What can science say about autism and the autism spectrum? What do you think of the topic? The way I see it, the symptoms of autism are not all caused by one single factor, but rather, they're the convergence, the consequence, of several different kinds of pressures that might come from different sources. Just like convergent evolution. So what exactly are the causes? And do you think high functioning autism is a good thing? Someone with HFA or Asperger's might have social problems and sensitivity to sounds and all that, but they also have higher intelligence. Do you think it should be considered a disease? In my opinion all autists are spergs, mistakes of evolution, and should be shot dead on sight. Tell me everything you know & think of this interesting topic.
Autism
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>In my opinion all autists are spergs, mistakes of evolution, and should be shot dead on sight.
Most likely bait but hey, it is a slow day.
Autists take a completely different approach to any problem and are therefore most likely to be essential to breakthroughs. Humanity went down from the trees and out of the caves and every time a lot thought it was a bad idea, including leaving the oceans. Without autists we might have remained in the trees, micro optimising every part of life in trees rather than making houses from trees.
Autism is caused by the lack of instinct/automatization.
Lack of social instinct leads to poor social skills.
Lack of motor automatization leads to delayed cordination development.
Normies have an automatic process that makes their brain treat things that "feel similar" like they where the same. The lack of this is the reason why autists react strongly when things are even slightly off.
Autist don't automatically adjust to strong, unexpected or "mixed" stimulus. This leads to a sensitivity towards things like loud noices and weird textures.
Got a source for this?
I am especially interested how eidetic memory does not lend itself to automation.
I've heard of a theory which suggests autists lack the part of the brain(the repitlian part) at least partially, which allows people to recognise both simple and complex facial expressions and how to 'fit in' socially. The Amygdyla is different somehow. Another theory is they are 'wired' differently. The common theory the Baron Cohen one though, which says that 'autism' is simply extreme male brain - perhaps an explanation for the lack female engineers/scientists and unless your actually disabled, then it is not a disadvantage but merely a difference. For example it didn't matter that Newton had 'autism' because his work advanced humanity so much.
Some have drawn the conclusion that autists reliance on logic and reason (a superior pre-frontal cortex) rather than 'instinct' makes them more evolved or the next step in evolution. I can't agree or disagree with this.
I'm definitely the next step in evolution.
I'm clearly not a science major.
It's too late, it's already out there.
As someone with autism, I don't really know what to think.
The single focus is definitely a plus, especially if you're able to function in society well enough to finish schooling then get a job in that field. But, most are too disabled to do such; I'm high functioning in regards to self-help and the ability to communicate, and I'm pretty much home bound.
The idea of 'multi-tasking' fills me with annoyance. If no one focused intensely on one area of life, there would be no civillisation. Aspergers isn't even an official developmental disorder any more. It's only really a disability if you can't dress yourself etc. Surely it is better to be a rational thinker and be slightly 'inept' socially, than be sociable and have no reasoning capabilities? OP doesn't think so.
Well even with severe autism, one can make an immense amount of progress as far as learning more efficiently, speaking more, or overcoming social anxieties. Asperger's, which most of the males in my family have, is definitely something one can for lack of better terms "cure" themselves of. Mostly the issue with Asperger's is that it isn't noticed until a child has reached teenage years and has had the chance to develop their own routine. If caught early and given proper counseling or being put in more social situations, the child can later show little signs of Asperger's (maybe except for depression). My brother has it and I've noticed an astoundingly large amount of progress in his social life. He's turned into a Chad these past couple years.
>be him
>autistic
>this causes him to shut himself out for most of middle school and the first few years of high school
>focused on his grades
>ridiculously smart
>ended high school with a diploma and his Associate's
>two years ago he started getting lots of friends
>got his first girlfriend
>got laid
>dating a new girl right now
>about to go to a four-year univ
>has the social skills he needs
The autism worked in his favor imo
While that sound nice and all, as somebody who has Aspergers, being a social outcast is soul crushing, and can easily break your motivation and leave you horribly depressed, which is really bad for your work ethic.
