AS, the next step in human evolution?

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I had this idea while reading and thinking about Asperger's folks like myself. I know it probably sounds silly to most but its a fun idea to play with and explore.
The basic reasoning behind this idea is that religion is destroying the human race. People in general seem to be becoming more and more extreme in their religious views around the world. We now, as a species, possess the ability via chemical, biological and nuclear weapons that we can bring about our own extinction. Religiously extreme groups and entire countries either do or are trying to possess these weapons.

It seems that the desire to depend on logic, facts, reason and common sense as Aspies we reject the ideas of belief on faith and superstition. Even AS folks who are religious I would venture a guess are less likely than NT's to adhere to extremist religious views and beliefs. If seems a majority of AS folks are Atheist anyway.

So it has been established that AS is not curable and is see , at least by many of us a a difference in personality and thought processes as opposed to the medical view of a disorder. we also know the IQ is generally higher than the average population. We do fine and are usually happy with ourselves sans when we have to interact with the NT world. we like our special interests and excel at them.

Nature has decided that we no longer need to be a pack animal for survival and will advance father if we move to being more solitary such as the animal in my Avatar. Look at how amazing Servants are at their special interest. Nature is still evolving us and trying to find that balance of combining the extraordinary abilities of AS folks and Servants into a new functional human.. Sure this is going to take probably 1000's of years of evolution to work is self out. However if we are currently using only 10% of our brain capacity. Imagine what we can accomplish if we all have Servant like abilities to create and invent combined into a fully functional being, and were not held back by 1000 year old religious and political dogma...

Remember this is a FUN thread so try not be a Buzzkill or get to serious about it... Besides it just might make you feel a bit better about yourself... I do. Heh, little do the NT's know we are actually a step ahead of them

Nature doesn't "decide" anything and there is no master plan to evolution. It operates simply on the basis of which individuals produce more offspring which are viable at least to the point of their own reproduction. There is nothing else. It's not looking for a balance or deciding what the best way forward would be; there is no intelligence at work.

if this was a FUN thread it would be in random, instead it is in PPR.

No it is not the next step in evolution, there are no steps. It is as much the next step as being left handed, blond hair, green eyes, or having your second toe be longer than your big toe.

It has not been established that autism is incurable (not saying it should be)

IQ is not generally higher. Besides that, what does an IQ test show? The only thing it shows is that you are good at taking an IQ test. (unless you are in mensa, then it shows your pretentious haha)

The 10% use of our brain is not really true. At one point in time we might be using only 10% of our brain, but throughout a day of for example: eating, taking a test, jogging, and sleeping we use different areas of our brain.

We are not a step ahead of the NT's

...Did you mean savants?

Don't refer to it as a next step in human evolution. Call it a stage if anything. Otherwise certain WP'ers (e.g. Ganondox) will label you asinine and stupid.

It would still be a teleology.

hehe so much for auto correct...

Like I said, I am not believing it but its an interesting theory.

Have u ever wondered why the industrial age and technology age happened when they did... why not 5000 years ago? the same natural resources were available then as they are now. is it because we are evolving and developed the intelligence to make these discoveries? is each generation getting smarter?

No, people were just as smart, but technology is an incremental process that builds on many previous inventions and discovered principles. If thrust into the world of 5000 years ago, a modern person would probably be seen as an idiot by the people of the time, owing to their inability to use what would be considered basic technology (fire drills for example) and a lack of knowledge about the natural world.

No. Each generation inherits what came before and incrementally improves upon it. Progress is by steps, baby steps.

All beginning are hard.

ruveyn

The belief that nature is sentient and makes conscious decisions is a religious view, not a factual one. It is perfectly logical and not at all extremist, but still religious. Logic and facts don't always go together. Sometimes logic can lead you away from facts because logic doesn't require you to question your original premise. Logic just gives you a way to draw a conclusion.

No, people in general are becoming less religious. And while a slight majority of AS people are nonreligious, some AS people that are religious are more likely to have extreme views.

Good point, It amazes me though, how creatures change and adapt and what actually triggers the DNA to rewrite the code for future generations.. its not sentient but sure seems that way sometimes... is something occuring in some human DNA to trigger adaptations to our current man made infulences on our existence and our world?

"I see so far because I stand on the shoulders of giants" said Isaac Newton. We aren't getting smarter and smarter. We are the inheritors of more and more accumulated knowledge. We have collectively accomplished so much because each generation doesn't have to re-invent the wheel or the lever or the sharpened stick and so on. The first person who figured out how to use leverage or that quantities could be represented symbolically could easily have been smarter than Newton and he knew that and acknowledged it in his quote.


IQ tests have to be re-normed every couple decades or so because people keep scoring higher and higher on them. Re-norming keeps the center of the bell curve at 100 instead of climbing. An IQ researcher named Flynn looked into this. Are people getting smarter and smarter? No, he discovered. What is actually happening is the enviroment that most people are born into (except remote villagers cut off from the rest of the global village) is one where experience is framed in a way that steers minds towards the abstraction, symbolism and compartmentalization that is tested on IQ tests. The enviroment that a modern baby is born into demands abstract and symbolic thinking as soon as it is neurologically possible. This enviroment was slowly built up over the centuries by our ancestors who invented the very concepts of math and writing. We stand on the shoulders of giants.

There may very well be people who are born today or will be born in the future who are better adapted to the man-made changes in the enviroment than we are. But I doubt those changes will involve our neurology. I think it's more likely that the changes will be in the liver. Why do I think that? Because the liver is what detoxifies the horrendous load of man-made crap that is ingested, inhaled, rubbed into the skin and so on. The future belongs to those who can reproduce and whose children can reproduce and their children etc. With 7 billion people, reproduction doesn't seem to be in any jeopardy. But we may come to a tipping point that favors those who can thrive amidst all the toxins because they are so much better at de-toxing them.

Or it might be those who have a mutation that affects their immune systems. Rats have already accomplished their own version of world domination because of their unbelievable immune systems. Perhaps the future will belong to those with mutations that enhance the function of their immune system.

In the past the favored mutations were neurological and digestive. Being smart, social omnivores let us spread all over a wide-open planet with diverse ecosystems. Our most recent adaptation was the digestive one (which not everybody has) of making lactase into adulthood, allowing the consumption of dairy products, which enhanced survival and reproduction.

Whatever it is that gets favored in the future, it will be reactive, not proactive. There is no planning what will be the best adaptations because there is no sentience. I have no doubt that future researchers will try to create useful adaptations but we have no way of knowing what counts as "best". The interactions are too complex for us to predict. Temple Grandin (and others) have used this argument to argue against finding ways to root out genes for autism. Researchers could inadvertently root out genes that are or will be adaptive. That isn't the same as saying that autism is an evolutionary next step. There are no steps. There is only what enhances survival and reproduction.

No.

The idea is based on false premises (religion is not destroying the human race, even if it is a fellow traveller in some parts of the world)

Aspies do not depend on logic, facts, reason or common sense. We are just as emotional as any other human being. We get just as frustrated, angry, sad or elated as anyone else about the things that frustrate, anger, sadden or elate us.

Aspies do not, as a class, reject superstition. Look at the number of threads on matters religious and spiritual here and you will find plenty of people who willingly adhere to superstitious belief, because it provides them with a framework within which to understand the world and the societies that they live in.

And finally, let's bear in mind that the very title of this thread carries with it the romantic notion that we are somehow superior to our NT peers. Nothing could be further from a logical, factual, reasonable, common sense perspective.

We are people--different in kind, but no different in substance from every other person.