Is Autism the Legacy of Humans Evolving the Ability to Innovate? (www.cbc.ca) 179
The CBC Radio show Quirks and Quarks shares an interesting theory:
If you find yourself pondering the marvel of aerodynamics when you fly on a plane, or if you concentrate on the structure of music as it plays, rather than simply listening, you may score high on measures of "systemization," according to University of Cambridge neuroscientist Simon Baron-Cohen.
And if so this may reflect abilities that he thinks may have first evolved in humans between 70,000 and 100,000 years ago, when our human ancestors took a cognitive leap forward. This new capacity enabled them to analyze and understand patterns in the world that would, among other things, facilitate the invention of complex tools from bows to musical instruments. In Baron-Cohen's new book, he argues that humans became "the scientific and technological masters of our planet" because of our brain's "systemizing mechanism."
Also, some individuals — particularly those with Autism Spectrum Disorder, are the "hyper-systemizers" of our world. He suggests this should cause us to re-evaluate the capacities and strengths of people with autism... "[F]or the longest time, autism has been really just characterized as a disability, which it is, but with a focus on all the things that autistic people find difficult, what they struggle with. But we know that autism is more than just a disability, that autistic people think differently. Sometimes they have strengths...
"The fact that we can now see a link between those strengths in autism and human invention may change the way we look at autistic people. We might want to see them for who they are, people who think differently and have contributed to human progress."
And if so this may reflect abilities that he thinks may have first evolved in humans between 70,000 and 100,000 years ago, when our human ancestors took a cognitive leap forward. This new capacity enabled them to analyze and understand patterns in the world that would, among other things, facilitate the invention of complex tools from bows to musical instruments. In Baron-Cohen's new book, he argues that humans became "the scientific and technological masters of our planet" because of our brain's "systemizing mechanism."
Also, some individuals — particularly those with Autism Spectrum Disorder, are the "hyper-systemizers" of our world. He suggests this should cause us to re-evaluate the capacities and strengths of people with autism... "[F]or the longest time, autism has been really just characterized as a disability, which it is, but with a focus on all the things that autistic people find difficult, what they struggle with. But we know that autism is more than just a disability, that autistic people think differently. Sometimes they have strengths...
"The fact that we can now see a link between those strengths in autism and human invention may change the way we look at autistic people. We might want to see them for who they are, people who think differently and have contributed to human progress."
Autism is "Genius in a box" (Score:5, Interesting)
This is basically an off-the-cuff opinion, take it with a grain of salt.
Autism is essentially "genius in a box" , their processing power is allocated differently, and in some with ASD this shows up as "evil genius", sometimes as a topic "fanatic" or affectionado.
"Normal", or at least what we perceive as normal, are those who have the abilities to socialize, survive and negotiate with others and not make them want to be yeeted off a cliff. Those with Autism run the gamut of being unable to do any of these, to being able to function normally within limited parameters. eg, someone might be a train-fan, or a computer fan, or a just likes chess. They will prioritize those over social interaction.
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"Normal", or at least what we perceive as normal, are those who have the abilities to socialize, survive and negotiate with others and not make them want to be yeeted off a cliff.
Today's "normal" in modern society? Someone who's dangerously addicted to a smartphone, and somewhat of a narcissist. Actors are now faker than any script they're handed, an award-winning singers best friend is AutoTune. US Politics has been reduced to a Twitter shit-flinging fest between monkeys and baboons who represent everyone but the US Citizen. Looking at the obscene levels of polarization going on in the United States, HALF a damn country wants the other half to be yeeted off a cliff. Sadly, I'm
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It's worth considering that "normal" includes fetishism to the degree that we expect office workers to constrict blood flow to their brains and sit in a work environment that is for all practical purposes designed to prevent focus on the task at hand.
When a project is behind schedule, people working on it will be repeatedly ordered to STOP WORKING and report for a discussion of why it's behind schedule, where each such "meeting" will be identical to the previous one as if scripts were passed out in advance.
