Is autism a disorder caused by high IQ genes?

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Do not confound "intelligence" and "wisdom".

I like the cut of your tautology, sir.

autism is a cure to the disorder of neurotypical syndrome? My parents are both music teachers. They aren't very clever. My mums mother is a genius at art. Seems to be an artistic connection, maybe more abstract artistic intelligence than pure mathematical logic etc

No intelligence is very clearly understood. Intelligence is the mental ability to adapt any situation to your advantage. Humans are the most intelligent animal on earth because we can manipulate other life forms to our advantage even when they have more physical advantages than we do such as strength, speed, wings, claws, fur etc. We are so adaptable we can manipulate plants to our advantage via agriculture, animals to our advantage via domestication; we're even reaching the point where we can manipulate our own genes. We are so adaptable we can live in any climate, and can even travel under water or go to outer-space.

Now autistics often fail to adapt because:

(1) Many of us are not intelligent and IQ tests often overestimate our intelligence by not penalizing us for social and executive function handicaps

(2) Even intelligent autistics often lack lack the social component of intelligence. They might be able to adapt to millions of situations, but sadly almost all humans are confined to mostly social situations so we never get to see how adaptable they would be in a non-social world.

(3) Autistics have two problems to adapt to simultaneously: The external world that all humans must cope with AND there own emotional need to obsess over specific topics. Trying to adapt to both internal and external needs requires twice as much intelligence so many autistics fail.

(4) Neurotypicals don't have to adapt as much to other people because they are already similar to most humans. Autistics are naturally different, so we need more adaptability to bridge the gap. We have to be adaptable enough to pretend to be normal.

Wisdom is simply intelligence + experience. When an intelligent person stays in the same environment long enough, they become wise about that environment, however when the environment changes, they must rely on their intelligence to adapt, as the acquired wisdom has become obsolete. Sometimes wisdom remains even after intelligence has declined. Old people are a good example of this.

All mental abilities that allow an organism to adapt a situation to its advantage our part of intelligence. You can't just arbitrarily exclude mental abilities we're not as good at. That's called bias.

[citation needed]



I don't recall encountering any indication that this happens, but I have found research showing that autistic people often score lower than their actual IQ because for whatever reason the tests don't really mesh with how they think. Switch to purely nonverbal tests and IQ ranges are well within typical. Or if you do what Hans Asperger did with his patients, and adapt the tests to their communication styles.



I have difficulties with non-social changes, so this is irrelevant. The same difficulties with unexpected social changes (like say a surprise visit by someone who expects to talk to me). It's the same reaction.



This makes no sense. While you may be correct about two problems, concluding that it requires "twice as much intelligence" is simply incoherent. Intelligence is not literally quantifiable.



I find it odd how you're trying to make everything about intelligence, and then central all the intelligence on social intelligence. That's both extremely reductive and a terrible model.

I don't find that social difficulties are central to my autism. Maybe social stuff just isn't important enough to me that it impacts me as harshly as someone who wants a lot of friends and relationships, or maybe there's just more going on here than "can't adapt to other people."

Last edited by Verdandi on 03 Jan 2012, 7:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.

To go from the 'high IQ genes' in the title to the technical professions listed in the poll is a bit of a jump, and makes all sorts of assumptions.

My late father was a minor clerk, and the son of a minor clerk. He never got much in the way of qualifications, and had few friends. Yet he was widely read, thoughtful (perhaps opiniated), a competent amateur musician, and could reel off answers to University Challenge as well as any Oxbridge student.

Did he have a technical career? Nope. Did he have a high IQ? I would bet that he did, although he never took a test.

Did he have an ASD? I'm not going to speculate, but I suspect that he did not. I have been diagnosed, have an IQ of 157, and had an shakey career in software development. Is there some sort of consequent link here? No, and I think you need to rethink your post/poll.

I tried to point out something very similar a bit further back in the thread but it sank without a trace.

Not sure whether I find this thread silly, as another poster commented further back, or sinister.

You know what, Wogaboo, just because your not very intelligent it does not mean that all autistic people aren't very intelligent.

*runs away as fast as I can and ducks for cover*

My father was an engineer.