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Beautiful Autistic Minds

Olowkow

Philosopher
Olowkow
Joined
Oct 29, 2007
Messages
8,230
There are many amazing feats by various "savants" and autistic individuals such as portrayed in the movie Rainman, but the video below is just beyond what I consider to be in the realm of the possible. But if this is not for real, then what is the explanation? Is it a fact that he has never seen Rome before from the air? Is it a fact that he has not studied aerial photographs?

http://video.stumbleupon.com/#p=0k4lsi1dql

Can the human brain really perform this way?
 
I'll just bump this once and see if there is any interest. I knew I should have put "Bigfoot" somewhere in the title.:)

This autistic guy goes up for a helicopter ride around Rome, and afterward draws a huge mural of the city with incredible detail. Quite astonishing. But what to say about it? I hope we have some experts who can enlighten us on the subject.
 
Olowkow said:
I'll just bump this once and see if there is any interest. I knew I should have put "Bigfoot" somewhere in the title.:)

This autistic guy goes up for a helicopter ride around Rome, and afterward draws a huge mural of the city with incredible detail. Quite astonishing. But what to say about it? I hope we have some experts who can enlighten us on the subject.
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Seems like him being trained to do this for publicity is the most logical option in this case.

What makes more sense, he can memorize a landscape in a very short amount of time and replicate it perfectly. Or Someone taught him the repetitive task of drawing this map over and over again , in order to get some fame?
 
fwiw, I went to music school with a kid who could hear music of any complexity once and reproduce it perfectly on the spot or even a year later.

(His name was Kevin Gibbs. He wasn't autistic, though he was blind.)

eta: http://www.answers.com/topic/kevin-gibbs

something from Kevin himself:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...in+gibbs+piano+music&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us


It doesn't seem impossible that someone would have an extraordinary visual memory.

Oliver Sacks describes such cases, and prints their drawings in one of his books.
 
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Here's a decent write up on him:
http://www.stephenwiltshire.co.uk/

My first reaction is some sort of trick, but I ask myself what's the point in claiming these magical feats, since he is already a very accomplished artist. It's seldom that I literally don't know what to think about claims of superhuman abilities.
 
I understand there was at one time a young girl who could draw with incredible accuracy, but couldn't speak. When she learned to speak, she lost her ability to draw.
 
calebprime said:
fwiw, I went to music school with a kid who could hear music of any complexity once and reproduce it perfectly on the spot or even a year later.

(His name was Kevin Gibbs. He wasn't autistic, though he was blind.)

eta: http://www.answers.com/topic/kevin-gibbs

something from Kevin himself:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...in+gibbs+piano+music&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us


It doesn't seem impossible that someone would have an extraordinary visual memory.

Oliver Sacks describes such cases, and prints their drawings in one of his books.
Click to expand...

I saw a TV programme a while back about this guy who is blind and autistic, but has incredible musical talent:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek_Paravicini
 
Olowkow said:
Can the human brain really perform this way?
Click to expand...

Its been documented that it does time and time again by medical professionals with no bias

Stephen Wiltshire was awarded an MBE for services to the art world in 2006

thats pretty genuine imo
;)
 
My own autistic daughter didn't speak a word until she was over 3. She would make meaningless noises and could understand speech (when she wanted to). One day another kid was bothering her and she yelled "STOP!" Later she told us that she didn't know she could talk.
 
Olowkow said:
I'll just bump this once and see if there is any interest. I knew I should have put "Bigfoot" somewhere in the title.:)

This autistic guy goes up for a helicopter ride around Rome, and afterward draws a huge mural of the city with incredible detail. Quite astonishing. But what to say about it? I hope we have some experts who can enlighten us on the subject.
Click to expand...

Totally 100% credible.
 
I've seen my 9 year old autistic son draw a detailed picture of something I know he's only seen once. I've heard him perfectly sing a song he's only heard once as well. I've been told they remember things completely "differently" than we do. I'm not sure how it works but, I can remember some things in great detail myself, and other things I forget quicker than I even realize. The more I learn about autism, and the more I look back at my own life, it makes me wonder more about myself...
 