But you can compensate by learning people's motivation's etc and psychology and then using logic to navigate the 'social world.'
I definitely saw stress when I was younger and my brother hadn't made the progress he's made in the last few years. I think he realized that he'd have to get over his anxieties at some point in his life and people just accepted him. He has some pretty good friends too. Even when I can't stand his shit sometimes, his friends realize that occasionally he can't help the wa he's acting and they work with him. Their infuence probably helped him overcome a lot of things, so I think the "cure" is really just forcing yourself to make social interactions or forcing yourself to break a routine. I don't think I have Asperger's like most of the guys in my family, so I'm not really sure what kind of steps one would have to take mentally to do this, but I'd certainly say that everyone with Apserger's has the capability of doing so. If it helps you, maybe just try and realize that there are people who will accept who you are and will be more than happy to be friends with you, but you just have to take the initiative and work towards healthy relationships with other people. You're more than capable. Don't let yourself tell you that you're not man
If there's such thing as a soul, an autist doesn't have one. They make pretty good mobile calculators and search engines but that's about it.
Autism is caused by exposure to pulsed fields at microwave and EL frequencies.
Autism is caused by cum leaking inside the amniotic sac.
Cum buildup in the fetus causes autism.
I've been diagnosed as autistic but I swear I can sense the feelings of someone else by glancing at their face. I just hate making eye contact for some reason.
Or is this a common delusion of autists who don't want to be autists
Most autists end up as alpha double plus, whereas neurotypicals can barely manage anything over gamma minus. I'm so glad to be an alpha, because I am frightfully clever. I don't want to play with neurotypicals, because they're fucking stupid.
>the lack female engineers/scientists
Are there really none?
A female colleague of mine seems to tick all the boxes.
>next step in evolution
Again, quit thinking evolution tends towards some ultimate entity. It is simply adaptation for whatever environment you happen to have.
That is still no contradiction. As the environment the evolution takes one more step. That really is all. Nobody said there was an end goal.
Copy. To be fair.
Understanding and recognising emotions is easily learned.
Reacting accordingly at instan speed is not.
Autism rates spiked among whites in the west about the time Female Hormonal Birth Control became widespread. It affects male partners and explains the Y chromosome link making 1 in 45 male births become afflicted.
Being near an adult woman on BC is bad for your sperm count too.
This. Use psychology to help you fake it till you make it, that's what I did. There's a lot of neat tricks that help you put in minimal effort and get rewarding results. The danger is being confused with a psychopath rather than an autistic Machiavellian.
>Autism rates spiked a
Really?
A totally unscientific Google search for trends show curves growing still. No peak. And the curves look vaguely (remember: unscientific) exponentially. It looks like the peak is still a long way away.
What makes you say that?
Astronauts, Philosophers, and Architects are, on average, better than Math than most people.
Does that make them soulless?
I would like to understand your reasoning.
*better at
>What makes you say that?
I've seen autistic people's behaviour, I've experienced them first hand. They definitely have something missing inside them... like something has assumed the role of a person and doesn't know what to do. It's weird.
>Astronauts, Philosophers, and Architects are, on average, better than Math than most people.
Does that make them soulless?
What on earth does that have to do with people with autism? I'd like to see your logic.
>I've seen autistic people's behaviour, I've experienced them first hand. They definitely have something missing inside them... like something has assumed the role of a person and doesn't know what to do. It's weird.
That's interesting, but as you already know these assumptions seem to be completely baseless. Please tell me what they are "missing" at least. And if they're something else that has assumed the role of a person, doesn't that mean they're more likely to be the ones with souls (or an immaterial aspect to their existence), instead of the pure flesh & bone humans?
>Does that make them soulless?
>What on earth does that have to do with people with autism? I'd like to see your logic.
