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DandelionFireworks
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24 Jun 2010, 2:08 am

Many things would be different. One thing that springs to mind is that the prevalence of classic autism would be much higher (just shy of the prevalence within the spectrum), but the prognosis would be much better. The most low-functioning auties would be roughly equivalent to this world's airheaded chatterboxes.

We would be a society of hermits, and the small percentage of NTs in the world would be horribly lonely. Their parents would be unable to provide them with the socialization they need, their friendships would be too few to make up for it. They would be as prone to depression in our world as we are in theirs. They would antagonize people unintentionally, by being unable to leave well enough alone, which would lead to bullying and alienation, which would be even worse for them.

For us, there's no doubt that the world would be better. Gender roles would be looser. (Oh, yes, what about the difference in prevalence between the sexes? As a female Aspie, I can attest that we exist, but I wonder if, in a mostly-autistic/Aspie world, there would be a lot fewer females, or if the difference would be made up by NT women.) That is, if they existed at all. (They probably would; to some degree, they're justified. But there would be essentially no oppression based on sex.)

The world would have developed differently-- even unrecognizably. You couldn't have public school if special interests were accepted. Politics would look far different. Political speeches would involve the quoting of statistics, a lot of logical arguments and essentially no appeals to emotion. (Maybe there would be appeals to emotion, upon occasion, but they would be much fewer, rather like logical arguments in this world.)

There wouldn't have been the holocaust; Aspies just don't do herd mentality, which you need in a majority of the population. There would be just as many cases of people being petty, even downright evil, but they would be individuals. (These individuals would also not be restrained by society. No holocaust, but a higher percentage of crazy sociopaths would act on their desires. It balances.)

We are not a monolith, so we would disagree a lot. And we're not consensus-builders, so we would have trouble forming large groups. Arbitrary groups like families might mean a lot less to us, too. So we might be more technologically advanced by now-- less time spent socializing, etc. Or we'd be hunter-gatherers.

Or maybe we'd be high-tech hunter-gatherers. Can't you just imagine?

Thog the Aspie Caveman wakes up one morning in his air-conditioned cave. Being an Aspie, he makes breakfast for the family, grabs his spear with the stainless-steel head and leaves the cave without making any converation at all with the wife and kids. He then proceeds to take down a mammoth...

(Ignore the fact that he wouldn't need air-conditioning with mammoths around.)

But how does he take down the mammoth without allies?

Who smelted the steel for the spearhead, if Thog is a hunter? Who hunted for the smith?

Temple Grandin was probably right when she said that without autism, we'd never have progressed beyond the Stone Age. However, without NTs, the exact same might be true.

We need people on the spectrum to power the cutting-edge technology. It was an Aspie who realized you could make steel. It was an Aspie who figured out how to mine iron and coal. It was an Aspie who figured out that you could make a sharp, flattish diamond and attach a hilt. It was various Aspies who devised new ways to use it, better ways to make it, etc.

But it was an NT who introduced some miners to this young'un who thinks he can make some kinda new metal. It was an NT who introduced the inventor of the sword to the tribe's greatest warrior. It was an NT who remained enough of a generalist to have friends all over. It was a whole bunch of NTs who came together to form a society where one person could just make swords all the time, and the others would bring him food so he didn't have to waste time hunting.

(The preceding paragraphs are not intended as a substitute for taking a history class.)

In the end, I don't think the world could survive without NTs any more than it could survive without us. I do think the ratio can be safely skewed somewhat further in our favor, and I do think that society would not immediately collapse if there were somewhat fewer of us. However, you can't skew it too far from its ideal and expect society to carry on. We're like... yeast. (Oh, joy. Well, at least we smell nice.) If you want the bread to rise, you need a little, but you need a lot more flour, too. Other neurodiverse can perhaps be raisins (the sociopaths), walnuts (the, um... people with ADHD, who definitely add something, but whom certain people don't really like to encounter) and bananas (I have no idea what kind of people bananas are).


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forresthouse
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24 Jun 2010, 9:04 am

danieltaiwan wrote:
forresthouse wrote:
danieltaiwan wrote:
"Elections are not a popularity contest."
Something the sheep have to learn.


You mean that's how it is or that's how it should be?



How it is. :? Elections nowadays are complete popularity contests. Sad but true. Many actually tend to vote according to family tradition. The whole family votes democrat you vote democrat and vise versa.


That's what I used to say to my dad, what's a good government anyway? Someone who looks good or someone who takes wise decisions?


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danieltaiwan
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24 Jun 2010, 6:57 pm

Quote:
That's what I used to say to my dad, what's a good government anyway? Someone who looks good or someone who takes wise decisions?


Here's a story my Mother used to tell me when I was a little boy.
Well in chinese myth we have this legend called the 3 sage kings. The sage kings were morally righteous and were the best men for the job. What happened was the previous King choose a successor that was the best for the job to continue the Kingdom when he was too old to rule. Often the people elect someone that is incompetent and that person is just a figurehead... Well in the story the 2nd Sage king Shun has a flood problem in his kingdom and he is very old in the legend he is around 110 and he has to choose a successor before he dies. Well Yao was the perfect man for the job and he controlled the floods by inventing irrigation and was a great leader organizing 20,000 men to dig the canals.
Well I know this is a myt0h :wink: but the moral of the story is that government is best run by the most capable.



MrXxx
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25 Jun 2010, 12:14 am

99.7% Aspie? 8O 8O 8O

I think the 0.3% NT's would be living in caves and forests just to get some peace.

I don't think Aspies in general get along all that well with each other. There would be misunderstanding after misunderstanding. All of our time would be eaten up by constantly clearing them up and trying to understand each other. Most of us aren't all that great at running our own lives. How would we run the world? :scratch:

I'd be under even more stress than I already am. Thanks but no thanks,

I say keep the NT's around. We need SOMEBODY to take care of the drudgery of running this crappy world I don't believe that enough of us really want anything to do with that. :chin: :help:


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DandelionFireworks
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25 Jun 2010, 3:22 am

Actually, I find that I get along pretty well with everyone on the spectrum. There are definitely rough patches, but they take up a small fraction of my time.


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