From Newsgroup: alt.buddha.short.fat.guy
The convergence of singular talent and profound disability confounded scientists eager to place humans into neat categories
On 25 November 1915, the American newspaper The Review published the extraordinary case of an 11-year-old boy with prodigious mathematical abilities. Perched on a hill close to a set of railroad tracks, he could memorise all the numbers of the train carriages that sped by at 30 mph,
add them up, and provide the correct total sum. What was remarkable
about the case was not just his ability to calculate large numbers (and
read them on a moving vehicle), but the fact that he could barely eat unassisted or recognise the faces of people he met. The juxtaposition
between his supposed arrested development and his numerical facility
made his mathematical feats even more impressive. rCyHow can you account
for it?rCO asked the articlerCOs author. The answer took the form of a
medical label: the boy was what 19th-century medicine termed an rCyidiot savantrCO. He possessed an exceptional talent, despite a profound
impairment of the mental faculties that affected both his motor and
social skills...
https://aeon.co/essays/historys-shaming-fascination-for-the-so-called-idiot-savant
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2