Pensieri di un lunatico minore

The amazing human mind

I don’t normally link to YouTube stuff, but this video of Stephen Wiltshire, an art savant from London is jaw dropping. He was given a 45 minute helicopter ride over Rome—where he had never been before—and then 5 days to reproduce it. He did it as close to perfect as any human can imagine, only making 1 tiny mistake in the entire 5 yard panorama. Unbelievable.

It reminds me of what the human mind is capable in raw power, and how untapped it is for most of us. I do wonder if “normal” people are given some percentage of their possible capabilities to work with, which is then distributed across all the various centers of functionality. In Mr. Wiltshire’s case, it was heavily concentrated in certain areas, and so it lacks in others. No less brilliant, simply different.

I have always said that the bigger differentiator between genius and simply smart is our ability to use what we have most effectively. People like Richard Feynman, who I consider perhaps the single most brilliant person alive in the 20th century, are perhaps blessed with a little more raw capability, but what they truly have is the ability to leverage everything at once.