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"Speaking of social interaction, it's rather ironic that the ability to physically avoid the shit out of each other, has been greatly enhanced with the creation of "social" media. Take all social media platforms away from the average junkie for a week. Let's see how well "normal" does with social interaction."
I'm with the overall spirit of your post but in the defense of the normies or muggles, social media was invented by people on the spectrum... along with most everything else.
Re:Autism is "Genius in a box" (Score:5, Informative)
Autism is a neurological disorder with a high suicide rate [autistica.org.uk] and major risk of isolation-related mental illnesses. Savants are very rare and to equate autism and intelligence is no different from equating being Jewish with wealth.
Even worse, because of their difficulties communicating or not wanting to, someone who is autistic could kill themselves out of seemingly nowhere.
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Re:Cause of high suicide rate. (Score:4)
My MIL told me that autistic people know that you're treating them like they're retards, but they just can't put it into words which is frustrating for normal people, and that they're seen as the bad guy when they have a meltdown or lash out at people failing miserably at "helping" them (almost always on things they don't need help with).
People don't understand that angry and violent reactions towards what one sees as an abuser is a normal instinctive response, and is purely the fault of the abuser, even if they didn't mean it.
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So... you're saying I should do what? Ignore an autistic person, because helping them is bad?
If I don't mean to be an abuser, but am defined as such, the best bet would be to steer clear, but that would make me an abuser by not helping... meaning I'm fighting a lost battle either way.
Re:Cause of high suicide rate. (Score:4, Informative)
You ask their consent, respect their answer, and keep your comments to yourself when they manage to do it without help. People with disabilities or difficulties know their limits, and often don't want unwarranted praises or pity [wikipedia.org] or feeble attempts at virtue signalling. [wikipedia.org]
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Sure. When a son is banging his head against the table because of emotional overload his mother should ask his permission before stepping in to help him.
People with autism often don't know their limits. Shit, even people with high functioning autism often don't.
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Grabbing or touching or yelling at someone having a meltdown just escalates the situation. Meltdowns are not just rants or "tantrums", they're a compulsive reaction, much like vomiting or crying, you literally cannot control it. You can't tell someone to stop sneezing or throwing up because they are, again, literally incapable of controlling it. It is literally the same as a veteran freaking out and having tremors that look like a seizure when something triggers their PTSD.
All you can do (For your safety an
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Then that's still your fault because you clearly crossed a line by asking if they needed help with something they were managing just fine.
Re:Autism is "Genius in a box" (Score:5, Informative)
Autism is a neurological disorder with a high suicide rate [autistica.org.uk] and major risk of isolation-related mental illnesses. Savants are very rare and to equate autism and intelligence is no different from equating being Jewish with wealth.
Even worse, because of their difficulties communicating or not wanting to, someone who is autistic could kill themselves out of seemingly nowhere.
This is more in line with how I see it. I have a niece who is autistic and it certainly isn't doing her any favors. I don't think it will be possible for her to ever have a normal relationship with another adult. At the same time, she isn't good on her own and is living with her mother even though she's just turned 30, has a nice degree and is employed.
I also have a friend from high school with a son that is much further down that scale and I can't see him ever even holding a job. He'll probably be in a group home setting his entire life.
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Re: Autism is "Genius in a box" (Score:2)
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I'd venture to guess "history".
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Autism is a neurological disorder with a high suicide rate [autistica.org.uk] and major risk of isolation-related mental illnesses. Savants are very rare and to equate autism and intelligence is no different from equating being Jewish with wealth.
Even worse, because of their difficulties communicating or not wanting to, someone who is autistic could kill themselves out of seemingly nowhere.
Yep. Fetishizing disease is stupid. Being dorky isn't Asperger's, and real Asperger's isn't fun.
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>Many autistic people are perfectly happy with how they are
If it's working for them, what's to complain about. For truly 'genius' autists, the filtering of countless social distractions is noise-removal, allowing for calm and sustained reflection and invention. When the 'awe' rewards 'normals' demand come along, they're 'forgiven'.
