Pre History of Autism evolution theory in Newsweek
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DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
It is Autism Acceptance Month
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
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Temple Grandin said something in a speech, that when we humans lived as hunter-gatherers which has been most of human history, we needed people interested in developing better spear points, better ways to make clothes, etc, etc, and not just highly social people yakking around the campfire.
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Newsweek used to be one of the major news magazines. I recall reading that much (some?) of its senior management are associated with one particular church. And many of the covers seem to have a real alarmist tone, and at times even conspiratorial.
Now, this particular article seems first-rate and is saying a lot of commonsensical things and a lot things which I've read before. But in general, I'm not sure how much we can use Newsweek as a really solid source.
Last edited by AardvarkGoodSwimmer on 29 Mar 2017, 6:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
There is definitely some merit to the autistic evolutionary theory, but the ad populum is not likely to acknowledge it until it is empirically ascertained, especially when you account for the "far left" guilt by association fallacious reasoning and ideological shoehorning (I'm not even left wing) from one of the comments. I see John Best is still pandering to his 1930's "Eli Lilly created autism" myth I see; by the way, he is well known by some in the neurodiversity movement & autistic rights groups for innumerable accounts of anti-autistic trolling for over 10 years from an ardent anti-vaccine/mercury militia perspective if anyone is aware.
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http://www.motherjones.com/media/2014/0 ... david-jang
'Two days after Barack Obama won reelection, I met a young Chinese woman, whom I will call Anne, in the basement café at the San Francisco Public Library. Anne worked part time and gave a large portion of her earnings to a group she called "the Community," a Christian sect led by a charismatic Korean pastor named David Jang. After joining the group in her late teens, Anne had spent more than seven years working in its ministries—organizations and businesses run by Jang's disciples. With short hair and large glasses, Anne was now in her late 20s but looked younger. She said she rarely had enough money for small luxuries like coffee. We chatted with a mutual friend while we waited for her husband, Caleb, who also worked for a ministry: the International Business Times, the flagship publication of an eponymous online news company that would, nine months later, become the new owner of Newsweek magazine. . . '
Now, Mother Jones bats from the left side of the plate, as I do also, too.
Now, Newsweek and this church, I think quirky and unique, and hard to place on any political spectrum.
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How our autistic ancestors played an important role in human evolution, The Conversation, Penny Spikins (Senior Lecturer in the Archaeology of Human Origins, University of York), March 27, 2017.
https://theconversation.com/how-our-aut ... tion-73477
'When you think of someone with autism, what do you think of? It might be someone with a special set of talents or unique skills – such as natural artistic ability or a remarkable memory. It could also be someone with enhanced abilities in engineering or mathematics, or an increased focus on detail.
'This is because despite all the negative stories of an “epidemic of autism” most of us recognise that people with autism spectrum conditions bring a whole range of valued skills and talents – both technical and social – to the workplace and beyond. . . '
And the Newsweek article says that it was originally published in The Conversation. Well, here it is.
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You are welcome.
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DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
It is Autism Acceptance Month
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
Interesting. Nothing we haven't heard before, but-- interesting to see it actually make an appearance in mainstream media.
We've known, for a VERY long time, that diversity is necessary for the evolution of species. I don't understand how it can be so difficult to grasp that diversity in all forms was essential to human evolution (and is essential to continued human survival). Except, of course, that we are egocentric bastards, inclined to assume that all that which differs from "self" is "broken."
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"Alas, our dried voices when we whisper together are quiet and meaningless, as wind in dry grass, or rats' feet over broken glass in our dry cellar." --TS Eliot, "The Hollow Men"
When I got to this statement,
I knew that I was dealing with quackery. No, we are NOT "all a little bit autistic". If this statement were actually true, the world would be a much better place than it is for those of us who either have autism or something similar, because then all of the "en-tees" out there would be able to empathise with us (which they do not, not even slightly).
Is this what passes for science these days? God help us all if it is.
Autism may be one of many malfunctions of a system existing inside humans. As homo sapien sapien have evolved their unique traits, especially the ones in our brain, in a span of only hundreds of thousands of years, I suspect there is a lot of room for malfunction. This is why dogs or dolphins don't get autism, schizophrenia, bipolar, or parkinsons.
Bipolar may be a malfunctioning of an adaptation of a survival mechanism of staying put when resources are scarce and getting up and going when it's time to hunt full of energy. Notice though that it isn't claimed that this instinct humans have/had is bipolar disorder itself. A person with a healthy level of certain traits is beneficial to survival of the clan, but I don't think someone with the brain damaging mood swings and negative symptoms of bipolar would last long.
In a similar vein, I don't think autism spectrum disorders themselves played a vital role in human survival, they were a part of evolution, I don't deny that, as in whatever mechanism that existed was beneficial but could screw up and bite a person in their tushy. Which is Autism DISORDER, or a disorder of (lower case) autistic traits found in many people that don't disable them at all.
A similar argument is that cushings disease could also be said to have played a role in human evolution since cortisol is a vital steroid hormone that regulates our activity in the same vein. But if you have too much cortisol, you had a disorder that would spurn any benefit of cortisol and the mechanisms it's a part of. Or more familiar, diabetes, insulin is a vital human substance, diabetes has been a part of our evolution, but you were dead in less than a year before we invented insulin needles. What use does diabetes have?
The person with a good level of insulin and kidney function is beneficial, but if that existing mechanism is disrupted then there is no benefit to be had.
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