Martin, We seem to have said a similar thing at about the same time, I saw your message after I sent mine, and I'm sure you did the same. You expressed it more briefly, and probably better. I do tend to ramble on on the topic based on my BA in Psych from 1957, which gives me no more knowledge than anyone who has stayed up to date, as mine is rather archaic and many things have been discovered since then.
Best, Jon > Dear Stewart, > > I'm not sure "aptitude" is quite the right word. There some people who are usually "autistic" who have phenomenal powers of musical memory, or perform amazing feats of arithmetic, without knowing how they do it (a common sort is the "date calculator", who can immediately tell you what day of the week it was on the 13th November 1765). These poor people are usually very disabled in other ways (they used to be called "idiots savants"), in fact it may be because they are so disabled in other ways that they are able to perform these feats. "Normal" people like you and me may vary enormously in our skill at remembering certain types of things, but there is no way that our mental functioning can be directly compared to these people. > > Their existence does, however, seem to point to the amazing potential of the human mind. I sometimes wonder if even "normal" people could tap that potential, if only they knew how... > > Best wishes, > > Martin > > > > > > >