But, I think, most are not 'geniuses'. The differences may still lead to creativity and exploration outside of the ordinary, but without the 'awe'some reactions 'normals' often
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There is no clearly-defined line. "Dorkativity" and Asperger's runs on a continuous scale.
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"Autism", especially since Aspergers/HFA has been included, is a spectrum. At one end, there's quite a bit of difficulty with functioning with the basics of life. At the other end, a person may be able to fake being mostly NT, at least on the surface level (especially for women, w
Re:Autism is "Genius in a box" (Score:5, Interesting)
Many people assume autism is like down syndrome, where 100% of the people with it suffer from the exact same, specific, debilitating issues, and no tangible benefits. But that's not how it works - autism isn't flipping switches so much as it's turning dials, in a somewhat consistent pattern. And like most evolutionary traits, these adjustments come with advantage and disadvantages, and can vary greatly in how strongly they're expressed.
One generalization I've heard used to describe autism is "an unusually high degree of focus". Depending on how strong this is, it can give a person the ability to drop "into the zone" at work and have an incredible attention to detail on complex tasks that benefit from focus, or it can lock them into a world all their own, unable to put down a toy long enough to interact with their parents. Sometimes the former is classified as "high-functioning autistic".
In the grand scheme of genetics, occasionally randomly producing both of these classes of individuals is a net positive. Even if only 2% are "high functioning", and the lower 70% are seriously impaired, that's easiy enough for "survival of the fittest" to take advantage of, and gradually tweak genetic to favor the "good flavor" of autism, incorporating the positive and useful traits into the general gene pool.
I suspect a lot of what we would have called "nerds" in gradeschool were products of this shift. Socially awkward and highly focused on technology can certainly have its advantages in today's technological society.
Calling it "genius in a box" is probably cutting too small of a slice out of the autistic pie though, but it's not entirely wrong. Though I suspect in the long-term (as in, hundreds of generations) humans will benefit from this influence, both in improved genetics and the inventions AND contributions of affected individuals. In a way, human ability to invent new technology that gets incorporated into society and into future generations is a technological leap in genetics, leading to improvements that propagate into the future. Not through design changes in the species, but instead by passing on knowledge of past invention to future generations. Call it "evolution on Fast Forward". And I suspet "high functioning autistic" is that button being pressed.
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I agree. I am old enough that labelling was not a thing when I was at school otherwise I am sure I would have been placed somewhere in the Spectrum. I was just regarded as difficult but ultimately rewarding (luckily).
I have the ability to concentrate on tasks for long periods of time, amongst other things, but also the handicap of putting off starting them (not an uncommon one, I think). I would have definitely slotted into the weird category socially when I was young but was fine with people who outside ob
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I suggest you do more research, zero correlation may have been found by the research you have read so far, but most of the studies done on it are in agreement. Here's a starting point for you:
https://www.spectrumnews.org/n... [spectrumnews.org]
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You're thinking of Savant Syndrome, which may have overlap with autism but isn't a guaranteed result.
While a strong interest is a symptom of autism, a strong skill isn't a symptom. Skill is obtained by doing it properly.
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'They will prioritize those over social interaction.'
And actually do things which advance our species, maintain perspective, etc.
Muggles, or Normals as you call them are distracted by meaningless social constructs and unable to detach. They can't see the forest, rarely see the trees, usually because of shared amusement over a butterfly. They walk around thinking they are superior due to these social blinders. This doesn't make you 'Normal' it makes you average and populous. It is not any aspect of merit but
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What do you mean? 5V or 12V?
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So basically, they think most introverts who prefer working alone on their own projects rather than spend time socializing have autism? That's messed up.
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Autism is essentially "genius in a box" ...
