Asperger's and Evolution

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Could Asperger's syndrome be the next fight or flight response?

I'm not antropoogist, but after we as humans progressed from the hunter/gatherer stage, our survival must've been dependent on more than just running or fighting. We had to learn a skill set and stick with it (your life could depend on a relatively limited skill set). AS entails interest in a relatively limited subjects. As a whole, society can benefit from the collaboration of people with the right kind of limited skill sets. It makes me wonder if this is just natures response to our needs.

If arranged marriages were common, it wouldn't matter what kind of social skills you had, it would be about prospects. And now that you think about it, people are spending less face to face time than ever. Will subtle expressions even play a role in the near future?

I know not everyone believes i evolution. I'm only exploring a possibility.

I don't believe it to be the next stage in our species neurological development, but id say it's a sign that our neurology as a species is changing.. bout time too.

Research shows that sustained/repeated immune system activity interferes with the neuronal weeding process in brains, which may lead to an increase in the "white matter", ( more of it seen in autists)

Certain foods, gluten and casein in particular, which provoke auto-immune activity in certain people, ( often those with AS genes and frequently associated auto-immune disorders), may contribute to this particular kind of growth in brain structure, especially when eaten in early infancy.

It is possible that a new kind of brain has been emerging/"selected for" over quite a long time, with more white matter, and the increased understanding of systems, aswell as increased sensitivity, which goes with it.

It is strange to think that a single plant mutation, 15,000 years ago, may have profoundly affected the fate of the human species, ( but then the Bible has been telling this story for a few thousand years! ) .

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Is it universally beneficial? No.

Could it be of benefit to cultures that are less screwed up and which do a better job of recognizing the value and limitations of aspies? Sure.

Personally I am sick and tired of this whole 'Aspies are more evolved' rubbish. No we are not, natural selection relies upon the best genes promoting themselves something Aspies are not good at, the stats show it perfectly we are more likely to live alone and not have progeny. If there is an explosion in the number of ASD DX's maybe it has something to do with better understanding of the disorder/s. Ahh no we cant have that because that would mean that the NT's give a s**t and that just is not so

Asperger's Syndrome is not a 'fight or flight response', superficially it appears very unlikely to proliferate pervasively throughout the gene-pool by means other than genetic drift.

The survival of anatomically modern humans has always depended on more than just running and/or fighting.


Anatomically modern humans are adapted for developmental plasticity. The autistic population (as a group) has atypical deficits in this area (in my opinion).
Being primed for developmental plasticity seems advantageous for a creature with our other traits. We have the ability to adapt within a generation to very different life-ways, subsistence strategies, ecologies, etc, yet still produce specialists and generalists as needs require. I am having difficulty seeing the advantage to autistics when comparing the autistic and non-autistic populations in regards to developmental plasticity and/or ability to specialize balanced against ability to generalize, in the context of historic or modern survival/reproductive fitness.


Nature does not respond to our needs. Species fitness is not what the process of natural selection is focussed on.


If arranged marriages were going to cause autism to occur at higher rates, those higher rates have already occurred and we can expect autism rates to decline (and rise) in tandem. Perhaps you could look into the existence of such a correlation if you wished to further explore your hypothesis.

I very much expect they will.


I do not know that you are exploring a possibility, but it's a bit unclear to me quite what you are exploring.

People with Asperger's syndrome were selected by God to inherit the earth.

No.

That is just silly.

A very wise person with Asperger's chose me to rule the Earth.

You?

No. Just no. We get one of these threads every once in a while, and it is as much a load of BS as it was last month. I'm not even going to bother trying to refute. If you're dumb enough to think Aspies are the next stage of human evolution, go back and actually pass a f*****g general biology class before you try to debate this crap.

OP does not know enough biology to find his peen.

it's part of the genetic variability so, yes, it is playing a role in evolution. not all mutations/variations are useful (and thus being selected for). civilization has greatly changed all the selective pressures anyway (removal of selection against deleterious things)... an example would be with medicine and genetic diseases. aside from that, it's actually not that hard to keep a bad mutation within the population. but i wouldn't describe autism ect as the NEXT step.

and yet you could not deduce what genes we have in common with tobacco?

why are you so generally rude?

why is everyone so hard on the newbies?

Genetics no, biology yes.