WEEKEND WATCHIN - THE BOY WITH THE INCREDIBLE BRAIN

Daniel Tammet is supposed to be one of the smartest people in the world. He's a savant and he has synesthesia and he can rattle off pi to the 22,500 thousandth digit. Sounds like fun! My hairdresser says that he's going to disprove string theory or something. This documentary from a year or so ago is kind of cheesy at times but there's a handful of other crazy smart people in it who are all so smart that they're virtually retarded. One of them is the dude that "Rain Man" was based on: He's the smartest and the most retarded of them all. It's like his brain is constantly exploding in his skull. One of best parts is when they show this group of Korean kids learning how to do impossibly difficult math equations on their invisible mind-abacuses and they sort of look like they're having seizures (skip to about 36:00 for that). I also like it when they take Daniel to Iceland and force him to learn the language in a week. The only downside I can come up  with is the way this is shot in a kind of unsolved mystery reenactment style. Also, when talking about how much Daniel cried as a baby, is it really necessary to cut to slo-mo stock footage of a crying baby? We know what crying is.

Comments

[dixx]

you spelled pie like the pastry . its spelled pi you sillies you

[fuck]

why the fuck is he spending his life as a freelance tutor why doesnt he use his gift to do science or math that would benefit mandkind. fag

[dsdd]

oh and those kids are japanese not korean. hey i might be a savant myself (strokes ego)

[braineack]

this kid remind me alot of me,i got in collage at a young age to and everyone of my friend,my mom and people i know say im the smartest person that they
now!

[japee]

that's ramachandran dawg! sweet

[moot]

corny as fuck, and the scientists are just assholes, that brunette one.

[3@14159265358979323846.com]

I wonder what posters he'll have on his wall at uni, other than the Marley.

[no namd]

"so smart they're virtually retarded"

Do you even realize how stupid YOU sound? Did you even proofread this before you posted?

[uhhh]

How helpful is that kind of thing to human progress? Isn't that why we invented calculators? Could Einstein do this kind of thing? Why don't these people just become accountants and stop whining?

[nibby]

he may be able to recite pi to 80 million decimal points but the dude's still rockin' the adidas miss -a-stripe.obviously doesn't get his adidas and think-'this should have 3 stripes..1-2-3'
to busy thinking about pi's bazillion decimal points i guess.
and that's why we'll never see him in williamsburg,,,

...because being seen in williamsburg has everything to do with being a smart bastard.

That American bird with the cap who said "it's almost religious" really wants to fuck him

[albert]

that cambridge professor guy is Ali-G's brother, for reals

[MotaMan]

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/vilayanur_ramachandran_on_your_mind.html

worth watching if you liked this one.

woman with the 14 stone tumor? when do we get to watch that one

[Joe Reis]

I live in Salt Lake City, and see Kim Peek (Rainman) at the library fairly often. Today I saw him, and he was carrying a stack of phone books, and kept murmuring "Spokane".."I'm Kim Peek..." He's rad, keeps to himself, and is a pretty nice guy (when he talks to people, which is rare).

[Buckaroozachari]

If anyone is interested in the principles that Daniel uses in learning they can be found in Tony Buzan's book of mind mapping. Mr. Buzan does research on how people can use their brain. He includes a substantial amount of cutting edge research into the physiology of the brain, learning techniques, people who have harnessed great skills of the mind, and so forth.