No, it is not. The high-functioning variant is better at systematic thinking, but they are also quite limited in other areas, like thinking outside of the box. They have a great fondness for structure, but cannot deal with individuals that have non-standard skills in another variant than their own. In essence they can make a great addition to a team, but do not put them into the lead, that is a recipe for disaster. Also never let them design mechanisms for "normals": They are usually just as ignorant as to
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Re: processing power is allocated differently (Score:2)
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You're joking, right? What's your n-value here? 1? 2? There's probably about 20 people with some degree of ASD that you know personally who would smack you upside the head for that kind of ignorant statement.
Yes, there are autistic individuals as you describe and there are a whole lot who are much closer to what you probably define as "normal".
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Fun fact, I think you probably get my point and just wanted to add your 2c.
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Bullshit. As you rightly noted, it's a spectrum. Your entire premise is based on an anecdote of someone on the deep end of the spectrum, completely ignoring the other end.
Only 40-55% [wikipedia.org] of people diagnosed with autism are classed as "low-functioning" (LFA).
You've likely met/worked with a number of people with High-functioning autism (HFA) or Asperger's Syndrome & never known it. Varying degrees of social awkwardness is a common trait. One's unlikely to be much of a social wizard, however that's hardly a tr
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Only 40-55% [wikipedia.org] of people diagnosed with autism are classed as "low-functioning" (LFA).
That reeks of overdiagnosing autism. Tells me the other half (non-LFA) shouldn't have been diagnosed with autism in the first place.
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Well, up off your armchair and publish a paper about it!
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Only 40-55% [wikipedia.org] of people diagnosed with autism are classed as "low-functioning"
Compare that with the percentage of non-autistic people who are classified as "low-functioning" (and no, the apocryphal 50% below/above isn't real)
Autism has bad effects. To deny this is folly.
Submissive consumers (Score:5, Interesting)
Nowadays the only people who are not on the "autism scale" are the submissive consumers who are duly spending all their disposable income on whatever is being advertised to them.
We are to believe that the advertising industry is only carrot, but articles like this are the stick:
If you have interests of your own and the ads don't work on you, then you are autistic.
Re:Submissive consumers (Score:5, Insightful)
Exactly my thought. As modern society got more efficient, it got better and better at recognizing and shaping the "ideal" citizen, and anyone who doesnt settle squarely into the mold is "dysfunctional" in some way, shape or form.
Mind you I, am not saying this as a rebellious teenager. I have just seen way too many kids get diagnosed with ADD and put on medication when 50 years ago that same kid would be the text-book example of "Healthy & Energetic Boy".
Of course, if autism is indeed a trait of genius, are we gonna start studying how to MAKE children autistic? After the baby boomer's craze of putting every kid through violin lessons and the mania of either having higher education or becoming synonymous to a failure, will the zoomers of today INSIST on making their children obsess over trains and computers in the hopes of siring a modern Einsten?
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Isn't it the other way around? Instead of condemning neurologically diverse people to asylums or low level jobs, we are now much better at accepting and integrating them.
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Isn't it the other way around? Instead of condemning neurologically diverse people to asylums or low level jobs, we are now much better at accepting and integrating them.
If that is possible. While the HFA variant is usually able to integrate themselves and find something valuable to do, sometimes with help, the LFA version is not. Now this is not a clear line, but there is a major part of people with autism that are really too far removed from what is needed to master your own life and cannot make it. They cannot be "integrated". That they are "geniuses" is just a probably well-meaning but entirely misguided myth. That does in no way reflect on the HFAs, and these two class
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Autism is not a trait of genius. Most people with autism are plain stupid but you never see them because they're not on Slashdot or called Musk or Gates. Autism is a mostly different way of processing information. When combining the obsessive behavior of autism with an above intelligent brain, a genius may come out. But the social problems, problems with overstimulation and understimulation, crippling strong emotions combined with an utter lack of ability to properly express them, the general idea of being
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Of course, if autism is indeed a trait of genius, are we gonna start studying how to MAKE children autistic?
It is not. Autism gives on systematic thinking and takes in other areas. In most cases that does not go well at all, see suicide rates and rates of violent behavior among autistic people. Those that are "high functioning" still have those other deficits. They are valuable for some tasks and completely unsuitable for others. Same as anybody, really, but with a massively different distribution.
