Wednesday, December 11, 2013

For Xmas: a medically induced concussion.


I read recently about a young man who had a concussion playing football but when he came to he could play the piano like nobody’s business.  The young man said, “I think I got rewired.  Something just changed." 

Another man, after getting kicked in the head in a mugging discovered he could visualize difficult mathematical formulas and turn them into complex diagrams.

There’s a medical term for this event:  Acquired Savant Syndrome.  The brain rewires itself after a head injury in an attempt to compensate for the information it lost and demonstrating new astonishing capabilities.

We’ve all read about blind or deaf people who have slipped and hit their head on the coffee table and when they came to they could see or hear or bake a pie.

It annoys me that sometime in the future they’ll figure out how to rewire the brain without an accidental concussion.  They’ll be able to give you a medically induced concussion.  We won’t have to go to the shrink to avoid self-defeating behavior.  We’ll just re-wire. 

Hey doc, I need a re-wiring. 

No prob.  I can schedule your concussion for next Tuesday. Give your "to change" list to the nurse.

The doctor will execute your medically induced concussion and rewire you to dislike cheese and bread, to enjoy not speaking, to love the outdoors and possibly also to play the piano.  When someone doubts miracles, I always point to Google.  If someone had told you ten years ago that you could find out the answer to anything in three seconds would you have believed them.  Exactly.



2 comments:

  1. Mark Williams InternationalDecember 11, 2013 at 11:35 PM

    I googled the question "If someone had told me ten years ago that I could find out the answer to anything in three seconds would I have believed them?"

    Three hours later it still hadn't come up with the answer. Next time I'll ask Jeeves.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bummer. Okay, I'll send your money back.

      Health and good fortune for the New Year, Mark. Good to hear from you.

      Delete