Spinning Button On A String

[kazh]

I grew up down the street from the guy who was the inspiration for "Rain Man." He was smarter than everybody -- memorized the Denver phone book just for something to do. He wandered around our neighborhood spinning a button on a string all day. This thread makes me wonder if he was actually analyzing while he walked, instead of just giving his hands something to do.

He was an OK guy, just disconnected. His younger brother was one of my best friends. Wonder if he ever met Tom Cruise.

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by kazh

I grew up down the street from the guy who was the inspiration for "Rain Man." He was smarter than everybody -- memorized the Denver phone book just for something to do. He wandered around our neighborhood spinning a button on a string all day. This thread makes me wonder if he was actually analyzing while he walked, instead of just giving his hands something to do.

He was an OK guy, just disconnected. His younger brother was one of my best friends. Wonder if he ever met Tom Cruise.

Wonderful anecdote. If ever you should have the chance to ask him, by all means do. I have seen him (I forget his name) on TV before, and I realize asking him a question is a tricky bit.

I don't get the Tom Cruise reference?

[InfiniteNow]

Kim Peek.
And, Tom Cruise was one of the 2 main stars in the movie Rain Man.

YouTube - Kim Peek - The Real Rain Man [1/5]

[CraigD]

Originally Posted by kazh

I grew up down the street from the guy who was the inspiration for "Rain Man."
…
Wonder if he ever met Tom Cruise.

I think there’s a good chance he has. He appears to have pretty close ties to Barry Morrow, who wrote the pre-screenplay story for “Rain Man”, and Dustin Hoffman, who played the character he inspired, met him while preparing for the role (this profile of Kim Peek has some photos of Peek and Morrow posing with the 1949 Buick from the movie, and mention of his meeting with Hoffman). Hoffman mentioned Peek in his acceptance speech for the best leading actor Oscar he won for the role, one of 5 Oscars the film won.

His father, Fran Peek, published a biography of his son titled “The Real Rain Man” in 1996, and since then, Kim and Fran have made many public appearances. Discovery Channel aired a documentary on Peek titled “Brainman” in 2005, which, with the “Rainman” connection and the book, made the Peeks, if not true celebrities, at least pretty well known.

For all this, this is the first I’ve heard, and, according to a google search, the first internet mention, of Kim Peek playing with a button on a string.

Originally Posted by kazh

This thread makes me wonder if he was actually analyzing while he walked, instead of just giving his hands something to do.

My guess is that his attention was attracted to the regularity of its cycle and the sound it made, not to any analysis of its physics.

Although Peek’s memory and other skills are extraordinary, and he’s unusual among savants in displaying original thought, and his ability to interact somewhat normally with people, he’s very limited in his ability to understand cause-and-effect connections and symbolic representations of the kind needed to consider the mechanics of even a simple physical system. Though some accomplished symbolic thinkers exhibited savant-like abilities, such as extraordinary recall and arithmetic ability (eg: John von Neumann), few if any profound savants are able to think symbolically or scientifically.

It’s important, I think, to be mindful of how cognitively atypical many savants, such as Peek, are, and avoid the tendency to interpret their behavior as we would our own. From the anatomy of their brains to how they perceive and interact with the world, savants like Peek are profoundly different.

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by CraigD

For all this, this is the first I’ve heard, and, according to a google search, the first internet mention, of Kim Peek playing with a button on a string. My guess is that his attention was attracted to the regularity of its cycle and the sound it made, not to any analysis of its physics.

Although Peek’s memory and other skills are extraordinary, and he’s unusual among savants in displaying original thought, and his ability to interact somewhat normally with people, he’s very limited in his ability to understand cause-and-effect connections and symbolic representations of the kind needed to consider the mechanics of even a simple physical system. ...

Mmmmm...didn't find an e-mail for Mr. Peek did you? The best I could find was a gal setting up appointments for appearences at schools by Mr. Peek & Mr. Peek.*

Whether or not Kim has any thoughts on the physics involved, I bet he remembers where & when he learned about the spinning-disk-on-a-string, as well as 98.8% of everything he has ever read about the device.


*The Real Rain Man: A Father's Inspiring Account of Kim Peek, Made Famous by Oscar Winner Dustin Hoffman

[kazh]

Kim was usually mumbling/muttering something while he spun the button. Asking him questions didn't get much response.

I'm glad to read that Kim's doing well. Too bad his parents divorced. I wonder whatever happened to his mother, as well as his younger brother, my old friend Brian (Cruise's character -- same hair color as Cruise, also fun-loving & caring, but squarer of face).

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by kazh

Kim was usually mumbling/muttering something while he spun the button. Asking him questions didn't get much response.

I'm glad to read that Kim's doing well. Too bad his parents divorced. I wonder whatever happened to his mother, as well as his younger brother, my old friend Brian (Cruise's character -- same hair color as Cruise, also fun-loving & caring, but squarer of face).

Thanks for bringing this to my attention kazh. I sent an email to the gal I referenced, and explained my interest in communicating with Kim and included a link to this thread. Two steps back, two forward.

[Turtle]

Due to technical difficulties, our reading here is temporarily interrupted. May I humbly suggest that a fine & good way to while away the time until all is restored, is to make a disk-on-a-string from items at your desk, and spin it. Instructions are in post #1.