Silly Humans

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I remember, when I was younger, I would look at the way people did things (like repairmen fixing things) and I would think to myself, "Why did they do it like this?" and "Why didn't they do it like this?" because I could see that my way was better - and it would have been because most of the stuff we've had repaired around here has since gone wrong. If they'd have had an Aspie with them, they would have 'seen' the better way to do it.

And then it dawned upon me, I've been thinking of these people as 'silly humans' ever since I was about 8. I'm 47 now, but until now, I hadn't thought about the fact that I used to think of them as alien to me even back then.

Not only does it show I knew I was different back then but it also highlights the fact that I knew I thought differently to others. Our brains work differently to NT's because they're wired differently.

a) Can you relate to feeling different, especially at such a young age?
b) What solutions have you come up with, with your Aspie wired brain that's blown humans out of the water?

I've come to think of them as Earthlings.

I have come to realize my answers and methods are in general less efficient and mostly just obtuse. Once in a while I get lucky.

You probably assume that only somebody with Aspergers is capable of this type of problem solving

My 9 yr old daughter has classic autism and attends mainstream school. She was using her classroom reading program software at home and it came up with an error message when she tried to complete a task. It frustrated her at first. By the end of the week she worked out the problem. How did she do it?

Well, she went to school and stood behind all 25 of her classmates and (over the course of three days) memorised all their login and passwords. She came home and hacked into each student's account and checked to see if their tasks were completed and if the error message turned up on their screen. When I caught her she viewing a series of different accounts I confronted her. She promised not use the accounts in future (tricky because I know she has their account details memorised). Anyway she figured out that the error message didn't appear if she used internet explorer instead of google chrome!! problem solved!!

a. Yes, just like you say.
b. Too many to list/mention. Most of them have been within a special interest such as engine building/tuning strategies for drag racing. Stuff I could write volumes about, but would generally go unappreciated. The normal world just doesn't care.

Don Garlits probably would have cared. I used to enjoy drag and auto racing when I was young

That's one way to solve the problem.

I tend to get totally infuriated watching people struggle to do something that I consider relatively simple on computers. Half the time I want to just tell them to move over and let me do it.

1) No, I never noticed any difference between me and others
2) None, I am a hoooman too

oh wow, i can't believe that someone else does this! i have done this always, from my earliest memories & i don't (intellectually) know why:
i am me.
they are humans.
it is not a ploy to elevate my status, nor degrade it, it just IS. my husband is annoyed by it but i dont care. if i say "..you humans.." he makes a big deal out of it..like; "oh, YOU humans, huh? i guess you are not a human?"
my parents are used to it. and they agree.

This is fascinating to me. XD At my school, I knew a boy with very severe autism. He was obsessed with the internet and could search and play video games all on his own. No help whatsoever. It just amazed me because people always say that people with severe autism aren't intelligent or lack intellectual capabilities. It makes me mad because people who have a more severe form of autism ARE able to learn. They just learn differently than a normal person does.

As for me, I suck at problem-solving. It's even worse if I'm doing math problems. :/

To think of others as different - perfectly fine.

To think of others in general as 'silly' is quite arrogant, as you're creating a hierarchy and putting yourself above others. This is just as bad as others labelling autistics as x/y/z.

The saying 'if you've met one autistic, you've met one autistic' has a similar arrogance. 'When you've met one human, you've met one human' is more palatable.


Identifying problems is far easier than finding solutions.

If we are going to judge others harshly, we should judge ourselves just as harshly: a good question to ask ourselves is have we made a creative contribution to a specific field?


If it weren't for 'silly humans', you wouldn't be typing a post into a forum on a website on the internet using electricity etc

Largely true, in general, but it could be a valid individual characterization in some contexts, could it not?

No! I've been on this rock for 47 years and I know what's what. And I can 'see' the difference in my thinking patterns to those around me at work, in life, anywhere!

I have known for a long time, my thinking is very different to others. I seem to think outside the box. I get a problem and my mind just GOES BERSERK searching for solutions in ALL directions and as I've not really lived in this world with these people (happy loner), I guess my thinking isn't shaped by the same learning patterns they get to learn. I'm certainly an original thinker. My solutions are mine and not based on any prior knowledge of how things have been done.

I do think differently to others. The way I think, I wouldn't say it's better. I just seem to approach things in a different way to others. It's a fact! If there's anything I've learned from being alive for so long, it's that my thinking is different! No question about it.

I know myself very well. I did a massive moral inventory of myself (not because of AA - I just wanted to truly know who I was). I'm not all "Everything's hunky dory". I do suffer a lot from Asperger's but it certainly does carry some fantastic qualities. It's been a Special Interest of mine now for over 2 years and I know what parts of me are because of my Asperger's and my thinking processes are definitely attributable to AS. No Question about it!

My sister has always thought of me as an Alien. Even she could see I was different from a very young age. With Asperger's, there certainly are differences between us and NT's and this thinking just happens to be part of it.

That's easy to believe for me.
The nature of the hive mind is that it forces conformity for thinking to reside inside of accepted models.
Real innovation comes when thinking goes outside of those accepted models.
Innovation is a threat to the hive mind, in several ways, not the least of which is the threat to individual hierarchal status.

Innovation can come when you see the same things as others around you, but think different things.
This is often the case with ASD thinking.
Further, I think that ASD individuals often BOTH see things differently and think differently as well.
Naturally the conclusions reached will seem very alien to those around you who may be trapped within the bounds of software-driven conformity.

Reference the Asche conformity experiments. There are videos on youtube.

Yup - One thing to watch someone and think "boy- that's stupid" versus telling them that, being told "you try then - fill your boots!" only to screw it up tenfold compared to what the other person was doing...

Spot on olympiadis. Couldn't have said it better myself!