My mistake. You said that autists make pretty good calculators and search engines right after you said they have no soul. So I jumped to the conclusion you implied these two truths are connected (they having no soul is why they can be such good calculators). Then I mentioned people who are usually better at Math (astronauts, philosophers, architects etc) than most other people as a way to counter argue what I assumed was something you implied.
Austism's an inconsistent meme. I'd be worried for any kid diagnosed in this day and age.
>I'd be worried for any kid diagnosed in this day and age.
Why?
good thing souls aren't real
that's becos ur an empath. u literally get overwhelmed by peoples emotions when u see them
>That's interesting, but as you already know these assumptions seem to be completely baseless. Please tell me what they are "missing" at least. And if they're something else that has assumed the role of a person, doesn't that mean they're more likely to be the ones with souls (or an immaterial aspect to their existence), instead of the pure flesh & bone humans?
You're completely missing my point. I'm saying that I have a gut feeling that they're missing something that is stopping them from being whole in some way, and the metaphor of them 'not having souls' was just for convenience.
The soul isn't an incorporeal thing outside of your body, I regard the 'soul' as the feelings, memories, likes, dislikes etc of a person. Everything that makes you you. Austists seem to lack the social cues that normal people are born with, and the reason I postulate is that 'they're missing something' because in actuality they must be missing something if they are born without something that most people on earth are born with.
>throw around the word soul a lot
>"i-i-i don't mean it in the conventional sense!"
Thanks for saying a thing and meaning another.
Fucking neurotypicals.
Well a soul means 10 different things to 10 different people. The fact you fail to understand this is quite telling of your autism.
>people think things differently to what I think? fucking neurotically!111!!1
en.wikipedia.org
Read it. You don't have it.
cos every dweeb that displays even the slightest symptoms will get slapped on the spectrum. imagine being told you're autistic, I bet it does wonders for self-esteem.
>I regard the 'soul' as the feelings, memories, likes, dislikes etc of a person
>"they must be missing something but wut could it be???"
don't strain yourself
In 99% of the cases, the word soul refers to something immaterial within and inherent to humans, usually also related to the ideas of afterlife and similar superstitions. If you actually believed and were aware of the fact "soul means 10 different things to 10 different people" from the start of this discussion, you should have specified what exactly do you mean to prevent us from wasting a lot of time over a discussion focused on this particular word and if autists have "soul". At first I was interested in understanding your point of view despite you providing very little evidence to support your claims that are completely based on personal experience and illogical feelings, but now you're throwing around insults and acting like a child, so I lost any remaining interest in your world view and can only conclude you hold some sort of grudge against people on the autism spectrum which explains your behavior. Needless to say people with autism have memories, feelings, desires. And what you said about theory of mind is just wrong. People on the spectrum can understand what others and themselves feel, want etc from a logical point of view. Any understanding that is not like this, logical, is a mere chain of chemical reactions in your blood stream, social hormones. So you can't say you really understand them. You're just an inferior kind of primate programmed to feel empathy. I hope I'm not giving the impression that I think autists are anyhow superior to neurotypicals, or anything like that. Both are just fundamentally different and their brains are convergent organs, they don't operate under the same axioms. It's how I imagine it at least. Apologies if I'm being annoying or bothersome.
stop falling for obvious bait baka
Yeah. I always used to be a huge failure as a person but when I got diagnosed it was like... officially finding out I have cancer despite having already struggled with it for decades. I started feeling more worthless than I already did, had even lower expectations of myself than already did, crushed any illusions that I could be considered a human and have a 'soul' and damn it just fucking sucks. At least I have something to blame for being a terrible person and a loser. (I know I'm not just a loser because brain scans show a lot of unusual brain activity).
How am I supposed to know it's bait? People should be direct and serious about what they're talking about. Why can't you just be honest and straightforward about what you're talking about instead of blaming it on me for not guessing when you're serious and when you're not? At least in real life I can see people's expressions and that helps knowing when you're toying with me. Just stop doing that.