Bottom line is that an "autistic genius" is probably an even more rare thing than a regular one and you would be doin
Re:Submissive consumers (Score:4, Interesting)
This idea only bothers people because they see autism as a binary flag, not a spectrum, and because they think autism is automatically bad.
It's similar to disability. I'm not "disabled" in the way most people would think of it, but I do have some limited movement and there are things I can't do. It used to bother me a lot more than it does now, but I've come to realize that it's just a thing that happens to people and it doesn't necessarily diminish them.
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The defining quality has to do with social interaction abilities rather than whether someone would regularly prefer to work on a non-social activity than go to a pub.
That is certainly the common conception of it, arrived at based on casual observation. And that is exactly what the author (Simon Baron-Cohen) 'disagrees' with.
He hypothesises two different sets of brain circuitry: Systematising and Empathising.
He then goes on to suggest (backed up by research) five types of brain. Type E: Empathising > Systematising (~30% of population); Type S: Systematising > Empathising (~30% of population); Type B: Empathising = Systematising (~30% of population); Extreme Type E:
uh oh.. 10 minutes to wapner.. (Score:2)
https://youtu.be/Ddq1BUPo4pg?t... [youtu.be]
somehow felt appropriate.
Old News (Score:5, Interesting)
After working with autists and have close friends on this spectrum, it's rather clear it's a social adaptation which is probably largely in part to stimuli. The gender spectrum seems likely to be this way With what I suspect is overlap to some degree between asexual and the autism spectrum. Asperger's seems to have a relationship with a lack or even disgust for sexuality but my experience is limited. In general all disorders can be considered reorderings and overtime a true liberal society is able to completely embrace all these potential modes. In this way mores are often the way we determine a disorder but mores themselves can often be pedantic. psychology is really interesting when you do not accept it as a dogma. I am actually deeply interested on how the one child policy has shaped Class Chinese generation. This is a country that has no real diagnosis of ASD or ADD, psychiatry is seen as something that loses face for the family, you have a generation that is very emotionally spoiled, and a nation that is starting to realize mental disorders can be comparable to disease.
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As a textbook Aspie, it's a developmental disorder which is an overly negative sounding way to describe it. It's merely an atypical order of development and being a minority surrounded by people who never contemplate anything beyond their typical experience one has to constantly come up against meeting expectations. It's largely a problem of the majority. We have to suffer with because we are expected to conform to their expectations. It's somewhat similar situation with society's handling of gender role
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Indeed. Because gender is actually a pretty strong influence on most people. People that see they themselves do not care much, but completely ignore what others think about themselves are just ignorant.
Baron-Cohen family (Score:5, Informative)
Kind of impressive bunch between siblings and cousins:
Simon: famous autism researcher
Sacha: actor/comedian
Erran: composer
Ash: filmmaker
Dan: playwright and theater activist
Also, after looking this up I'm not sure if it's "Baron-Cohen" or "Baron Cohen".
Autism != intelligence (Score:2)
Autism is a condition that impairs people's cognitive behaviour. It is not a good thing in any way to have, and also does not correlate to intelligence due to its close connection with very obvious patterns of thinking that can be automated by machine learning.
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Being normal is a condition that impairs people's cognitive behaviour. It is not a good thing in any way to have, and also does not correlate to intelligence due to its close connection with very obvious patterns of thinking that can be automated by machine learning.
I have replaced several normal people with small programs that didn't even need AI.
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Remember HALF the people are below average. Just think about how stupid an average person is! I didn't realize until I worked a typical job for a while; prior to that, I tended to only be exposed to above average people.
Technology IS making people even more stupid. Cognition can become a habit or can be habitually avoided. If you don't use your high IQ for many reasons maybe you don't lose it but you functionally are lower IQ when you do not focus and use it. You see this in people who are uninterested i
Re:Autism != intelligence (Score:4, Interesting)
Hate to burst your bubble, but I am autistic (and ADHD), and while there are parts of it I'd gladly jettison (proprioception would be nice to have), there are other parts you'll have to pry out of my cold, dead hands. Those parts are instrumental in my acquisition of skills that have given me a successful career. I have been married for 25 years, and I have two kids, both neurodivergent, any I wouldn't trade my family for anything.
