Pi to the 22,500th digit

[GT40FIED]

So I watched some thing on the Science Channel last night where some guy recited pi to the 22,500th digit solely from memory. Took him something like 5 hours. Then he proceeded to do complex equations in his head and nailed every one of them. The odd thing was that he is apparently an extremely high functioning autistic guy (he had enough speech and social skills to get by as a "regular" person). He explained that he associated numbers with textures and landscapes in his head...a sort of synesthesia (the crossing of senses where you see music, hear colors, etc.). That got me wondering...if drugs like LSD and MDMA often cause synesthesia in people who take them, then why do they all act like a bunch of dipshits where as this guy can do all sorts of crazy math?

Oh...they also interviewed the guy that they based Dustin Hoffman's character in "Rainman" on. I'd suggest that guy go on Jeopardy and kick everyone's ass (which he surely would...he's basically like a walking 500 volume set of encyclopedias), but that might be exploitative.