My idea on what Autism really is

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There was a paper this year about autistic people having a greater perceptual load than NTs, being able to visually process moar things at the same time. There was also that paper about the increased sensitivity to mirror symmetry, which requires processing all those little dots and the big picture formed by them.

Well, I did say your theory was partially right. It just required a tweak to define "small". And, yes, exactly, we're trying to render everything in High Definition - and there was a recent study which suggested we have more neurons - which means more processing going on. So we'd require more RAM than NTs - substantially more, since what I have isn't enough to keep me from 'system crashes', and as I say, I've got better working memory than anyone I know. I freak people out with the things I can do - as long as my mind isn't running under some strain.

I do think there is a software issue as well, though. When you think about it, our brains are self-programming. So a difference in the data we take in and process, combined with a difference in our system architecture, just about has to guarantee that we program ourselves very differently than an NT would. So we almost have to be running different programs. A lot of NTs are factory standard Windows boxes set up by corporate IT and locked down so they can't even be tweaked to run better. Maybe some NTs are more like Macs - they still have a pretty standard setup, and the choices of software are even less. We're various flavours of Linux, tweaked to different degrees, and running all sorts of stuff we've got our hands on, in virtual machines.

This is an interesting thread. It's got me thinking.

Ok I want to keep on reading.

In addition to having a big working memory, another thing that helps me function is developing some space saving abilities. This takes the form of verbal labels for things that I already know. When I was a kid, I was not able to use language this way, as a space saver in my brain, but once I learned moar language and began to use it for communication, I also began to use it to space save. In my mind, I used to have no words and no ability to put words to anything, but I can now think verbally when I turn it on, so I can use words as space savers and organizers. However, most of my thinking is still non-verbal, and I still have problems communicating with people who are true verbal thinkers, some of whom have a tendency to use this space saving function too much and lose track of what the things are that they are labeling with big words.

Have any of you ever read about the computational theory of mind? Steven Pinker does a great job elucidating it in his book "How the Mind Works."

I would add that I've always thought autism brains operate on a reduced instruction set architecture and NT's have a complex instruction set.

So an example of a complex instruction is go fill up the car with gas.

A reduced instruction of that would be go to the wall, grab the keys, go to the door, open the door, close the door, go to the car, open the car door, sit in the car, close the car door... you get the idea.

The advantage of a complex instruction set is that you can do things faster. It's like saying just give me the gist of it.

The advantage of a reduced instruction set is that you can make sure no details are missed. People with autism often have a penchant for the details.