"A genius explains"

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"A genius explains"

Posted by Ken Cousins on Monday February 21, @12:43AM
from the Smells like symbolic logic dept.
"Tammet is calculating 377 multiplied by 795. Actually, he isn't "calculating": there is nothing conscious about what he is doing. He arrives at the answer instantly. Since his epileptic fit, he has been able to see numbers as shapes, colours and textures. The number two, for instance, is a motion, and five is a clap of thunder. 'When I multiply numbers together, I see two shapes. The image starts to change and evolve, and a third shape emerges. That's the answer. It's mental imagery. It's like maths without having to think.' " Excerpted from "A Genius Explains," interview with mathematical genius and autistic savant Daniel Tammet, written by Richard Johnson. Published in the Guardian Unlimited, Feb 12, 2005 Full text available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,,1409903,00.html
This would seem to re-open traditional understandings of symbolic logic and human-level intelligence. Is there something akin to a "grammar" in Tammet's cognition? Forget for a moment that he is able to articulate his thought in a means we can understand - what if symbolic cognition of the sort he describes is more common? What if it's not restricted to human cognition?

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Re: "A genius explains"
by Travis Barker on Wednesday February 23, @11:06AM

I started a project to research and develop a related area of study some years ago, you can still find google cache of it if you search "cybertext communicataions proposal" or "ThetaThema." basically I proposed a method by which one might develop a new [faster?] method of communicating arbitrary messages by using a color coded alphabet among other animated symbolic representations. The project hasn't really gone anywhere since my initial proposal and submission to sourceforge.net however at least I got the concept "out". The latest version of my paper is at http://thetabase.net/twiki/bin/view/Main/ThetaThema It really is interesting stuff, I just hope that one day I find time (or funding) to develop it a bit more seriously.

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Re: "A genius explains"
by jesus on Monday February 28, @07:17PM

bullshit.

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Re: "A genius explains"
by Anna Kane on Tuesday March 01, @02:16AM

I wonder if anybody moderates those insightful comments.

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Re: "A genius explains"
by hhmm on Tuesday March 01, @04:05PM

you people have too much time on your hands

seriously

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Re: "A genius explains"
by John on Thursday March 03, @05:45PM

Thank you for the article

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Re: "A genius explains"
by Pat on Friday March 04, @08:44AM

I also thank you for the article :) -- Pat

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Re: "A genius explains"
by Chris on Tuesday March 08, @04:57PM

Interesting. Thanks for the article.

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Re: "A genius explains"
by watdouthink on Saturday March 19, @01:05PM

that is so retarded

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Re: "A genius explains"
by ed on Sunday June 25, @10:06AM

i seen that dude on tv, very interesting and very lucky he can communicate under social norms as most autistic people at that level cant do that

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