What is on the other end of the Spectrum?

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hahha, "hello there's pink lego"

I'm not usre if I know what's on the extreme opposite.

Hmm...

Maybe must fit this criteria

-Scatter brained, lacks focus

-talks alot

-changes and adapts too quickly

-cares way too much about fashion

-must give eye contact at all times in the socially correct fashion

-extreme dislike with music that isn't in the top 40 and declares only those in the top 40 as good musicians not caring to investigate if they even write their own music

-wears perfume or cologne all the time

-engages in small talk mostly about the weather and current celebrity and fad trends aka obsessions and gossip. If around others who politely tries to let the person know they are interested in science instead of fashion the person avoids the topic all together but makes you listen to their topic of interest regarding their interests.

-Loves to dance, drink, can't enjoy a quiet night alone. Must be around others always!

-Has to have people to talk to on the phone everyday.

-Must be center of attention. Gets irritable when not.

-Uses most of their time to keep busy with socializing, most likely to avoid alone time to think about what their real personality and mind is like because they just might have deviant icky thoughts that would totally make them feel yucky and like those freaky outcasts.

Hmmm wait, someone already said Paris Hilton.

I often thought that a psychopath would be at the other end of the spectrum. Then came the latest research into schizophrenia and autism.

So now I'm thinking, what if the spectrum is about the brain's ability to perceive magic?

Take an average NT. When they talk to somebody, there's a set of emotions and reactions that only happen around another human being. Not around an animal, or an object - unless they happen to powerfully remind you of another human being. Call it soul, spirit, romance - magic!

However, at the extreme edges, there are the minority who don't make this distinction of human=magical/everything else=non-magical.

To schizophrenics, the whole world is magical, not just people. Furniture and trees seem to be talking to you. Omens form in the shapes of the clouds. Even your own thoughts take on personalities and identities of their own.

On the other side, you get the autistics, and maybe the sociopaths, too. For them, this special magic of the human soul doesn't exist. The deeply autistic person sees people as just another kind of object. The sociopath sees people as another kind of animal. Perhaps autism and sociopathy are the introvert and extrovert versions of the same condition.

I'm just thinking aloud here, but I'm wondering if schizophrenia is the introvert version of magical thinking - focused on objects, thoughts and events rather than people. The extrovert version could be borderline personality disorder, where the sufferer is also drowning in meaning and significance, but sparking off people rather than stuff.

Last edited by DeepBlueLake on 10 Feb 2009, 8:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.

If we defined the spectrum as not including NTs, which I think most of us do, the opposite end would be the lowest functioning form of autism.

That's funny! Have you seen this web site? (link follows) http://isnt.autistics.org/

Maybe Sarah Palin using my politician theory. I just picture politicians shaking everyone's hand and engaging in small talk at the most superficial level for political gain.

Car-salesmen or Realtors

so you are considering a linear developmental course from profound autism up through the phases of it, and up through asperger syndrome, and onward and upward even past the NT realm and beyond even that?.

that is not a continuum because there is a fundamental difference between autism and non autism, and the 2 realities have their own spectra, but they can not be knit.
it is like a rail guage incompatibility for trains of thought.

but there are some aspects of similarities where i can draw a straight line from deep autism to mother theresa as they are on a seemingly opposite side of consciousness to each other.


so my concept of the opposite of profound autism is profound "exism"

"auto" means self and "autism" means "selfism".
so what is the opposite of inner? it is external.
therefore "exism" (which i had to coin) seems the opposite of "autism".

so the absolute opposite of a profound autistic would be someone who has no concept of theirself, and their whole experience of life comes from the feelings of others.
they would be selfless and completely barnacled on to another persons hull of experience.

Spectre or Spectrum? topic

If this is an Autism Spectrum, how could NTs be on/under it?

Schizophrenia, Bi-Polar, Borderline, Schizoid, Schizotypal differences, etc are considered mental illnesses. Autism by itself is not an illness. I wonder then how these could be on the Spectrum. I believe they have their own sort of family tree. Of course these conditions can co-exist with AS.

As far as I know the Autism Spectrum is one of degree, from a lower functioning to a higher like a continuum. Other co-existing conditions can interfere with functioning, like being born with a intellectual challenge.

As for Psychopaths, they can have their own planet, and eat each other.

Oh, yay, more extreme male brain theory.

Some people say that Williams Syndrome is the opposite of autism, which may be what the OP was asking about.

But.

I say that Simon Baron-Cohen is a better example of the opposite of autism. He is an example of the kind of person who is so gifted at communication, that the media hangs on to his every word. He is so gifted at communication, he assumes that if you're bad at communication, you must lack empathy (most people have a hard time expressing themselves from time to time, so wouldn't combine communication and empathy into one thing).

As far as opposite job goes, hmm. Advertising? No, because you can do that over the internet. Theatre sports/improv? Not sure. Talk show host? Now that may be it!

Which may mean that Oprah is a better example of the opposite of autism.

An autistic can do every job an NT can, regardless of what it is, it just purely depends on the person. For me, I can seperate the more NT things a job requires from my AS, and do it better than an NT because of the influence of AS. This was the case when I did some work in door to door sales, I was the strongest seller in every group I was a part of.

Darn, you beat me to it.

And I'm still waiting on those cryptic crosswords!

@Padium- I agree, but most Aspies (as I am sure you know) would tend to avoid sales. Many years ago, I went into retail sales (mostly computers and electronics) out of necessity, but I hoped it would help me to better function in an NT world. I am often amazed that I went into a line of work that is so counter to my skills. Sorry to be off topic.

A dedicated follower of fashion...

I don't know what it'd be called, but Peter Gabriel wrote a song long ago about them..."I have the touch"...

I think the low low low lowest end of the spectrum is full blown Kanner's autistic where a person is nonverbal and has the congnetive function of an infant.

I have seen this question on WP before and I think this is generally the consensus among those who see a full spectrum encompassing all people.

Sorry no links, I am on a smart phone and it is too hard to do links...

We are! It's just a big mobius loop.

We are! It's just a big mobius loop.