Can they cure Autism through Genetics???

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18 Oct 2008, 12:28 pm

I don't know nothing about non-aspie forms of autism, so I won't say nothing.

But I think asperger's most likely is Mendelian, either you got it or you don't.

The goofy concept of a spectrum might be appropriate to describe the infinite subtle variations in human skin color, but I don't think they describe the life circumstances of an aspie.

Individual variations exist, but there's a huge difference between aspies and the general population.

Genetics nowadays is strong on data collection, but woefully short on theory and thinking. That doesn't produce good science.

I don't think asperger's has much to do with chemistry. I think it involves the physical connections between the neurons. It's the wiring, not the air conditioning. I'm not sure how you're gonna re-wire the brain.

There is a cure, however for the idiotic belief that asperger's is the "extreme male brain" caused by a surge of testosterone. Anybody believing this just needs to spend fifteen minutes over at Love and Dating and check out how those "extreme males" are doing.

I'm not holding my breath waiting for society to become more accepting. Pretty much all animals communicate, group-living animals communicate all the time, and as far as anybody knows, humans are the only animals that have a complex symbolic language. All that communication that's going on is, by definition, nonverbal.

Aspies are really, really weird. not just a deviation from society, but a deviation from the basic nature of the animal kingdom.

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Ishmael
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18 Oct 2008, 12:51 pm

Synth wrote:

Actually I watched a documentary about modifying the nervous system, and they are able to do it.

True; but that's actually another thing entirely. Hypothetically, if you're neurological structure was to be reconfigured to give you an alien personality in violation of your genetic entireity; who would you be?
Perhaps even you're true consciousness would be dead; but who would even know? That's something like the old, "Is my red your blue?", argument.

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Synth
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18 Oct 2008, 12:58 pm

Actually it would not change who you ARE as a person, it would change how you function. You would not be dead in the end, because the way you function has nothing to do with who you truely are.

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18 Oct 2008, 1:01 pm

The only "cure' would consist of prenatal genetic tests followed by selective abortions to wipe autistics out.

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Mosse
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18 Oct 2008, 1:02 pm

The only cure for a living person with autism is suicide.

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18 Oct 2008, 1:10 pm

Synth wrote:

Actually it would not change who you ARE as a person, it would change how you function. You would not be dead in the end, because the way you function has nothing to do with who you truely are.

But, only up to a point. A complete neurological reconstruction would be the equivalent of swapping the hard drive on a computer. Very different from heavy "tweaking", but that is really just an overly complicated, individual band-aid. That's why I prefer genetics; passes into successive generations. Far more efficient, and with a better result.

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18 Oct 2008, 1:18 pm

Orwell wrote:

The only "cure' would consist of prenatal genetic tests followed by selective abortions to wipe autistics out.

Not even close. There is no such thing as a "cure" for aspergers, after all, you cannot cure what is not diseased. If ever there were a perversion of my or another's work to promote autistic genocide, it will be war -and I know how to make intercontinental robotic nukes

Either that or fabricate a virus that cannot harm the asperger genepool... He he he...

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18 Oct 2008, 2:13 pm

Quote:

A complete neurological reconstruction would be the equivalent of swapping the hard drive on a computer.

Exactly. Its sort of like swapping the various chemistries of the brain out and then expecting the neurons not to die. I figure this (instant strain on a system) has something to do with why genetic engineering does not work to date with humans (Cystic Fibrosis cure, for example).

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0_equals_true
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18 Oct 2008, 4:35 pm

Ishmael why do think there is a single Asperger’s gene? You are talking about a arbitrary historical psychiatric checklist, a conscious definition of certain traits an not others, which is being replaced by ASD anyway.

There is no evidence for a single gene for autism or any of its labels.

Take intellect for instance. Not long ago some research claimed to link a gene for schizophrenia. Not really a 'simple' case of sorting the bad from the good.

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18 Oct 2008, 5:49 pm

Ishmael wrote:

Synth wrote:

Actually it would not change who you ARE as a person, it would change how you function. You would not be dead in the end, because the way you function has nothing to do with who you truely are.

I disagree. The hard drive is simply the memory. Specifically long term memory, not working memory. A "complete neuological reconstruction" would affect a lot more than long term memory.

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18 Oct 2008, 8:12 pm

Why don't the geneticists just take samples of cells of some kind from aspies or auties and see which genes are similar?

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18 Oct 2008, 10:25 pm

0_equals_true wrote:

I never said it was one gene. Where on earth do you get that from? It's far too complex to be anything like that. How could it possibly be one gene?

Mousse; I kind of hope you're joking. Do you realize how much data is involved in that sort of thing?
It's not even close to pretending to be that easy.

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