So today I was tweeting with Carl Zimmer about imagination. This brought up something of a shock for me. You know when people talk about picturing things in their heads? The minds eye?
Turns out they actually see the pictures.
I had assumed all my life that this was a metaphor. I have never been able to conjure images in my head. I have an excellent relational memory but not a visual one. If i need to picture something I draw it. I am famous for my whiteboard use.
Seems this is a condition known as aphantasia. And it is relatively uncommon. estimated as 2%.
So OK lets review the Inky lottery. The following are estimates of the occurence frequencies of what I have. the Ehlers Danlos one is actually a high estimate. many references state it as 5 to 10 times less common.
Aphantasia ~2%
Ehlers Danlos 0.1%
Aspergers 0.29%
now I am not captain probability but i think to get the likelihood of having all those, assuming they are independent, you multiply them. That means a probability of 1 in 17 000 000 000 or so.
Winning Lotto is around 1000 times more likely at 1 in 14 000 000
the odds of being killed by a meteorite strike is 1 in 700 000
given there are around 6 000 000 000 people on the planet and at least one of them has had sex with Joanna Lumley I was more likely to get me some Purdey than all of this shit.
this is seriously looking like a personal grudge not random chance.
RantingScienceZebra The rantings of a bitter, twisted, sometimes crippled and rather mad scientist
A malevolent God? Perhaps you'll merge seamlessly into Thomas Hardy:
ReplyDelete“Justice” was done, and the President of the Immortals (in Aeschylean phrase) had ended his sport with Tess.
It's a rather gloomy outlook.
I'm sticking with my genetically engineered super-horny soldier theory. I'd also trust Hardy more on matters involving deflating super farty sheep than metaphysics.
ReplyDeleteits thomas hardy not robert hardy...
DeleteRichmond/Weatherbury? S'all the same to me, neither's as good as Lancashire :-).
Delete'Passing his hands over the sheep's left flank, and selecting the proper point, he punctured the skin and rumen with the lance.' -Gabriel Oak impressing a chick by penetrating a sheep.
I could be wrong, but I get 1 in 17 million rather than 1 in 17 trillion for the aggregate odds.
ReplyDeleteS'awfully quiet round here... everyone ok?
ReplyDelete