Lecture on Perception by a High-Functioning Autistic Savant

Introduction

• Lecturer is a high-functioning autistic savant with self-awareness and mastery of language.
• People often ask for demonstrations of savant abilities (e.g., birth dates, cube roots, long numbers).
• Presentation focuses on perception rather than savant performances.

Anton Chekhov and Perception

• Chekhov's notebooks: recorded unique observations of the world.
• Chekhov’s work highlighted as an inspiration for the lecturer to become a writer.
• Lecturer’s work explores perception and its link to knowledge.

Exploring Perception Through Questions

1. Calculation Intuition: Understanding where a numerical solution might fall on the number line.
2. Foreign Word Sound: Intuiting the range of meanings from sounds of a foreign word.
3. Poetic Word Choice: Why specific words (e.g., 'hare' vs 'rabbit') are used in poetry.

Personal Perceptions and Knowledge Acquisition

• Personal perceptions are central to acquiring knowledge.
• Aesthetic judgments profoundly shape understanding.
• Lecturer as an extreme example due to synesthesia (cross-talk between senses).

Lecturer’s Synesthetic Perception

• Numbers have colors, shapes, and personalities.
  • Example:
    • 1: flash of white light.
    • 6: tiny, sad black hole.
    • 3: green.
    • 4: blue.
    • 5: yellow.
• Paintings illustrate synesthetic perception.
  • Multiplication of prime numbers visualized as 3D shapes.
  • Pi depicted as a numerical landscape based on first 20 decimals.
• Words also have synesthetic properties.
  • E.g., the opening phrase from “Lolita.”
  • Construction example: sentence from “The Great Gatsby.”

Sample Analysis of Perception Questions

1. Mathematical Intuition (64 x 75)

• 64 is a square number (chessboard example: 8x8 squares).
  • 75 visualized relative to 100 (square-like).
  • Simplified multiplication: 16, 16, 16 --> 4800.

2. Foreign Word Intuition (Icelandic: Hnugginn)

• Word analysis: happy or sad?
  • Majority guess correctly: means 'sad.'
  • Theory: Language sounds evolve to match listener's intuitive experiences.

3. Poetic Word Choice (Keats’ Poem)

• Words express fundamental world relationships.
  • Example: 'hare' conveys vulnerability (ears and feet imagery).
    • Introverted meaning adds emotional depth.

Conclusion

• Words can have colors and emotions, numbers shapes and personalities.
• Encouragement to see the world with new perspectives.
• World is richer and vaster than it seems.
• Closing thanks and applause.