Re: I no longer have any faith

On 28 Apr 2006 23:29:31 GMT, ThePsyko <ThePsyko@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

On 28 Apr 2006 in alt.2600, Me <no-address_for_spammers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
made their contribution to mankind by stating in
news:p395525ouphnbjbtrr45h6tv82beq30doa@xxxxxxx:

On 28 Apr 2006 19:33:17 GMT, ThePsyko <ThePsyko@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

On 28 Apr 2006 in alt.2600, Me
<no-address_for_spammers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> made their contribution to
mankind by stating in news:jee4525k26pr0dsaq8gucetvjv1iv9v62s@xxxxxxx:

Hey, I know a guy that has a 66 IQ... no joke. It's odd... he
doesn't seem stupid to talk with him, and actually he wasn't until
about two years ago. He was quite normal. He fell off of a ladder
and cracked his skull on concrete. Darn near killed him. Obviously,
there was pretty serious brain damage. It's really odd to talk to
him though, as he really doesn't seem stupid when the conversation
starts. You see, IQ is not a measure of what one knows, it's a
measure of how easily one can learn. He knows everything he ever
knew (no memory loss) so he speaks well and he is still good at the
things he was always good at (big sports nut, knows all of the rules
inside out and the stats of lord knows how many players). However,
as you talk with him it becomes obvious quickly that while he knows
what he knew, he has very little ability to reason now, and he can't
learn anything new without great effort. It's really odd to converse
with him now. It's like visiting an elaborate, still well kept
mansion only to find that no one lives there any more, and the owner
isn't coming back. Strange.


That would be creepy in a way

He can't help it, but it is actually. It's like he's there... but he's
really not. The truth is that the person he was died that day. What's
left is a mirror image of what he was, and that image will never
change appreciably.


so it's sort of like his intellect is frozen in time?

You more or less took the words right out of his wife's mouth. He
remembers everything that ever happened to him as well as anyone and
his education up to that time is intact. He speaks as well as anyone
you've ever met, but there's very little intellectual process behind
his words. He was a referee for little league games, and is actually
still able to do so. He knows all of the rules inside out and makes
correct calls as well as he ever did. He can give you every detail
about the rules of the game being called and you'd swear that he's
brilliant. Then when he's through telling you all about it you can ask
him what would happen if you were to fill a cars gas tank with water
and he'll sit there with an erie blank stare. He's never experienced
that before and he literally has no idea. He doesn't have the
deductive reasoning to figure out that the car will quit because water
doesn't burn. You can explain it to him in detail and then ask him the
same question again tomorrow and he'll give you the same blank stare
again. He understands things he's always known but you literally can't
teach him anything new... it simply doesn't sink in. The simplest of
tasks that require even rudimentary deductive reasoning are now
insurmountable for him. When you try to discuss current events with
him the reality of his intellectual disability becomes painfully
obvious. When you attempt to take him mentally out of the past he just
goes blank... almost catatonic. He'll sit there and just stare without
speaking. You can't *make* him speak. The vacant look on his face can
be alarmingly erie and it becomes painfully apparent that there really
isn't anyone home behind those eyes. I feel so sorry for his wife. The
poor girl has been on the verge of an emotional breakdown for some
time now. She told me with tears rolling down her face not long ago
that it's exactly like living with the ghost of a dead man that's
frozen in the past. Now you know what I meant when I wrote that you
took the words out of her mouth. The words I wrote earlier about him
dying that day were not mine... they were hers. The whole situation
really is heart breaking, at least to those watching. If there's a
bright side to the situation it would be that he seems more or less
oblivious to it all.
.

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