autistic guy draws near perfect panorama of Rome

[Tjalfe]

After a 45minute flight over Rome, this guy draws a near perfect panorama

http://www.break.com/index/autistic-man-draws-near-perfect-panorama=of-rome.html

Just incredible

[Helevitia]

All I can say is

[Gurm]

Before you start being TOO amazed, remember that this guy can't make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich... or tie his shoes.

[Jessterw]

I think most American wives would say the same about their husbands

It's still amazing.

[Helevitia]

Before you start being TOO amazed, remember that this guy can't make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich... or tie his shoes.

Maybe I'm missing something here, but isn't that why it IS amazing? because normally he can't do much but somehow has this miraculous gift of taking an extremely detailed photographic picture with his mind and then draw it over a course of 3 days?

[TransformX]

I see Gurms point. Although he is a PERSON, he lacks a great deal of functions other PERSONS have, but he makes a great camera. Frankly, we'd be far more amazed with a crappy camera that is capable of the limited human functionalities this guy has.

[Technoid]

Before you start being TOO amazed, remember that this guy can't make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich... or tie his shoes.

And he might just be fine with not having to eat one

[cjolley]

Before you start being TOO amazed, remember that this guy can't make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich... or tie his shoes.

He can't?
I didn't see anything in that to indicate such.

Maybe I'm missing something here, but isn't that why it IS amazing?...

No, it's amazing because ANYBODY being able to do that is amazing.


And he didn't have to memorize the number of windows and columns in the buildings, just the proportions.
Knowing the proportions will give him the right number even if couldn't tell you the number without counting them in the drawing.

[Claymonkey]

photographic memory is the one gift I wish I had. It seems to set a lot of artists apart from others. Still 'making it' as very little to do with innate abilities and more to do with luck and drive.

Still I am AMAZED at what this guy can do and very very jealous

[Gurm]

Ok, my point was poorly made.

Is what he can do amazing? Certainly, when taken by itself. Anyone capable of photographic reproduction of a briefly-viewed scene is amazing.

However, taken in context it becomes less amazing. Savants have existed throughout history. The context of this particular fellow is that he is low-functioning autistic. That makes his feat less spectacular, and places him in the "idiot savant" group. While these individuals make for fascinating case studies, they're only marginally "people".

I don't want photo-recall if it means I have to lose my other higher cognitive functions to get it. I suspect that very few people would. I'll settle for full-text-recall and the ability to appreciate sarcasm (if not adequately render it, due to long association with certain small children), thanks.

[Jessterw]

Watching him, I'd actually say he's a rather high-functioning autistic. Certainly not low-functioning.

What we would settle for and what we are left with are often very different things. The fact that there have been people like this all throughout history doesn't make the fact that they exist with the abilities they do any less amazing.

Marginally "people"? As a parent of a child with disabilities and as a Special Olympics coach of several autistic children, I'd say that's a rather misinformed and judgmental statement.

[Brian Ellis]

While these individuals make for fascinating case studies, they're only marginally "people".

Gurm

Like myself, you are not renowned for diplomacy, but that is the most insensitive remark I've heard for many a long day. I'm quite sure the individual in question would be offended to be considered as only 'marginally "people"'. This guy is not an idiot savant, he understands what is going on around him and can hold conversations. Unlike some autistic persons, he does not appear to be withdrawn into himself. Even those that are can be very loving people with individual personalities. Each person in this world, even the great Gurm, has his cerebral pluses and minuses. Those that take advantage of their pluses are great. The following individuals all had/have autistic traits: are they all "marginally people"?

* Jane Austen, 1775-1817, English novelist, author of Pride and Prejudice (see above)
* Béla Bartók, 1881-1945, Hungarian composer
* Ludwig van Beethoven, 1770-1827, German/Viennese composer
* Alexander Graham Bell, 1847-1922, Scottish/Canadian/American inventor of the telephone
* Anton Bruckner, 1824-1896, Austrian composer
* Henry Cavendish, 1731-1810, English/French scientist, discovered the composition of air and water
* Emily Dickinson, 1830-1886, US poet
* Thomas Edison, 1847-1931, US inventor
* Albert Einstein, 1879-1955, German/American theoretical physicist
* Henry Ford, 1863-1947, US industrialist
* Kaspar Hauser, c1812-1833, German foundling, portrayed in a film by Werner Herzog
* Oliver Heaviside, 1850-1925, English physicist
* Thomas Jefferson, 1743-1826, US politician
* Carl Jung, 1875-1961, Swiss psychoanalyst
* Franz Kafka, 1883-1924, Czech writer
* Wasily Kandinsky, 1866-1944, Russian/French painter
* H P Lovecraft, 1890-1937, US writer
* Ludwig II, 1845-1886, King of Bavaria
* Charles Rennie Mackintosh, 1868-1928, Scottish architect and designer
* Gustav Mahler, 1860-1911, Czech/Austrian composer
* Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 1756-1791, Austrian composer
* Isaac Newton, 1642-1727, English mathematician and physicist
* Friedrich Nietzsche, 1844-1900, German philosopher
* Bertrand Russell, 1872-1970, British logician
* George Bernard Shaw, 1856-1950, Irish playwright, writer of Pygmalion (see above), critic and Socialist
* Richard Strauss, 1864-1949, German composer
* Nikola Tesla, 1856-1943, Serbian/American scientist, engineer, inventor of electric motors
* Henry Thoreau, 1817-1862, US writer
* Alan Turing, 1912-1954, English mathematician, computer scientist and cryptographer
* Mark Twain, 1835-1910, US humorist
* Vincent Van Gogh, 1853-1890, Dutch painter
* Ludwig Wittgenstein, 1889-1951, Viennese/English logician and philosopher

