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205 Comments
- AdrianKRAZY, on 01/08/2009, -3/+191Dugg because it was worth the read.
- inactive, on 01/07/2009, -12/+150Dugg, because I'd like all the benefits of autism without the social ineptness that comes with it. amirite?
- Navicerts, on 01/07/2009, -2/+117I like this guy! It's hard to judge from just an article but he seems to really have social skills beyond what I would expect from an autistic person. Of course this probably says more about me than him (as i have never met an autistic person, just going on how culture defines them in movies, which is invariably wrong).
He's humble too :) - datagod, on 01/08/2009, -5/+112I heard about this guy on the radio today. He can also read two pages of a book simultaneously, one page per eye. That is way cool.
Reminds me of the Mentats from Dune. In case you are unfamiliar, in the Dune Universe computers were forbidden (due to a previous uprising) so the human brain was pushed and stretched and trained to replace and even surpass the computers. These people were referred to as Mentats. - ran24, on 01/08/2009, -0/+82So that's where the Fallout mentat pills got their name. Useless trivia for the day gained!
- Zalian, on 01/07/2009, -3/+62He doesn't have skills because he is autistic. He has skills because he is a savant.
- javin666, on 01/08/2009, -12/+7037, yeah... definitely a lumpy number... definitely
- pinheadenator, on 01/08/2009, -1/+52Here's an episode detailing his thought process:
http://tinyurl.com/9s5w6w - inactive, on 01/08/2009, -3/+53I wonder if he keeps an anime blog in a forum that only he posts in
- KingBroseph, on 01/08/2009, -1/+45Special on Discovery Channel about him called Brainman. It's amazing.
- winter360, on 01/08/2009, -0/+37there are varying degrees of autism. Some autistics have very hard times communicating while others can grow up and you wouldn't even know they were autistic. It all depends
- inactive, on 01/08/2009, -5/+42He's like a charismatic rainman
- Stuntaneous, on 01/08/2009, -0/+34probably should be the usual reason you digg things.
- MarkOfTheDead, on 01/08/2009, -0/+31Achievement Unlocked!
- rmxz, on 01/08/2009, -3/+33I find this austic woman more amazing: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/28/the-langu ...
You can see her normal behavior - which looks exactly like a very severe case of autism; but she then explains (though she can't talk well, she can type very well) her translation of what she's doing and it totally changes your perspective on how she thinks. - WafflePirate, on 01/08/2009, -1/+30I wish I half as smart as this guy. Autism or no autism, from what I've read he seems just as capable if not more than anyone else. I can see him accomplishing big things in the future.
- Ajzzz, on 01/08/2009, -1/+27He seemed honest, open, and succinct, didn't dodge a question or meander once. He's like the anti-politician.
- painting, on 01/08/2009, -1/+27by admitting that he is not special makes him even more special.
- Onion575, on 01/08/2009, -0/+23I think its Kim Peek, not Daniel that reads one page per eye.
http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=k2T45r5G3kA&feat ... - inactive, on 01/08/2009, -1/+24You're getting buried for saying those languages are Latin based. German is not based on Latin, it is German based. Lithuanian is Slavic based. Finnish and Estonian are Baltic based languages. Icelandic is German based. Welsh is about as un-latin as can get. It came from ancient languages that are now extinct.
Suggesting that he learned all those languages because of similarities is absolutely wrong. Those languages are extremely different, but they're all based on similar alphabets.
I'm just surprised he didn't learn Lojban before creating his own language. - 9bpm9, on 01/08/2009, -2/+24 I was being taught maths at school and realised I could do the sums quickly, intuitively and in my own way - not using the techniques we were taught.
And that's why the way we are taught math in school is stupid. I've always thought there would be an easier way to do a lot of problems than the way I was taught. Of course I was just too damn lazy to figure these ways out. - carbonfilament, on 01/08/2009, -0/+21I'm jealous. I've been trying to learn other languages, each one is a struggle. Getting to the point of thinking in the language and visualizing the words without the translations is the really tough part, and he does it from instinct. So cool.
- elliotys, on 01/08/2009, -2/+22Check out Steven Wiltshire
http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=jVqRT_kCOLI
He blows my mind. - Pareidoliatic, on 01/08/2009, -2/+19Well ... I'm lumpy and round, but I bet he can't visualize anything quite as lame as me.
- identitymatrix, on 01/08/2009, -0/+17Why judge from just an article when you can watch a 47 minute video about him:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4913196365 ... - Anifanatic, on 01/08/2009, -0/+16Truly you are a god among men.
- inactive, on 01/08/2009, -1/+17that would be impossible you can't do things 'your special way' and have others be comfortable with you being different
more people could very likely have savantish abilities naturally but it is socialized out of you at a very young age
the realization at a very primal level that you need social acceptance for survival comes at the cost of abilities that would make the group reject you
almost all children have dreams in which they can fly but few adults do - Eorster, on 01/08/2009, -0/+15Yea, but 7 by itself is a very sharp number. Very jagged. 37 is lumpy. But 7 is even sharper than the number one, which isn't sharp at all really, but rather a blanket. Yea one is like a blanket that covers everything.
