Any Ideas HN? Know This Man? Can You Tell Him Who He Is?

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129668438

by ALee • 16 years ago

5 8 16 years ago

If there is any community who can think of the perfect hack to solve this man's problem, it's this group.

ALee• 16 years ago

If there is any community who can think of the perfect hack to solve this man's problem, it's this group.

Long story short, he suffers from amnesia, cannot remember who he is. They're trying a bunch of really interesting new technology, but have not found out in over 6 years time.

carbocation• 16 years ago

Is there any reason to believe that the story he tells is true? Storybook retrograde amnesia is actually exceedingly uncommon; more commonly, this is used deceitfully. My first instinct, coming from the hospital setting, would be not to believe his story. I would then perform a battery of tests for retrograde amnesia (tests with which I am not familiar since this is outside of my primary interest).

nimai2• 16 years ago

I would go with an FMRI, while showing photos of symbols from different areas - unique street signs, fast food restaurants, anything identifiable and strictly regional. Start with a broader scope to get a calibrated reading of his recognition - show signs and brands from across Asia, Europe and the Americas, and narrow things down gradually as recognition happens.

Once this is narrowed down to a region of the country (i.e., if the In-N-Out logo triggers a strong hunger response, you could narrow things down to the west coast), start working with landmarks, TV station logos, commonly used community areas like highway exits, streets, and eventually houses. I wouldn't be surprised if they could pinpoint an exact address using this method.

code_duck3• 16 years ago

He already said he had memories of Denver and another city, so that should narrow things down.

nimai2• 16 years ago

Imagine you're doing a sector-by-sector scan of a massive, corrupted hard drive taken from a crime scene, trying to find out who the owner of the drive was. It makes no sense to do a rigorous analysis of the first possible file fragment that turns up - the odds are, it's just some random data file that could be found in any system. How many people have memories of Denver, yet have never been there in person? How many people have been to Denver, with no records remaining of their visit?

There is no reason to believe this man ever had anything to do with Denver, especially given the reliability of his "memories" thus far. How could someone be named "benjaman", yet not turn up in any written records, anywhere?

I have very vivid, intense memories of Las Vegas, that are tied to emotional experiences I have not had elsewhere. I spent only a week there, and paid for everything in cash. Would it be useful to start the search there?

The only reason the method I suggested would work, is because it relies entirely on weighted statistical analysis of what region-specific symbols this man has been exposed to. You can't fake strong recognition - it reflects changes to neural structure over long periods of time, and has a very low probability of false positives.

qw• 16 years ago

"He was bounced around to hospitals and homeless shelters for nine months, unable to see more than a few feet in front of him, until a charity raised enough money to have his eyes fixed"

Something is seriously wrong with the system.

Any Ideas HN? Know This Man? Can You Tell Him Who He Is?

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