Historical people prominent in the late twentieth century (died after 1975)

* Isaac Asimov, 1920-1992, Russian/US writer on science and of science fiction, author of Bicentennial Man (see above)
* Hans Asperger, 1906-1980, Austrian paediatric doctor after whom Asperger's Syndrom is named
* John Denver, 1943-1997, US musician
* Glenn Gould, 1932-1982, Canadian pianist
* Jim Henson, 1936-1990, creator of the Muppets, US puppeteer, writer, producer, director, composer
* Alfred Hitchcock, 1899-1980, English/American film director
* Howard Hughes, 1905-1976, US billionaire
* Andy Kaufman, 1949-1984, US comedian, subject of the film Man on the Moon
* L S Lowry, 1887-1976, English painter of "matchstick men"
* Charles Schulz, 1922-2000, US cartoonist and creator of Peanuts and Charlie Brown
* Andy Warhol, 1928-1987, US artist

Contemporary famous people

* Woody Allen, 1935-, US comedian, actor, writer, director, producer, jazz clarinettist
* Tony Benn, 1925-, English Labour politician
* Bob Dylan, 1941-, US singer-songwriter
* Joseph Erber, 1985-, young English composer/musician who has Asperger's Syndrome, subject of a BBC TV documentary
* Bobby Fischer, 1943-, US chess champion
* Bill Gates, 1955-, US global monopolist
* Genie, 1957-?, US "wild child" (see also L'Enfant Sauvage, Victor, above)
* Crispin Glover, 1964-, US actor
* Al Gore, 1948-, former US Vice President and presidential candidate
* Jeff Greenfield, 1943-, US political analyst/speechwriter, a political wonk
* David Helfgott, 1947-, Australian pianist, subject of the film Shine
* Michael Jackson, 1958-, US singer
* Garrison Keillor, 1942-, US writer, humorist and host of Prairie Home Companion
* Kevin Mitnick, 1963-, US "hacker"
* John Motson, 1945-, English sports commentator
* John Nash, 1928-, US mathematician (portrayed by Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind, USA 2001)
* Keith Olbermann, 1959-, US sportscaster
* Michael Palin, 1943-, English comedian and presenter
* Keanu Reeves, 1964-, Lebanese/Canadian/US actor
* Oliver Sacks, 1933-, UK/US neurologist, author of The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Awakenings
* James Taylor, 1948-, US singer/songwriter

[TransformX]

The following individuals all had/have autistic traits: are they all "marginally people"?

Most people have moronic traits (they sometimes act like morons, making fool out of themselves), does it mean they're utter Morons?
Many people have mild disabilities, does it mean they should all be allowed to park in the disabled parking areas?
That kind of generalization is plain stupid.

Fact is, my cats are more independent, capable of showing more emotion and capable of explaining themselves better than many 'severely' autistic people. Does it mean my cats are 'amazing'? Does it mean they deserve full human rights? Give me a break

edit: let me be blunt here.
There are general usage CPUs out there such as Intel's 'Core' and AMD 'Athlon'. No, they can't encode or decode video stream as well as dedicated chips, which could be referred to as dedicated processing units. Still, we all buy those general processors for our computers for most of the things we do. Sure, that dedicated processor is a wizard in video streams, but can it balance my check book? Can it run my operating system, can I play games, surf the net, read my mail with it? NO. Is it amazing? Only in the narrow context of its designated task.

GPUs and CPUs have about the same amount of transistors inside them, yet you run your computer and OS on a CPU, not on a GPU. Yes, GPUs are amazing with graphics because their transistors are arranged in a very dedicated way. They still suck as general purpose CPU.

[Brian Ellis]

Most people have moronic traits (they sometimes act like morons, making fool out of themselves), does it mean they're utter Morons?
Many people have mild disabilities, does it mean they should all be allowed to park in the disabled parking areas?
That kind of generalization is plain stupid.

Fact is, my cats are more independent, capable of showing more emotion and capable of explaining themselves better than many 'severely' autistic people. Does it mean my cats are 'amazing'? Does it mean they deserve full human rights? Give me a break

That kind of generalization is plain stupid. A moron is, by formal definition, an adult with a mental age of between about eight and twelve. If you consider "moronic traits" to include anyone who occasionally acts like a child, well and good. I don't consider this to be the case and is rather insulting. This guy is very obviously not a moron. I think it is also plain stupid for anyone here to try and categorise his disabilities from a clip of a few minutes designed to display his extraordinary ability. I saw nothing in the film to make me consider he is an idiot savant. In any case, the term is almost meaningless as "idiot" is not a medical term that can be defined, unlike "moron". It is a popular word meaning someone of very low intelligence. Autism is not necessarily linked with low intelligence; more often than not, autistic persons are of high intelligence but who have lost the means, to some extent, to interact with their environment.

As for your analogies, well ....

[TransformX]

Let's check this list now, without arguing about the 'Autistic traits' they have, since many people have those, including yours truly and apparently I have quite a few.

* Michael Jackson, 1958-, US singer
Not an excuse for being such a moron.

* David Helfgott, 1947-, Australian pianist, subject of the film Shine
Wasn't even that good a pianist.

* Alan Turing, 1912-1954, English mathematician, computer scientist and cryptographer
You forgot mentioning he was homosexual too. Don't discredit that group!

* Andy Warhol, 1928-1987, US artist
Another antisocial moron.

* Bobby Fischer, 1943-, US chess champion
Do we really want to go there?


I'm certain that other people in this list and beyond it have things that would make no group of people want to associate with them.