent. Hes an artist, once hes seen a picture or a particular view he can paint it perfectly. If theres a tree with 2,000 leaves he'l paint every single one of them exactly to scale, exactly the right colour. Like many of these amazing people he has literally a photographic memory, i think thats the key to there talents. Like Turtle said Kim Peek actually has no corpus collosum,(i dont know what that is, but im sure its important ) as well as that im pretty sure their neurons 'behave' diffrently.

[Jay-qu]

Originally Posted by EWright

this kid could listen to a chord with something like ten notes played *simultaneously* and know every note and play them back to you. It was absolutely amazing. He'd also take a classical piece written by one composer and play it for you "as if" it were written by another, with a slightly different rhythmic variations, etc. And it really felt that way! See it if you can!

yup thats the exact one. They a few other kids with the same talent, all blind and with metal disabilities. One girl played a song after hearing it on multiple tracks, as in she played it in one key, then again in another, then again with the flute (which she taught herself how to play) and mixed it all together so she was effectively accompanning herself

[HydrogenBond]

After getting Kim & his father's permission they ran a special brain scan of some kind on Kim and discovered he has no corpus collosum; the physical connection between his brain hemispheres is absent.

The corpus collosum connects the hemispheres but acts like a filter. The spatial right side of the brain can not send full spatial signals to the left hemisphere because of this filter. For example, natural instincts are spatial in that they integrate the individual with the world around them and with their species. Very few people experince this. Instead this spatial ouptut reaches us (left hemisphere) as scaled down versions of the same thing, usually based on logical philosophy. The philosophy has the gut feeling of this spatial quality but the corpus collosum filters this down to an intuition that is then filled in with logic lines.

Kim by not having this filter is getting 3-D memory full force. This explains the high capacity of his conscious memory. It also explains his apparent idiot side. He has little rational foundation because his mind is working faster becuase of the influence of the higher density 3-d memory with little rational foundation to make practical use of it.