- mastercheif, on 01/08/2009, -3/+16Thanks for the diagnosis dr.scrptkid
- carbonfilament, on 01/08/2009, -0/+12I was thinking the same thing. It would be interesting to see how he would teach numbers, or if someone based a math class on his understanding. I wonder if we all could unlock that potential if we were taught numbers the way he thinks about them.
- dokbeast7, on 01/08/2009, -0/+12He wrote a book (actually I think he wrote two now) kind of like an autobiography called "Born On a Blue Day." I read it last summer and it's really fascinating, not only the amazing abilities he has but also the way he is able to describe the way he thinks and feels as an autistic person. I recommend it if you liked the article.
- hmoore9, on 01/08/2009, -3/+15Mmmmm, porridge. Makes me want a bowl of 37.
- eLuminx, on 01/08/2009, -0/+12There was a whole segment about him on the Discovery channel not so long ago, and he seems like a very "normal" person (by normal i mean not a savant). The segment was very interesting and it went into alot of how he sees things and how he relates numbers to shapes and other things. Just like the article, but they also had in the show how he was able to learn Icelandic in one week. It supposed to be a pretty difficult language and he was interview on live TV in Iceland speaking the language for the first time. He is a very interesting person, as am sure alot of other savants are as well.
- adrenalmedulla9, on 01/08/2009, -2/+14This guy is awesome.
- inactive, on 01/08/2009, -1/+12I'm already socially inept, so why aren't I smart?
- twiztidsinz, on 01/08/2009, -6/+15I'm not sure why I'm getting buried.
I think what he's done is amazing.. he SELF TAUGHT 10 languages. Factor in English and that's at least 11 languages he knows (discounting the language he made himself, and the article doesn't say he's been taught other languages by someone else).
Chinese and Japanese are pretty hard languages to learn, I'm curious as to how well he'd do learning them. He obviously has an affinity for languages, but would that carry over to non-Latin based ones as well? - Elliuotatar, on 01/08/2009, -0/+9Sounds like he has a form of synesthesia when dealing with numbers.
People with that will say that a spicy food has spikes, or that the color blue is a sphere, or that a particular sound is orange.
Think about how you can glance at a group of objects and tell instantly if they are all green, and how a single blue object in the group would stand out immediately. He can do the same thing with prime numbers.
And I'm not so sure it's something that can be learned. - joot2112, on 01/08/2009, -1/+10Can't believe they didn't mention his book about his experiences. "Born on a Blue Day" -- it's great!
- AutoTom, on 01/08/2009, -0/+9he's clearly a superhero and doesnt know it yet..
he just has lame powers like 'good at maths' and 'reads fast' - systemghost, on 01/08/2009, -0/+9Brilliance should always be respected, no matter of what type. I like his linguistic angle.
- Anonymerican, on 01/08/2009, -9/+18I wonder if he has a word that combines close-minded, douchebag, and tool...
I bet it sounds similar to twiztidsinz. - sq2shooter, on 01/08/2009, -0/+9Interesting. I also "see" numbers not as numbers but as shapes. Math always came easy to me and I attribute it to the way that I visualize numbers. It is always interesting to me when I read about someone who does math kind of similar to the way I do. Like him, I never did math the way it was taught in school. This guy is way out of my league and does a great job of explaining how he does it. I have tried over and over again and have never been able to give a coherent description of how I see numbers. People just give me the confused dog look.
- Delphium226, on 01/08/2009, -0/+9I think you're getting confused between 'Latin alphabet' and 'Latin languages'.
- twiztidsinz, on 01/08/2009, -13/+21"Daniel Tammet is 29 and grew up in London as the eldest of nine children. He has Asperger's syndrome, synaesthesia and had epilepsy as a child. He has taught himself French, Finnish, German, Spanish, Lithuanian, Romanian, Welsh, Estonian, Icelandic and Esperanto."
Those are all Latin based languages (I believe), I wonder how he'd do with Chinese, Japanese or another Asian language that doesn't use Latin letters. - Hijack32, on 01/08/2009, -1/+9Oh how he knows so many many words and he chose to use the word LUMPY
- Elliuotatar, on 01/08/2009, -2/+10I do as well. The number four is like a trangle on a stick for example.
- XZanatos, on 01/08/2009, -2/+10Digging you down because Finnish is NOT a latin language. The closest related language to Finnish is Sanskrit which hasn't been a living language for over 1000 years. Very difficult language to learn because it is very different from any other languages, this is why it was so very impressive that he learned it in a week.
I know, you guessed, so no hard feelings, but you guessed wrong. - FaeR, on 01/08/2009, -3/+10http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=23511723314 ...
For anyone that would like to learn more about this boy with the incredible brain. - Navicerts, on 01/08/2009, -1/+8Something wrong with being polite on the internet? Besides, it's more honesty than politeness (although I do make an effort).
- hanger69er, on 01/08/2009, -0/+7i have to agree w/ vastness - the good article part. it's refreshing to learn of something that doesn't relate to gloom and doom.
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