Man becomes math genius after mugging

[P.Blah]

Originally Posted by really

How does the immaterial crowd explain it ?

By saying "first, immaterial consciousness transmits to the brain for filtering, then <insert material explanation here>". Since conciousness is supposedly filtered through the material brain, as long as you add that first part, you can go right along with most material explanations and remain firmly grounded in immaterialism. Kinda clever in its own way.

[Iyace]

Originally Posted by Arouet

........................

You're not all all skeptical of this response?

No empirical observation behind this response, just an overly simple explanation, and a counter-intuitive one at that.

[anonymous]

Some people question how natural selection can explain how humans have the ability to do higher math. How did natural selection cause that? Was there enough time for it to evolve?

I don't find that a convincing argument against natural selection.

I can see how the ability to ration supplies through the winter or between hunting expeditions and the ability plan areas for sufficient cultivation for survival might have a selective benefit. Calculating time, understanding the calendar, and rationing supplies seems to have survival advantage.

Once you have the basic abilities addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, everything else derives from those in logical steps. It's no longer math so much as logic. It's no longer biological evolution but cultural evolution.

[Miguel]

I don't see how the guy is a math genius. All he does is obsessively draw and have weird perceptions.

[paqart]

Originally Posted by sparky

Not a nice way to get you frequency changed though.

Look up the clairvoyant Peter Hurkos. He fell off a roof and landed on his head with potentially life-ending injuries. After the accident, he had strong clairvoyant abilities.

AP

[paqart]

Originally Posted by Arouet

In destroying part of his brain it releases the greater power of his immaterial mind. Hmmm, maybe we should have the mediums ask the deceased to solve complex math problems - they should have their full math capacities on the other side, right?

To answer this seriously, here are a few possible scenarios:

1) The man did die, his spirit left the body, and another entered it. There are examples of this in the Stevenson literature. Sometimes the new personality retains memories of the life led up to that point by the other spirit, sometimes it doesn't.

2) The event was a planned turning point in the man's life, where he was given greater access to this ability as part of his trials on Earth. Many NDEs indicate this scenario in similar situations.

3) A physical inhibitor was damaged, allowing greater access to knowledge in this domain. This is akin to the use of hallucinogenic materials.

AP

[Interesting Ian]

Originally Posted by really

How does the immaterial crowd explain it ?

I can only speak for myself. At first blush I'm inclined to suppose the ability was already there, but that the particular way the brain is structured, or functions (wired up), prevents our access to such abilities.

I'm guessing the materialist crowd would say that these abilities are created when the brain becomes injured -- or at least when the brain attempts to heal itself?

[Interesting Ian]

Originally Posted by paqart

To answer this seriously, here are a few possible scenarios:

1) The man did die, his spirit left the body, and another entered it. There are examples of this in the Stevenson literature. Sometimes the new personality retains memories of the life led up to that point by the other spirit, sometimes it doesn't.

I find this utterly intriguing. If my spirit (soul?) vacated my present body and entered another recently vacated body, what would happen to my personality, my intelligence, my interests? Which also invites the question of whether there are male and female spirits with the distinctive personalities associated with males and females, or is it just our bodies which are responsible for our male and female type personalities?

[paqart]

Originally Posted by Interesting Ian

I find this utterly intriguing. If my spirit (soul?) vacated my present body and entered another recently vacated body, what would happen to my personality, my intelligence, my interests? Which also invites the question of whether there are male and female spirits with the distinctive personalities associated with males and females, or is it just our bodies which are responsible for our male and female type personalities?

In the handful of examples I read about, the person who died was usually very young, like two to five years old. In some, the memories were of a previous life that is terminated and then, rather suddenly, life continues in the new, already existing body. In those cases, there is no knowledge or memory of the prior experience of the person who occupied the body until lit died.

In others, there seems to be a telepathic rapport that allows enough imemory transfer for the new occupant to understand the environment it finds itself within.

AP

[4vektor]

Originally Posted by paqart

To answer this seriously, here are a few possible scenarios: ...

another possible scenario is that functions that a damaged area of the brain was previously and normally responsible for may have been reassigned to be controlled by different areas.

scott flansburg who is able do fast calculations impossible for normal humans was tested and it was revealed that different area of his brain is active during the calculation event -- one typically associated with sight (or maybe another, i am not sure) -- rather then the normal area that is active in normal human brain during calculation. also there was less activity during the event. but there is no indication i recall about any trauma in his case.