Autistic Speciation versus Autistic Supremacy?

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Autism is diagnosed on deficits alone being good at something like maths for example is not in the diagnostic criteria.

There is nothing special about autism just as there is nothing special about any other brain disorder

So if your referring to the so called “superpowers” of autism that exist in some autistic people with certain abilities in say for example maths or memory?

As a possible evolutionary splinter branch?

GUESS WHAT

These abilities exist in some NTs too

The key word is:

IN SPITE OF

So little Johnny has autism but he has written a book well many NTs have written a book but the fact it’s a kid with autism makes it more remarkable

So little Jimmy has autism but is great at maths - well guess what most if not nearly all maths post graduate degree holders are not autistic

Watch the para Olympics on soon most disabled people can’t do the stuff they do.

Most people with motor Neuron disease die a quiet painful death when their limbs and finally all their muscles stop working.

But Stephen Hawking who had it became a world famous physicist who was married a few times and fathered children.

In spite of his condition

I believe autism (or at least one type of it) is a polygenic trait that is maintained through frequency dependent selection. That is, the alleles responsible do boost reproductive success in small amounts, but if you have enough to be classed as autistic your chance of reproducing falls off a cliff. But your relatives have enough increase in success to compensate for your loss.

Of course this may no longer be true, given that until you get into the one percenter territory, fertility declines with increasing income.

I think Autism can sometimes be an advantage. For instance, see this thread.

However, I agree that in today's society Autism is probably a disadvantage with respect to reproduction. But I suspect it might've been less of a disadvantage back when marriages were arranged.

Hum... let me ignore the obvious trigger word here and give my 2 cents.
As a futurist, i think a lot about the (*gasp*) future.

I feel in my guts that human biology, as we know it, will ultimately transform into somenthing else entirely, within the next 500 years.

I am certain that the biological aspect that drives social interactions will become obsolete as more and more people will have easy access to morph their own features as they please, be it phisically or virtually.

As a species, we are reproducing less and less, all over the world, and I bet all that I have that eventually, we'll have a lot of in vitro orphans being produced to supply a fading young work force.

Also, as the years went by, power shifted from royalty, to religion, to intellect. We are in the dawn of an era where you don't really need THE BEST social skills to be powerful.

What I'm trying to say is... it's not a bad time to be on the spectrum and things may get even better.

Yaaay for good news ….

It's hard to have a clear picture of things when we live in a "society" where the "norms" are set by the majority. A majority that I find rather disgusting in many ways.

I do not like this society which places value on popularity instead of good ideas, especially since everyone in this society is constantly referring to our brain size as our distinguishing characteristic. Doesn't it seem incongruous that we would laude our brain size and then tout the number of Facebook friend (strangers) we have?

I have been wondering if we aspies could possibly be at least a part of the cure for what ails us. We could be the basis for a new society where ideas are what's important, and since we are so diverse in virtually every physical and behavioral way, the valuing of sameness so loved by NT's would disappear.

Wouldn't we make a great Think Tank? Wouldn't we be more tolerant of our differences, simply because there would be less uniformity to bias us? Almost anything has to be better than this NT society!

BTW: I frequently use the word species, but I am constantly aware that scientifically, at present, it is an unworkable concept. All life is our sibling.

I don't think one has to go all the way to full speciation to have something like an autistic population of some kind. Gene replacement seems to be a term used. The tracking of "gene trait pools" in so called ancient genes may show how such have been. Whether it can actually happen for autistic pools, I don't know

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_history_of_Europe

Not sure that 'speciation' is a good idea - it probably involves a genetic bottleneck and amplification of undesirable traits. I will settle for greater awareness, understanding, and acceptance.

I believe that many (though probably not all) autistic people have at least the potential for special abilities, a potential that is too often not developed. For my reasons for believing this, see this post of mine here.

Not to mention it's hard to live to your full potential in a disabling environment. We all have autistic traits in varying severity, but many of us are exhausted from enduring punishing, unnatural environments. Of course we look disabled.

https://aeon.co/essays/why-evolution-is ... e=rss-feed

Perhaps it would help if we remembered that many of us are known or suspected to be on the Autism Spectrum. Surely some awkwardness in our communication isn't too much of a surprise. And it is aSpectrumso there might be different kinds of awkwardness.

Wait, what, there are kinds of awkwardness other than the approved universally standardized kind?

Wants to demand a universal standard for Awkwardness .! . (Written tongue in cheek)

I nominate Double Retired Awkwardness Technique (DRAT) as the Universal Standard. Adopting it as the standard would make my life much easier. I'm an old ND and don't want to learn new quirks.

If you need elaboration on DRAT I suggest inquiries be directed to my bride. But if you request a detailed accounting expect a lengthy response.

!	Cornflake wrote:
	Several off-topic posts have been removed, some of which were also getting a bit personal. Please stay on topic - and play nicely, Ok?