[plants]

Small sample size, but this is consistent with what I've observed in some specialized people... For example, I have an uncle that is absolutely brilliant. He's an excellent lawyer and can remember any fact that even slightly interests him. He's simultaneously the most absentminded person I've ever met - he forgets meetings, is always mindlessly snacking (despite being on a diet for pre-diabetes) and generally forgetting things that he doesn't deem to be important. It always feels like he traded something that "normal" humans have for his smarts. It might just be mild autism, but it seems to me like savant autism is an extreme example of this effect.

[iguy]

> Small sample size, but this is consistent with what I've observed in some specialized people

The data from large samples points the other way here. Every measurable trait that you might describe as smart (like ability in math, or music, or languages, or remembering cards) correlates positively with the others.

[eganist]

> Small sample size, but this is consistent with what I've observed in some specialized people... For example, I have an uncle that is absolutely brilliant. He's an excellent lawyer and can remember any fact that even slightly interests him. He's simultaneously the most absentminded person I've ever met - he forgets meetings, is always mindlessly snacking (despite being on a diet for pre-diabetes) and generally forgetting things that he doesn't deem to be important. It always feels like he traded something that "normal" humans have for his smarts. It might just be mild autism, but it seems to me like savant autism is an extreme example of this effect.

This seems consistent with how my mind works. It takes an extra tax of effort for me to remember things with "emotional" or sentimental components to them, but I'll be a walking encyclopedia of knowledge with the necessary critical thinking capabilities to apply what I know.

Would be interesting if brain scans yielded similar patterns between the two of us. Wouldn't be a surprise either.