Author |
Message |
BillMullins
Joined: Thu Aug 21, 2008 12:40 pm Posts: 545
|
Lightning Calculators
Lightning Calculators show up several times in Heinlein's works (Max Jones, Andrew Jackson Libby, etc).
Those interested in the subject may find useful.
|
Mon Aug 01, 2011 9:03 am |
|
|
Blackhawk
Joined: Tue Apr 20, 2010 8:51 pm Posts: 240 Location: Alabama, USA
|
Re: Lightning Calculators
Max Jones was not a lightning calculator. He had perfect recall but he fed what he recalled into a computer to do the calculations.
_________________ Dan Thompson Thunderchild Publishing (http://www.ourworlds.net/thunderchild)
|
Mon Aug 01, 2011 10:38 am |
|
|
DavidWrightSr
Joined: Tue Dec 02, 2008 6:24 am Posts: 265 Location: Northwest Georgia
|
Re: Lightning Calculators
|
Mon Aug 01, 2011 11:23 am |
|
|
Blackhawk
Joined: Tue Apr 20, 2010 8:51 pm Posts: 240 Location: Alabama, USA
|
Re: Lightning Calculators
Good point. I'd forgotten that part. What I remembered was his photographic memory that let him recall the complete texts of his uncle's astrogation books.
_________________ Dan Thompson Thunderchild Publishing (http://www.ourworlds.net/thunderchild)
|
Mon Aug 01, 2011 2:29 pm |
|
|
holmesiv
Joined: Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:53 am Posts: 555
|
Re: Lightning Calculators
|
Mon Aug 01, 2011 6:57 pm |
|
|
RobertPearson
Joined: Mon May 02, 2011 2:10 pm Posts: 445 Location: Juneau, AK
|
Re: Lightning Calculators
I recently read the book Moonwalking With Einstein and think it's fascinating that the skills of the so-called "savants" to both memorize and calculate can be learned to a large degree. Not true eidetic memory or calculation to the level of "Rain Man" but a good bit in that direction. Any normal person can, for instance, memorize a 52-card deck after perhaps 10-15 hours of practice. I'm working on it right now, and can feel a certain uptick in my overall functioning just from the mental excercise.
_________________ "There comes a time in the life of every human when he or she must decide to risk 'his life, his fortune, and his sacred honor' on an outcome dubious. Those who fail the challenge are merely overgrown children, can never be anything else."
|
Mon Aug 08, 2011 11:14 am |
|
|
holmesiv
Joined: Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:53 am Posts: 555
|
Re: Lightning Calculators
|
Fri Aug 12, 2011 4:48 pm |
|
|
VeraLenora
Joined: Thu Jun 30, 2011 3:12 pm Posts: 17
|
Re: Lightning Calculators
I saw a TV program (sorry don't remember any details) that had a 'lightning calculator' work while inside an MMI. Turned out his mathematical work was being done in the area of the brain usually used only for language. The researchers speculated that the math was being done just as humans normally talk, without any need for conscious mental sortings of subtlety, choice of words, grammar, syntax, and so on. We just talk.
|
Sun Mar 10, 2013 3:59 pm |
|
|