داستان انگلیسی ساوان اکتسابی

Acquired Savant

The almost magical transformation from caterpillar to butterfly has fascinated humans for thousands of years. While the butterfly symbolizes transformative change, the caterpillar reminds us of hidden potential. Who could ever imagine that such an earthbound, worm-like creature could transform so effortlessly into a creature of flight, color, and grace?

You probably know that a caterpillar grows a shell and, after about a month, out pops a butterfly. This shell is called a chrysalis, and what happens inside a chrysalis might not be what you expect.

You might think that the caterpillar sprouts wings, but if you were to cut a chrysalis open, all you would see is liquid goo. There would be no sign of the caterpillar whatsoever. The eyes, the antenna, the legs, and the organs would all be gone. They would seem to have melted into a milky liquid. And somehow out of that liquid a transformation would happen. This led many early scientists to believe that the caterpillar had to completely die for the butterfly to be born.

In the 17th century a man named Jan Swammerdam cut open a caterpillar and found thin transparent wings and antennae rolled up within the caterpillar. When the caterpillar grows its shell, these ghostly wings and antennae become part of the shell. When you look inside the shell, there is only liquid, but within the shell is the link between the caterpillar and the butterfly. The butterfly’s future self was hiding all along inside the caterpillar.

Perhaps humans are the same way. What sort of butterflies do we humans have within us? What kind of hidden potential do we have, just waiting to be unlocked by the right conditions? What kind of transformation can happen to us?

Derek Amato was a man who, like the caterpillar, seemed to have his future self, locked up inside. He seemed to be waiting for something to trigger an awakening of great change. One day, while horsing around with his friends, Derek dove into the shallow end of a pool and hit his head on the bottom. Derek was rushed to the hospital, where doctors said he had a massive concussion. Derek made a recovery, but he lost 35 percent of his hearing and some of his memory, too.

But then something incredible happened when he got out of the hospital. Derek suddenly began playing the piano with professional skill and artistic creativity. He just spontaneously started hearing music and seeing black and white squares appearing in his head. These squares represented melodies, and compelled his fingers to move along the piano. Yet Derek had never played the piano before. He didn’t even know how to read music. He had some experience with drums and guitar, but admits he was pretty lousy at both before the accident.

Doctors diagnosed Derek with Acquired Savant Syndrome. This is a condition where mental impairment results in extraordinary skills. You might already be familiar with the term ‘savant’. It was made famous by Dustin Hoffman’s character, Raymond, in the movie Rain Man. Raymond was based on a real person, named Kim Peek. Unlike Derek, Kim was an Autistic Savant. An autistic Savant is someone who suffers from autism, while possessing an extraordinary skill.

In Kim’s case, he didn’t seem very bright, and had a terrible time relating to other people emotionally and socially. He couldn’t operate a light switch or even button his shirt. However, he possessed an extraordinary ability to count things, make calculations, and remember details. Kim’s nickname was ‘Kim-puter’ because his ability to remember things was like a computer. Kim was a voracious reader, finishing most books in one hour. He had the unusual habit of reading the left page with his left eye and the right page with his right eye. Over the course of his life he read over 12,000 books and could recall them all in detail.

Unlike Kim, Derek Amato didn’t have such a huge cost to pay for his savant-like talents. Luckily, he hasn’t suffered any loss of social skills from his head injury. While his memory and hearing were somewhat affected, he has still been able to lead a fairly normal life. In fact, some may say his sudden new talent has increased his quality of life. Derek now has a career as a successful professional musician. He has released several albums and has performed in front of thousands.

Derek isn’t the only one to experience Acquired Savant Syndrome through some sort of head injury. Tony Cicorio, a New York doctor, also unlocked a hidden musical talent after an accident. He taught himself to play piano and write music after being struck by lightning while talking on the phone. Orlando Serrell was hit in the head with a baseball bat. Afterwards, he suddenly found himself with the ability to instantly name the day of the week for any date in history. Alonzo Clemons suffered a bad fall at a young age and acquired the ability to sculpt animals with a high degree of precision. So clearly the head injury is causing something mysterious to happen within the brain. How this is leading to the sudden development of these amazing abilities is still unknown.

Darold Treffert is a retired professor and an expert on Acquired Savant Syndrome. Treffert has studied Derek Amato and 30 other cases where people gained amazing abilities after head trauma.

In most of these cases, Treffert reports some kind of damage to the left side of the brain. This causes the right side of the brain to compensate. The right side of the brain is associated with creativity and intuition.

Treffert’s subjects saw increases in mathematical skills, artistic skills, musical skills, and/or photographic memory. But might there be more unhidden abilities waiting to be unlocked?

Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences is a window of what type of abilities may be possible. He has identified nine different types of intelligences that each human possesses to a certain degree. These are spatial, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, logical, linguistic, kinesthetic, naturalist, and existential. Derek Amato’s extraordinary musical ability, for example, shows a high level of musical intelligence. Kim Peek’s rare ability to calculate numbers would place him in the logical category of intelligence. While Alonzo Clemons’ ability to sculpt animals would be an example of spatial intelligence.

Did Derek Amato always have those musical talents hidden deep inside him, just waiting to come out? Or was it just the result of a freak accident? Some say that it’s impossible for him to instantly have the talent to play over eight instruments. He must have had those talents deep inside him for years. If this is true, then how many other talents and abilities do we carry within us? What are we potentially capable of doing? They say we only understand about 10% of how the brain actually functions. And it makes you wonder what might be possible if scientists can discover how to unlock these potentials.

Imagine scientists figuring out how to boost one’s interpersonal intelligence. Such a procedure could help people suffering from poor communication skills. Or how about figuring out how to unleash Naturalist intelligence? This could allow people to deeply understand how to live in harmony with the environment.

Being able to unlock hidden abilities seems to hold great potential not just for individuals, but also for society. Could this lead to a social transformation as wonderful as that of the caterpillar-to-butterfly? Or might there be unforeseen dangers in releasing these powerful abilities?

If you could release an extraordinary ability hidden within your mind, what would it be? And how would it change your reality? Would it transform it for the better? Or would it simply make things different?