I've seen bits about Steven before, but this astounds me. I've seen him replicate a much smaller cityscape, but the mass of this is really amazing.

I'm wondering if he could've done this early on when this talent was first discovered or if he's somehow trained his mind through the repetition of exhibiting this talent so that he now takes in more. I mean by that - is there a finite limit? Could you do a chopper tour of say Washington DC to NYC and have him absorb DC, Baltimore, Philly and New York?

Mind, I'm going by the fact that he truly seems to be enjoying the process and the attention his art gets - I wouldn't want to seem to be thinking he should do this just for my entertainment or curiosity.
 
Ok, having just seen the video(had flash problems before) i will add a bit.

Having seen the video(without sound, also fast forwarding through some of it) i don't feel comfortable saying for sure that he specifically isn't doing a trick. But i doubt it.

There really would be no good reason for it to be a trick, this is not something new or unrealistic when it comes to autism. So this particular individual may be using a trick, but why? Why not just find someone who can really do it?

Based on that, i choose to believe it.
 
TobiasTheViking said:
Ok, having just seen the video(had flash problems before) i will add a bit.

Having seen the video(without sound, also fast forwarding through some of it) i don't feel comfortable saying for sure that he specifically isn't doing a trick. But i doubt it.

There really would be no good reason for it to be a trick, this is not something new or unrealistic when it comes to autism. So this particular individual may be using a trick, but why? Why not just find someone who can really do it?

Based on that, i choose to believe it.
Click to expand...

Oh, Steven's well known. He has a gallery of his works and a calendar and sells originals and prints.... some of his stuff is also rather huge city scapes, too.

I'm just commenting on the scope of the single view and the short amount of time it took him to absorb the detail. I'm not questioning that he has this unique mental ability combined with the artistic deftness to do it.
 
Foolmewunz said:
Oh, Steven's well known. He has a gallery of his works and a calendar and sells originals and prints.... some of his stuff is also rather huge city scapes, too.

I'm just commenting on the scope of the single view and the short amount of time it took him to absorb the detail. I'm not questioning that he has this rare mental ability combined with the artistic deftness to do it.
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Fixed it for you :)
 
TobiasTheViking said:
Fixed it for you :)
Click to expand...

Somehow I like it better when you were a commie! :D


Seriously... combining the memory and the artistic ability does sort of come up with unique or "somewhat unique", which is not dissimilar to "a little pregnant", but on the other hand....


Oh, futz.... I can't dance my way out of this one, huh? :boxedin:
 
I know a woman with a daughter who has aspergers disease. This is a milder form of autism. Correct me if I'm wrong. She makes great china and shes a good china painter. I've heard that shes very good at what she does and is vry professional. She knows every aspect of making china. All the way from making molds to kilning to forming the plates, urns or whatever.
 
Foolmewunz said:
I'm wondering if he could've done this early on when this talent was first discovered or if he's somehow trained his mind through the repetition of exhibiting this talent so that he now takes in more. I mean by that - is there a finite limit? Could you do a chopper tour of say Washington DC to NYC and have him absorb DC, Baltimore, Philly and New York?
Click to expand...

He actually did do one of NYC recently, that's how I first heard about him. (though I realize you are asking about him doing multiple cities. That's a great question too, is there a limit to what he can learn?)

http://www.stephenwiltshire.co.uk/New_York_Panorama.aspx

When you click on links to the pictures, make sure to scroll over on the web page, they are so big that the window only shows the left side of the drawing.

He was video taped extensively while drawing the cityscape so that you know he wasn't using pictoral references.

My father has a weird memory in that if he ever goes somewhere, he'll remember how to get there for the rest of his life. So for instance we'll go visit my uncle half way across the country, going through many side and back roads...and then ten years later, we'll go again, and my father will remember exactly how to get there. Also, he just has an amazing ability to remember places he's been. I can remember once a few years ago we drove by a house a few towns over, and my dad remembered that I went to a sleep over party there something like twenty years ago.
 
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