If you could TRY it, would you?

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Here's a question I've never seen here, but as is the way with questions like this, it would not surprise me if someone has and someone posts a link to a thread with the same question. Well, I haven't seen it, so in case it never has been asked, I will.

The usual question goes like this:

"Would you want to be cured?"

Every time I see that I think to myself, "What a useless thing to think about. There is no cure, and won't be in my lifetime, so why bother even thinking about it?"

Today though, I did think about it for a brief moment and realized I wouldn't, because I have NO clue what life without it is like. What if I hate the change?

And that led me to this question:

What if we could "try" not being AS for a while, but knew we could go back to being AS if we didn't like it?

If there was a pill you could take and *poof!* your Autism is GONE, but there was a "restore" pill that would restore your AS any time you wanted to take it, would you try it?

Yes, because I think that while being NT sounds very appealing sometimes, trying it would give me a greater appreciation for my true, neurodiverse self.

NICE! Who knew the very first response would be one I hadn't even thought of, and very cool at that!

There is such a pill.

I wouldn't because its a part of me

I'll have to morph the question some. So now there's a fairy godmother type, possibly rather eccentric indeed, who casts a normalcy spell with a time limit of perhaps one week. It would have to be this way because unless the pill also magically cured the ADD I'd forget the restore pill existed or lose the stupid thing.

Your opening sentences are very astute. I think Nietzsche nailed the reason with the aphorism: Be careful lest in casting out demons that you don't cast out the very best thing that's in you. In other words, our very best qualities are oftentimes the flip side of what we like least about ourselves. As Nietzsche went on to note, the greater the gift, the greater the suffering that accompanies it.

It's what philosophers call binary oppositions and the Buddhists call duality (love-hate, good-bad. old-young, etc.). In other words, most traits can only exist by virtue of the existence of its opposite. We can emphasize one opposition over the other, but we cannot altogether dispense with its opposite, either in ourselves or in life. It's the metaphysical version of Newton's Second Law of motion. Changing into somebody else would only present us with a brand new set of problems.

If it were possible to do away with aspie traits, I don't think we could begin to anticipate the consequences. We might as well make the best of who and what we are.

A merry Christmas to one and all.

Last edited by Dunnyveg on 24 Dec 2011, 5:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.

No, I am not interested in experimenting with mind-altering substances. I am happy being me.

Much like "curing" a tree from being made of wood.

Certainly there are alternatives and substitutes,

however, nothing compares to you.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_fPS0HwjJc[/youtube]

And if I miss what I lose but like what I gain, then what have I actually achieved?

Nope, not even slightly tempted. I've got used to the furniture.

Invaluable insight at no personal cost?

Or just re-arranged furniture.

Let's not give logical answers like ''but there will never be a cure so there's no point in answering the question'' because it's just one of those ''IF'' questions what you have to think about, it doesn't mean it's going to happen.

But I like to dream, I like to step out of reality and really think how good it would be to be NT. I would take that pill if such a thing was possible, because I just really want to get a taste of what being NT is really like. And I know better than to go around thinking, ''wow, if I was NT I wouldn't have any problems, my life would be super and I would be a perfect, healthy, well-adjusted human being without no worries and cares in the world!'' - wrong! That is totally the wrong thing to believe because I know that most, if not, all NTs that I know aren't 100 percent happy, and they all have problems in their lives, and they even face challenges and I know some NTs who have been through a lot or going through a lot in their lives, like fighting cancer, or going through terrible divorce, or lost their job and had to struggle with money, or caring for an ill relative, or have problems with their kids, or had fall-outs with friends or relatives or neighbours.....the list goes on and on. So I think it is naive to believe that being NT will mean that all of my problems will all blow away and I will live happily ever after. I'm sure we're smart enough to know better that NT life is not a fairytale.

I just want to be an average NT because I've always wanted to know what it's like to fit in, to be able to get the social rules more right (although nobody's perfect), and to be able to have a better social knack, and to be invited out more and be included, and to have more of a better choice whether I want to isolate myself or not. There is nothing worse than living a life feeling isolated when all you do is try to fit in and be a good person and have good intentions. It's OK when you have the choice. It's like my mum, she is NT but hates socialising and phoning people up, but when she is put in a social situation her social skills are there for when she needs to use them, whereas when I'm put in a social situation I just freeze up and don't know what to do or how to be, and I've got nothing to say to anyone only those who I'm familiar with, and I just spend my whole time feeling awkward. It's really not nice.

No.

Yes, I'd take the pill if it was reversible. Actually, I'd like to be able to alternate at will See an attractive girl- NT pill so I don't embarrass myself. Find out she loves the Beatles- Aspie pill so I can infodump .

Okay, not only does such a pill exist but this is pretty much exactly how it works. But sure, carry on yammering away to yourselves, y'all.