26 Mar 2018, 3:27 am
eikonabridge wrote:
Daniel89 wrote:
Could it not also be that people with autism alone are less likely to be diagnosed?
That's not the right way of looking at autism. As I have said, autism is a meso-scale renormalization issue. There is no such as thing as autism alone.
Gosh, I am the only one in the world tasked with explaining this concept. I will try with an analogy.
Imagine an orchestra, where instrumental musicians sit in chairs arranged in concentric circles. A few chairs are at the innermost circle, then some more chairs in the second circular row, and then more chairs in the third row, etc.
Now, put an omni-directional microphone at the center of the orchestra. A few feet above the microphone, put a loudspeaker (facing down).
If a musician plays their instrument too loud, let's call that "abnormal."
Abnormality could come from any musician, anywhere in the orchestra.
But in addition, for the front-row musicians, if they play too loud, the loud sound will come from two places: (a) the musician's instrument, and (b) the loudspeaker, due to auto-feedback resonance mechanism between the microphone and the loudspeaker.
Autism is the loud, high-pitched sound that comes from the loudspeaker. Notice that regardless the of note or instrument played by any of the front-row musicians, once the auto-feedback resonance is triggered, the resonance always produces the same pitch: the frequency of this annoying noise is solely dictated by the distance between the microphone and the loudspeaker. That's the universality of the renormalization phenomenon: no matter how you trigger it, the end result is the same.
So autism by nature cannot exist alone. Autism is always triggered by "something else." The point is, there are many of these "something elses." There is no such a thing as the autistic gene. Autism can be caused by a large number of totally different gene mutations/expressions. There is no such a thing as "autism alone."
- - -
The single-pitched sound may be annoying. But there is a solution to it. It's pretty much like the case of a flute. If you leave all its holes closed, a flute will play one single fixed note. However, if you open holes at different positions skillfully, a flute can play very nice music. The technique of opening and closing holes skillfully is known as "modulation" in electronic signal communication. And "modulation" is the key to solving all the issues with autism. Elementary, my dear Watson.
Here is an illustration for the "Orchestra Model" for the genetics of autism. I built it using my son's Lego blocks, ha ha.
The musicians represent the genes. In front of each musician there is a music stand (I have only shown one in the image... too much work to assemble stands for all musicians), which represents the effect of epigenetics (e.g. DNA methylation and histone modifications.) For the inner-circle musicians, depending on the loudness of their instruments and whether their music stands partially block their instruments or not (and some stands are solid while other stands are open-frame), an audio feedback can arise between the microphone and the loudspeaker. The audio-feedback represents the meso-scale renormalization process inside the autistic brain. Autism has a universality characteristic, just like the single-pitch audio feedback. It doesn't matter which instrument triggers the audio feedback, and it doesn't matter what note the instrument has played. Once the audio feedback is triggered, it follows one single common pitch. Autism is autism. It shouldn't be confused with its co-morbids. Autism also shouldn't be confused with macro-scale features like the specific interests or sensory issues of each child. Those macro-scale issues are dictated by chaos theory.
The front-row (inner-circle) musicians represent all the candidate genes of autism. Autism can be triggered by a large number of very different gene mutations. (Genetic mutation is a fact of life, it is what makes people different from each other. Whenever people say "genetic mutation," they actually mean "genetic variation.") There is no such a thing as "autism alone." Autism is always triggered by something else. There is no such a thing as the "autistic gene."
Anyway, once the audio feedback is triggered, it pretty much stands on its own, and it's something totally outside the realm of genetics and epigenetics. My point is, genetics and epigenetics may explain the micro-scale origin of autism, BUT, they will not help to the development of autistic children's brains. Autism, once triggered, is not a genetic or epigenetic issue anymore. There are permanent meso-scale, physiological changes (such as overconnection of synapses, leading in some case to brain overgrowth) in the brain. A meso-scale problem needs a meso-scale solution. That's my point.
Last edited by eikonabridge on 26 Mar 2018, 4:35 am, edited 1 time in total.
26 Mar 2018, 3:53 am
goldfish21
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Joined: 17 Feb 2013
Age: 42
Gender: Male
Posts: 22,612
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
26 Mar 2018, 3:58 am
EzraS wrote:
kraftiekortie wrote:
It’s his impression of himself. It’s not truly him.
I believe the same can be said of the one you are speaking to.
What, exactly, is that supposed to mean?
_________________
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for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.26 Mar 2018, 9:25 am
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