...And another amusing cause of Autism...

Post Reply New Topic

I've never been able to imagine knitting, perhaps part of the reason was attention to a 2 dimensional world.

I think it would be next to impossible to study the effects of TV, on the human brain, part of the reason they were able to isolate videogaming as a cause in South Korea and China, was because of the censorship there of porn.

The interesting thing about TV is one views reality on a vicarious basis, subjected to an incredible amount of vicarious experience in one life time, unimaginable before TV was developed as almost a magical invention in it's introduction.

We innocently feed our minds with experiences that we would likely never participate in, in real life. The thing is though, our brain really doesn't care if it is real or not, it still is recorded as our reality.

I quit watching TV about a year ago, mostly because of vision problems, and I was amazed at how much my view of reality was influenced by it now as compared to then.

I loved TV though, video games, a videophile through and through. I was so looking forward to high definition TV, and right about the time it was developed, I started not to be able to tolerate the colors on the screen, then the brightness.

I'm honestly glad though that most of it was not available when I was growing up, except for black and white pong which was really exciting at the time, but still not as much fun as the real ping pong table we had.

The three dimensional experience of life, was a wonderful thing. I was thrilled, by the seashore walking up and down it for years, never getting bored.

The introduction of those first real video games, in the 80's, provided that same magical etheral type of feeling, as when I got my first color TV at age 16, and the first time I walked that shore and saw those emerald colored waves.

I spent some time with my 94 year old aunt, before she passed, and was amazed at her optimism and zest for life, in enjoying the simple things, like the fact that she had a choice of what she could drink in the refrigerator.

She could barely walk and was close to blind. At close to 50 living an extremely fast paced, stimulus filled life, I realized at that point that I had lost something that I wouldn't likely not be able to retrieve.

Tranquility, Patience, and complete fulfillment at twilight, watching the sun go down, and in someways, my humanity.

Just a vague memory now. Something my Aunt enjoyed until the end of her days even though she became blind. And the things my parents still enjoy moving into their eighties, who never jumped aboard the technological revolution, past a TV set and VCR.

As I look back I see the progression of it in my life, and it makes sense.

At 21 when I gave up sugar in carbonated drinks, and then at 38, when I gave up caffeine, I never really thought about how I just had replaced them with different things. And never realized those different things had nearly the same impact on my brain.

Life is complicated enough, it's really hard for a human being to understand how pleasure can eventually cause pain.

It's really painful to use the internet now, but stimulus has conquered my life, I can't imagine playing a video game again, the thought of it is overwhelming.

I lived the first part of my life, not being able to speak, but I wonder, if I had high definition TV at the age of 3 or 4, if I would have had the motivation to speak at age 4. I'll never know.

Perhaps some autistic people are the canaries in the coalmine. It appears I was more canary than some.

Adolscents getting addicted to video games in China and South Korea, and the resulting harm to their brain, is really cause for some concern. It is like a national sport there, well beyond the American obsession with football. They have a life ahead of them, and they are definitely going to need that brain for the entire journey.

And then there is pornography the ultimate visual crack for some. It hasn't even seriously been studied yet with brain scans, and only really widely, freely available to all in it's current extreme unlimited variety form, until the last decade. OMG, I'm glad that wasn't available when I was growing up.

I thought I was so smart never to do drugs. Life is really tricky now for young folks, likely more so for those of the autistic phenotype; some that likely start out life with unusual reward centers in the brain, before the environmental influence of any of these things become available.

I am sure Autism does cause computer use. Back in the day you could always spot an autistic, the unnatural sound of two rocks being struck together, for hours. That was followed by the second unnatural sound, sharpened stone striking wood. Chopping, is a human only sound.

We thought they were all signaling "Here I am, Come eat me!" But other animals thought them stranger than we did and they lived.

Using their sharp stones they did some unnatural things to dead animals, peeling off the skin. It was something like collecting banana peels, but smelled worse. They became smaller and hard after drying,

For some reason it excited them, one often heard Whot! Whot! Keee, Kika, kik ki!

One tied one down to a hollow stump, and when it dried it did make a comfortable seat. They did not sit, they beat it with sticks, just for the sound and patterns.

This is Scientific proof that it was not the beating together to make tools, or the beating that went along with tool use, The Goal was the pure beat, the pattern of rithemic sounds.

Thump, Thump thumba thump thump was mixed with Whot! Whot! Keee kika, kik Ki! and it often went on long into the night and involved others who came to move about in a circle in jerky motions, and there was fermented fruit and some iffy leaves involved. It attracted young females.

Side effects were the discovery of a way to make fire, and from beating a log with stones, sticks, the bark became soft, and fell off. Young females draped themselves with strips of bark, danced about, being noticed by all.

It was not long before bark was beaten on purpose, for the females wanted it, and if you had beaten bark, you suddenly became taller with better fur.

The females seemed to want to become a tree, and wove a sheet of bark strips into a single mid body cover. They also made bags to gather fermented fruit, with shoulder straps, from other barks, and strips of hide, that complimented their bark wrap.

Ever since this chipping rock, chopping wood, beating on hides started, it has continued, and the good world we knew that moved to the sound of the wind, the cry of birds, the screams of something being eaten, is mostly gone.

Now they drive the world at an unnatural pace, as fast as many can beat on a dry hide, and the graceful young women who once glided across open areas, their knuckles keeping them stable, graceful, and natural, now stand on their hind legs, wrap their middle in bark, carry just about everything in a shoulder bag, so their hands are free to play at their fur, and draw attention to themselves. It works.

It is not like they are doing anything we did not, We had whole valleys of fruit that was left till it was very over ripe, falling to the ground, which was good, for after a day of eating it, we could not get up to reach more.

Girls hid in bushes, in plies of leaves, so someone would hunt for them.

It just seems they are doing it at greater range. What we did back in the bushes, they present in the middle of the group, and see who pays attention. The best answer I got was from someone hard to unwrap, and just like everyone beneath it. She said, "The best presents are gift wrapped."

This druming media has more range than Whot! Whot!, and is easier on the vocal cords.

I never thought myself part of the new ways, but I notice my step falls with the drum beat, and I stand more upright when I walk. I too save and scrape my hides, beat some bark and keep them at my bush. I get visits from females who wonder just how much bark I have, and leave me with less.

I fear it is a passing fad, for I have come to like watching the girls shake their bark. Then again, the clicking of stones is mixed with stone chopping wood, and sticks beating together and on tight hides. It seems an endless pattern of sounds, almost like it had meaning, feeling, And it does get the bark shaking.

Lately it has affected the very young, who shake dried gourds filled with dry seeds, and laugh at the sound, and do it again while laying around, as that is what the very young do. The can not even sit up, but they listen to the drumbeats, and shake their rattle.

I do hope something comes of it,

Next up: Autism causes Internet use

Principle: Correlation does not imply causation (Although that one may have some validity).