[Cue "No True Scotsman" fallacy in three... two... one...]
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There are other considerations (Score:2)
The evolutionary psychological basis of neurotypicals excluding autistic people from their social groups and autistic people with specific, specialized abilities in narrow domains is this encourages a few people to be isolated to innovate in niche domains while the society benefits from their differences. Seems like exploitation.
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Autism is not like diabetes (Score:2)
A very wide range of symptoms are clubbed together as autism spectrum disorder.
Aspie superiority (Score:4, Interesting)
Stop praising ASM when all we need to do is helpin (Score:4, Interesting)
A flaw with this theory (Score:3)
There's quite a lot of debate when behavioral modern humans appeared, and if that's limited to us, or some of the behaviors can be found in Neanderthals.
If it can include Neanderthals, then that pushes the genes back quite before 70k years ago. Note the "Divje Babe Flute" is usually attributed to Neanderthals, and if that is a musical instrument (it is up for debate), that would mean that the genes were present before the Neanderthal/modern human split, or that there is convergent evolution, or at least one homo sapiens was present in eastern Europe before we have a record of them in that area.
It's rather a mixed bag. (Score:4, Interesting)
High-functioning autism does not exclude self-awareness.
Examine, as more than a joke (because it is not a joke) the "weaponized autism" meme made famous on the chans. A positive is many autists don't give a shit what "normies" think (and given what normies do to their societies I certainly can't blame them).
Then examine what that understandable but often unfortunate contempt for normies coupled with the compulsion to systemize the world (without regard to how humans really work because autists cannot empathize) produces. It produces fanatical secular and superstitionist desire to impose order.
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without regard to how humans really work because autists cannot empathize
On the other hand, the ability to systematize human behavior can be an asset. Empathy is great for dealing with people on a one-to-one basis. But it's not so good when you are trying to address problems in society at large.
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Mentats (Score:2)
Autistic people are basically mentats, but with a couple of communication circuits blown out.
If anything it shows that the human brain is constantly changing. The downside to this particular mutation is the lack of sociability makes it so that this mutation tends to not continue onwards.
Re:Mentats (Score:5, Interesting)
As someone on the spectrum, this is a good analogy.
Part of my experience of being on the spectrum is the inability to ignore stimuli. everything you experience is important, and requires rationalizing and understanding - and there is no way to filter this - neurotypical minds appear to have the capacity to 'just ignore irrelevant stuff'. I had the advantage of being able to rationalize human interaction at a young age, and build a conscious working model of social interaction - effectively a constant conscious subroutine to 'act human' and 'appear to ignore things'. Not everyone on the spectrum develops this, and this, to me is where the high-function/low-function thing comes in. If you were lucky enough to pick up the basic structures when young, you can build on it if you have the intelligence. If you don't, you end up with those who cannot function in a relatively normal way. Giving those with autism the opportunity to develop this, giving them facts and examples for them to build their own models from is key.
In trade for the inability to ignore is the ability to build complex mental models. And we are ALWAYS trying to perfect them, even if they cannot be perfected.
A disadvantage is that doing so is stressful, and leads to high levels of anxiety. My experience is 'imagine the state of mind you go in to when you have just managed to avoid being run down by a car, and your perception slows and the world becomes very vivid' - That is how the world appears, at least to me, ALL THE TIME.
And in regards to Autismspeaks? It's basically methods of training those on the spectrum like they are animals. It doesn't account for the internal view of the autistic person, just effectively forcing them in to behaving according to a 'normal' pattern of behavior.
Klik
Some behavior is just annoying (Score:2)
"If you find yourself pondering the marvel of aerodynamics when you fly on a plane..."
