realcleverscience:

jtotheizzoe:

The man who hand-draws mathematical fractals

I can’t even draw hands.

About the artist:

JP has acquired synesthesia and acquired savant syndrome. This happened as a result of a brutal assault in 2002, during which he was kicked and hit on the head. He was subsequently diagnosed with a bleeding kidney and an unspecified head injury. What the doctors didn’t know was that JP no longer saw the world the way he used to. Objects suddenly did not have smooth boundaries. Things no longer moved smoothly. Motion took place in picture frames. It looked like someone paused and unpaused the flow of the world very rapidly. Even more amazing: JP was suddenly able to see vivid fractal images of objects with a fractal structure (such as, broccoli).

JP’s response to his new way of seeing the world was to withdraw from it. He spent the following three years in his apartment and refused to leave unless it was strictly necessary. After three years in complete isolation JP figured that he would try to draw what he saw, so he could make people understand him. He started drawing. And he continued.

(via New APPS)

Now this is fascinating stuff! I only wish the article was longer! 
(Hey RCS readers, pleaaase forward me any other info you have on this!)

My favorite articles - whether science or whatever - are the ones that present truly novel ideas, information which intrigues though you may not be entirely certain what to make of it. This is a good example. I need to let this simmer in my mind.

That said, gut reaction: Perhaps a good example that our brains are truly organic computers. We have certain “programs” that we naturally develop (e.g. emotional reactions, typical processing of sensory information, etc.), but we can also develop other ones - though it may come at a cost in a different area. (Autistic savants could be another example of this. I’m not an expert, but I did work with an autistic man and am still amazed at his ability to calculate dates.)

This is also important for transhumanism/BCI: Once we can attach peripheral devices to our brains, how will we process it? Could we process it? There was a psych experiment some time ago that had people wear glasses which flipped everything they saw. The people were quite nauseous at first, but eventually learned to see that way. (When the glasses were later removed, they unfortunately had to re-acclimate themselves to normal vision!) But what if we add new perceptions? For instance, what if we add a camera that sent the brain information about what’s happening out of our line of sight, potentially offering 360o vision? Could we process it? Would we integrate it into our regular vision and motor functions? A lot of this depends on just how the organic computer in our skulls works.

Hmmm…

P.s. Not sure if I mentioned, but there’s a great documentary on netflix called “the story of one” about the development of basic math in human history. Fascinating and quite enjoyable (it’s hosted by terry giliam of Monty Python fame). Very weird to think that there was a time before basic math, before numbers itself, and that there are still places where this is the case! 

A great book to read about that sort of thing is Incognito - by David Eagleman.  He talks about how people who have gone blind rewiring their brain to see again - using a device on their tongue which creates points of pressure according to what a camera sees.  People who use this talk about how they feel like they can see once again, and they have the accuracy with this “sight” to go rock climbing, etc.  

David Eagleman brings up a point that - what if we could do this with other pieces of information?  Teach our brain to interpret other signals?  Could we have the current stock market information plugged right into our brain?  Who knows!