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A comment on A man who can read letters but not numbers exposes roots of consciousness. Parent comment

Re:A man who can read letters but not numbers exposes roots ... by arikrak on Sunday August 02, 2020 @12:19PM (#24029571)
Since he couldn't process numbers in any useful manner (when communicating, to remember his hotel room, to draw it, etc.) the simplest explanation is that it didn't reach the "central brain processing" area. While this might not be the same thing as "consciousness", it's unlikely that this visual recognition made it very far in the brain. (Maybe the brain damage blocked it from going anywhere at all.)
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Re:A man who can read letters but not numbers exposes roots ... by eminence32 on Sunday August 02, 2020 @12:31PM (#24029650)
> Since he couldn't process numbers in any useful manner

I don't think this is true, because the article says:

> Yet he could still do mental arithmetic and perform other mathematical operations. > He eventually mastered an entirely new digit system (where ⌊ stood for 2, ⌈ for 8, etc.); determined to keep working, he had his computer rigged to present the new numerals onscreen.

That suggests to me that he could indeed process numbers, but just couldn't see them

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