This man, Stephen Wiltshire, has a form of autism called Asperger’s Syndrome. We believe that my son may well have it too, though it’s difficult to diagnose in one so young. It’s a very high functioning form and the people who have it are able to communicate and lead productive lives, they just have a harder time with social skills. Anyway, this isn’t so much about my son (who may not have this) as about the phenomenal way in which our brain works.

A “normal” person could never do it and yet the two brains aren’t all that different physically. Imagine if you or I could tap into this sort of potential. Even the briefest look at something and he can reproduce it in astonishing detail. I believe (though I’m not any kind of expert) that all of us have the identical recording device in our head, but we just can’t access the controls the way he can.
I’m in awe of the three pound computer we have between our ears and even moreso its designer.