I'm new and socially ret*d, so I'll try to not step on any online toes, but here is my theory on ASD. Is it a mental disability? Depends upon who is defining it, if defined from the world view that NT is the way to be, then yes, but who decided that just because there are more of them they should write the definitions? Who cares about someone else’s definition anyway? I am definitely mentally ill, but is that intrinsic or because I have had 37 years of trying to play someone else’s game by their rules? I have my theory....
Next, cause. Trying to find the genetic basis of intelligence has lead to the idea that there is some large number, just say 1000, genes that "cause" intelligence. Assuming that each of these genes plays a small role in all of the things that we think of as being "smart", things like being able to understand language, stay on a complex task for a while, tune out distractions, plan, remember long term, picture things in your head and so on ad nauseum, each will have a gene or more likely several genes that impact on the expression and development of said abilities. So where does ASD, OCD, ADHD and so on come from? Well a particular combination of some of these gene variants would result in different tendencies and capabilities being more or less developed. Thus different intrinsic levels of inventiveness, language development, logical thinking ability, ability to control body motion, and so on. Obviously with so many genes being involved and most of these traits being influenced by multiple genes it is likely that most effects would have some positive genes and some negative genes (as in genes that cause the trait to have a net positive or negative development compared to some arbitrary mean called "normal"), also environmental factors would alter the expression of these genes, for example methylation. Anyway..... So if you have the "right" combination of these genes you are a genius say, maybe at math or social skills, or body motion control. Think of people that aren't lumped into the normal view of genius but are extremely outside the norm in other ways; star athletes have developed their reflexes and body kinesthetic to a high degree and that uses brain..... So it's using some of those genes that make intelligence, probably with the exact opposite gene versions from the ones that control body motion in me for example. So, why these gene versions? Because maybe to the species they are valuable if spread around, but not concentrated. Sickle cell trait, great to have one copy, not two, there are other genes like that as well. As a species we benefit from people who can think differently from the rest of them, that doesn't mean that the individual who thinks differently benefits though.
Is it possible that the particular gene combinations that result in ASD were never found in the same population at the same time until recently? 1000+ years ago people were mostly confined into genetic bottlenecks, possibly different versions of these 1000 genes that create intelligence arose in these populations and resulted in the same sort of development and abilities and didn't result in ASD, BUT, when these populations began crossbreeding gene combinations that hadn't appeared before arose and that was ASD, OCD, and ADHD. ADHD I tend to think was a net plus for the tribe back in the great old hunter-gatherer days, having someone that wanted to look around, got bored easily and was always wandering where they shouldn't, would be good from an explorer/scout viewpoint. OCD maybe the same, perhaps the obsessive way of having to make everything perfect resulted in the first arts/technological development? Even if full-blown OCD was bad, a little bit is great.... so maybe the OCD individual was at a disadvantage but his near relatives with a partial OCD trait were better off. Anyway... getting very long and rambly here.
If the fairly recent genetic bottle neck idea doesn't pan out then maybe us weirdo ASD/OCD/ADHD people were just the social outcast inventor/artist/which doctors........ Our fixing on one task/subject can result in a level of knowledge way past what most NTs acquire, if we can do the heavy lifting on how to make a new stone spear point, and then somehow pass that knowledge on to the NT hunters, the entire tribe benefits.....
Just my ideas, any opinions?
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I'm not angry, this is just my face.
13 May 2007, 9:03 pm