You know those obnoxious people who insist on ruining a movie or a TV show by pointing out the scientific inaccuracies? Or the people who criticize an obviously snarky comment instead of laughing along? I don't care if they're autistic or not. It's annoying. Just friggin' watch the show and be entertained.
Re: No, it isn't (Score:2)
The question mark headline is something that always drives me crazy. It used to be something I saw on news websites/aggregators that were clearly just click-baiting (e.g. "Is Elvis really dead?! These photos say otherwise..."). Now I see it everywhere, including NYT, BBC, WashPost. I'm not sure why it drives me crazy, but it just feels non-journalistic to me.
Re: No, it isn't (Score:3)
It just signifies a hypothesis as opposed to an accepted fact
Re: No, it isn't (Score:2, Insightful)
Then it should have been,
"Autism may be the Legacy of Humans Evolving the Ability to Innovate"
Without the stupid click bait question mark.
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PS if it feels too good, autistic types get lost in thinking about nothing much of anything, just getting the brain to produce tasty brain chemicals, of course like your typical drug addict, when you interrupt their thoughts and the brain chemical flow, they get pretty pissed off. It feels good because the brain chemicals released during certain types of thought, reasoning, feel good.
Re: No, it isn't (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm not sure why it drives me crazy, but it just feels non-journalistic to me.
Hmm, it feels extremely typical journalistic to me.
By that I just mean it's trash.
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Usually the articles themselves are sparse on fact, heavy on opinion. That's probably why you don't like it.
Are question marks headlines really everywhere? (Score:2)
Yes. Yes they are.
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>I'm not sure why it drives me crazy, but it just feels non-journalistic to me.
It straight up pisses me off. As I recently heard it expressed:
A journalist's job is to seek and present answers for their audience. Not ask them questions.
My impression is that "asking questions" was becoming popular in traditional media well before clickbait became a thing, as a way to imply an answer without actually making themselves vulnerable to libel laws that would come crashing down on their heads if they actually t
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Though I will say, in this particular case, it seems appropriate enough. The article is about scientific speculation - nobody knows the answer. But I'd still like to see them own it, if only to separate them from the empty clickbait and public manipulation:
Autism might be the Legacy of Humans Evolving the Ability to Innovate.
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It's the law. Brannigan's Law.
Re:No, it isn't (Score:4, Insightful)
These will keep coming too, because Puritans are somehow too "proud" to allow that human females have an amazing ability to sense pheremones that indicate a good genetic partner and even then they can't accept the science that hormonal birth control blocks the ability because hormonal birth control is also good for women's lib. Same for meeting mates at work.
The premise isn't entirely wrong - the genetic ability does help with human progress. Too much of the ability from both parents can cause genetic susceptibility to environmental factors that then trigger incorrect neural pruning present in Autism.
I don't suppose you have any links to academic journals or reputable sources that support this.
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Obsession? I have not seen any people on the streets yelling about autism.
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IMHO it's the other way around. /pollution/gay mind control waves for their own kids showing autistic traits.
Some groups of people with very little overlap with SJW really dislike the idea that autism is inherited. They prefer that other things like social status and money are hereditary, and take every opportunity to accuse vaccination
Also anecdotal of course is my observation that such groups of people are often at odds with the SJW crowd.
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It is not the journalism that is the problem, it is the fact that academics take evolutionary psychology seriously and quacks like Steven Pinker have convinced the academic community to treat speculative bullshit as science.
They are so determined to explain the evolutionary origins of human intelligence they will grasp at any straw.
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I don't disagree with anything you say. The problem with evolutionary psychology is that, short of inventing a time machine, there's no way to move beyond speculation. The problem is the field is premised on the idea that current human behavior is shaped by our evolutionary history. That's the paradigm the entire field depends on and it's impossible to falsify. In other fields, the paradigm is falsifiable and if/when it becomes falsified, the field changes to account for this new information. When a field d
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1. Sorry your brother has full-blown autism. It's a crippling thing.
2. You're movements are clumsy - I know a lot of engineers who are like this. I was too at an early