1/2
>In 99% of the cases, the word soul refers to something immaterial within and inherent to humans, usually also related to the ideas of afterlife and similar superstitions. If you actually believed and were aware of the fact "soul means 10 different things to 10 different people" from the start of this discussion, you should have specified what exactly do you mean to prevent us from wasting a lot of time over a discussion focused on this particular word and if autists have "soul".
The very idea of the 'soul' is in itself illogical, yet you're trying your hardest to associate logic to something that is immeasurable or incalculable. The very idea of a 'soul' is based on gut thinking. The fact that my gut thinking is different than your gut thinking is inconsequential.
>At first I was interested in understanding your point of view despite you providing very little evidence to support your claims that are completely based on personal experience and illogical feelings, but now you're throwing around insults and acting like a child, so I lost any remaining interest in your world view and can only conclude you hold some sort of grudge against people on the autism spectrum which explains your behavior.
You're making a lot of guesswork there pal.
>Needless to say people with autism have memories, feelings, desires.
Never said they didn't
> And what you said about theory of mind is just wrong.
No it isn't.
> People on the spectrum can understand what others and themselves feel, want etc from a logical point of view.
From a logic that they subscribe to. To an autist emotional feelings are 'illogical' but to an emotional person, the inability for autists to understand them are 'illogical' to them. It's a matter of perspective.
2/2
>Any understanding that is not like this, logical, is a mere chain of chemical reactions in your blood stream, social hormones. So you can't say you really understand them.
Thought processes are in and of themselves, chemical reactions as well. Just like thoughts. You don't understand this, not me.
>You're just an inferior kind of primate programmed to feel empathy
I would argue that feeling empathy is insurmountably better than someone who can't.
>I hope I'm not giving the impression that I think autists are anyhow superior to neurotypicals, or anything like that.
You're retarded aren't you. You literally implied that in your previous sentence.
>Never said they didn't
>No it isn't.
>You're retarded aren't you.
What a couple of horrible posts. There is no discussion when one of the persons simply throws around insults and "no"s without any further reasoning. This is pointless and I won't spend any more time with you, troll.
Trying to win an argument against an autist is like playing chess with a pigeon. No matter how many great moves you make, the pigeon will shit over the chessboard and strut about like he won anyway.
Funny because autists always beat neurotypicals at chess.
Wow
Yeah
Must suck having inferior intellect
What are you even doing on a science & math board brainlet?
Haha this is priceless. I'm gonna leave now.
Oh no.
I'm sorry that you tried to derail the discussion into insulting and shitposting but it backlashed.
>>Needless to say people with autism have memories, feelings, desires.
>Never said they didn't
Yes you did. You said autists have no soul, and you described souls as being "the feelings, memories, likes, dislikes etc of a person" here on Plenty of times have you contradicted yourself on this thread, that's just one example.
I'm starting to wonder if you're really just playing with that guy or if you're actually serious.
Hopefully you aren't.
10 points for making me respond.
See its quite ironic and hilarious how right I am.
Jesus.
I originally said 'they don't have souls' in the abstract sense of an incorporeal, metaphysical sense of emotions. I then went on here
Saying that they're missing 'something inside them' but I didn't mean the whole part. I meant a part of the 'soul' in the abstract, metaphysical context is missing as they seem to be missing the fundamental part of human cohabitation that has evolved over millions of years which is to empathise and build social relationships which are paramount to survival and procreation - therefore - they are an anomaly.
Understand?
You've contradicted yourself a lot just in this one comment. There are even more contradictions if you consider what you have said in other comments. Are you the autist? I'm genuinely confused. You're acting a like weird and "sperging" even. Idk
**acting a little
Thanks auto correct.
No, you're just too stupid to understand my vastly superior brain. Re-read and analyse what I wrote and you'll find what I've written and the angles I've taken make perfect sense.
autists are genetically damaged humans
literally thats it
scientists can genetically engineer autistic monkeys b fucking with enough point mutations
cut the liberal bullshit already
Lol yeah you have autism