As far as I know, Kim Peek has never made any scientific discoveries, or had any wisdom to tell the world, in spite of being able to remember ~12k books.
It's a good reminder that knowledge does not equal intelligence or wisdom.
Kim Peek
21–30 of 50 posts
Re: Kim Peek
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
I found it odd he turned books upside down to remember he read them.
> I found it odd he turned books upside down to remember he read them. Unless you have another source, I think you've misread the article. From the article: > ...Kim was able to memorize things from the age of 16–20 months. He read books, memorized them, and then placed them upside down on the shelf to show that he had finished reading them, a practice he maintained all his life. It sounds like he turned them upside…
I think it's just stylistic phrasing.
"I place a piece of paper between books on the shelf to remember that I've read all the ones on the right."
Yeah, technically, I'm not 'remembering' in this case, I'm 'reminding' myself.
Re: Kim Peek
#23I’m deeply offended by the commenters questioning the authenticity of this guy’s bio. The poor man lived and died essentially an outcast and alone.
You're offended. Says more about you.
Why would it even be offensive at all (but especially to you) to question the veracity of facts in a Wikipedia article?
Re: Kim Peek
#24I’m deeply offended by the commenters questioning the authenticity of this guy’s bio. The poor man lived and died essentially an outcast and alone.
Why is it offensive to ask if specific and extraordinary claims have ever been verified in controlled conditions? I also don't see how this has any relation on Kim living as a lonely outcast.
Because offended is the new black.
Re: Kim Peek
#25> In psychological testing, Peek scored low average (87) on general IQ tests. I would have presumed that would have been much higher.
IQ measures few cognitive skills - with some relevant to abstract thinking amongst them, which were problematic for KP. Most savants have low IQ scores.
Re: Kim Peek
#26Another guy with savantism, who impresses me a lot: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigel_Richards_(Scrabble_playe...
Re: Kim Peek
#27>> Peek read by scanning the left page with his left eye, then the right page with his right eye. According to an article in The Times newspaper, he could accurately recall the contents of at least 12,000 books.[6] These are pretty extraordinary claims and I'm curious to know whether they were ever tested in controlled conditions. For example, how does one verify the recollection of the contents of "at least" 12,000…
given that the left visual field of both eyes is connected to the right hemisphere and the right visual field of both eyes is connected to the left hemisphere, I wonder about the claim that each eye scans a separate page. It doesn't make sense. Actually both eyes would see each page and so the left half of both pages would go to the right brain and the right half of both pages would go to the left brain.
How do you remember facts you have read? Do you remember facts from reading or listening? Vision is the fastest input into the brain compared to other senses.
I generally remember facts by remembering the image, for example some books I've read, I can tell you what page number, what side of the book and where on the page the information is but I can also tell you where I was standing when I read the book and sometimes the smells. Is that a clue as to how we remember? Websites are harder. Some information is irrelevant so I don't remember it, this could also be why some people don't learn at school if a kid has secret plans about their futures even from primary school age.
Thing is people remember all sorts of things that are pertinent to them, life changing events and when detailed questioning is applied they can tell you everything about the situation even smells. So what I wonder is this, do certain hormones have an effect on recall considering the fight or flight phenomena? The Police also know witness statements can be unreliable because people switch off on repetition like driving to work, it becomes an almost unconscious task, so does this also back up the possibility that stressful environments can heighten learning? Do Neurologists sample hormones when putting people into a MRI scanner? Not in my limited experience.
Re: Kim Peek
#28As far as I know, Kim Peek has never made any scientific discoveries, or had any wisdom to tell the world, in spite of being able to remember ~12k books. It's a good reminder that knowledge does not equal intelligence or wisdom.
Did he understand those books? Was he able to present the premises, propositions and arguments from those books or just to recite them?
The latter does not constitute even knowledge, just memory.
Re: Kim Peek
#29> In psychological testing, Peek scored low average (87) on general IQ tests. I would have presumed that would have been much higher.
IQ tests in my experience are better for logic, maths and abstract thinking, eg trying to spot the pattern in a series. Other tests which can be used to measure brain abilities, could be the brick test, where you are presented with a brick and have to list all the ways a brick could be used. This is somewhat dependant on life experience of course and its hard to know what someone has seen and thus experienced. Another example of brain function is identifying auditory tones and patterns, some people are better at picking up notes in a section of played music than others. School in some ways and interests is an intelligence test in itself by virtue of the subjects a child wants to study and is good at. So IQ tests are somewhat limited in determining brain function and abilities.
Re: Kim Peek
#30I recall seeing him for the first time in a documentary about Daniel Tammet[0]. Seeing him read books by basically just scanning two pages at once was astonishing. If I recall correctly, his father mentioned he had recently started to understand and tell jokes, which I found interesting, and somehow moving. And on a side note, after seeing "the original", Dustin Hoffman's interpretation in Rain Main felt way more pre…
It is worth noting that Tammet is widely believed to use regular mnemonic techniques:
https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/ask-a-memory-champion/28565/...
"I’m a bit surprised by Helix’s idea that answering this question might get me into trouble, because it’s not something that’s debated among the people who go to competitions. It’s well known that he uses memory techniques like a ‘regular person’ - he was a regular at the world championships for years, slightly before my time (though we did meet in 2000), and always talking about the specific techniques he used. It’s not really that much of a secret…"
There also is a Letterman interview where he behaved rather normal, to the point that Letterman asked him if he was actually autistic (Letterman clearly did not believe it).