Is Asperger's Evolution in Process?

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I think Aspergians could be evolved people

But Asperger's itself is not manifestation or a final product of evolution. It's an example of human variation within the species we are now. There won't be any Homo sapiens aspergiani any time soon!

As others have pointed out here, evolution doesn't have a "final product", since it is not directed and occurs through random variation. I think Asperger's is an interesting variation. Some authors like Steve Silverman have made an argument for Asperger's being around for a long time, so it's probably nothing new. Recent studies indicate that there are a number of genes that cause autism, so that may account for the variation in symptoms and severity. Probably the more severe cases of autism are more likely to be de novo (new) mutations, which are mutations that occurred in the egg, sperm, ovaries, or testes, rather than being passed down from parent to child. A non-verbal, self-harming autistic person is much less likely to breed than an Aspergian or autistic person who can talk, hold down a job, and at least do some basic socializing.

While Aspergians probably are less likely to breed than NTs because of their social deficits, the more social ones are apparently able to breed often enough that their genes are not lost from the population completely. A few might be able to occupy specialized niches in their environment (certain lines of work) and procure mates that actually appreciate our peculiar charms (my mom liked my Aspie dad's braininess and devotedness, my wife likes how I talk and treat her. Go figure.)

The thing with evolution is, mutations are completely random with no end goal. Thus, you get all sorts of traits in the population. The ones that aren't successful result in death or just not breeding. Really successful traits result in mating and kids.

My professors supported punctuated equilibrium too--the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" rule. So long as the environment doesn't change, a successful trait will continue to be successful and result in breeding. So you'll have long periods (like the Agricultural Age) in which traits changed very little because society had not changed. Now we live in a rapidly changing environment, so traits that might have been successful 200 years ago may not be so helpful now. You'll be more likely to see rapid evolution at a time like this. Some trait that might not have been much use before (being good with numbers or machines) may be much more helpful now, and suddenly one is Bill Gates with 3 kids. Success!

Think of Darwin's finches--each species found a niche--a part of the environment that they moved into and adapted to, becoming successful at living in that place. We may not all be computer wizards, but I think Aspergians are good at being "niche adapters": finding something that they know a lot about and becoming experts in it.

I was diagnosed with Asperger's because we still use that name in the UK, instead of autism for anything and I'm glad, because I've seen videos of autistic children who are mentally ret*d and I don't feel I'm anything like that.

How could the children unable to speak, not acknowledge others and be mentally ret*d be an evolutionary advantage, and why should I whose only symptoms are sensory sensitivity, clumsy and able to concentrate for a long time on certain subjects be classed the same?

Autism is a spectrum.

Low-functioning, medium-functioning, high-functioning, all sorts of functioning.

Aspergians are considered to be on the Autistic Spectrum. The people who can't speak are also on the Autistic Spectrum.

No, I don't believe autism is the "next step" in human evolution.

Very odd hypothesis. Autistic traits I'm sure are an advantage to some people. When a person has one or two mild traits I can see how it may be useful in some fields.

But having autism is having more than one or two mild traits, and they must cause problems with daily functioning. So I imagine that if we all "evolved" into people with ASD, things wouldn't run so smoothly.

My life is not running very smoothly. I can only imagine what the world would be like if it were full of people with problems like mine.

I dont see evidence that autism is trending toward becoming more common.

And its not obvious why it would be trending that way. If you apply Darwin's theory of natural selection then you would seek reasons for why autistic traits would be selected for for reproductive success. Autistic traits tend to thwart reproduction.

If autism/asperger were shown to be trending upward in proportion to the population then it might be the byproduct of other trends. Kinda like sickle cell anemia is a byproduct of some local populations having to evolve resistence to malaria.

Three hundred years ago most folks found their spouses within the local village. But now folks find spouses where they go to school. You meet your future spouse in college from a population drawn from far and wide. So its possible that humans are selecting mates in a way that combines traits from far and wide more than before. This could be causing more geniuses to conceived (smart folks find other smart folks to marry from far away), but it could also causing more autism as well. But I am just speculating.

I was diagnosed with Asperger's so if you think I don't have it then you're faulting the diagnosis system too. I know they say it's spectrum, but you could do that with anything. I'm sure measles has similar traits with different diseases.

I do have some social difficulties, but then so do people who don't have autism. Lots of people are sensitive or shy without being autistic.

I don't feel I'm anything the same as autistic people who are mentally ret*d or can't function at all, so I don't think Asperger's should be called the same as autism.

Asperger's is Asperger's. Kanner's Autism is Kanner's Autism.

All are part of the Spectrum.

Most importantly, you are you. You are not the disorder.

It's sort of like having a mild version of a disease, as opposed to a severe form of it.

The core traits are the same it is the severity that varies widely. Mentally ret*d totally non functioning autistic people exist but they far from the only classicly autistic people. People who have some social difficulties and repetitive behavoirs are far the only Aspies around. I can present as almost normal. I graduated college worked most of the time for the next 25 years, but not in the last 10, never had a relationship of any kind and only lived away from home in college and in rehab the last year and have been diagnosed with Aspergers.

Aspergers is not seperate from autism, but it was wrong to just label everyone ASD also. The problem is the Autism sub categories are misleading and inadequate.

So how can the same condition be people who are mentally ret*d who can't live independently and also genius people they say were autistic like Einstein? That's quite a big difference for what they call the same condition. I think they're different conditions but have similarities as other things do. Is a green car the same as grass because they share a similar colour, or margarine the same as butter because they have the same function?

You can have somebody with Down Syndrome who can live independently. Others have to be tube-fed. They all have Down Syndrome.

I don't think down syndrome people who can live independently, if they really exist have such a big difference as mentally ret*d autistics unable to function independently, and geniuses they say were autistic like Einstein. A feature of down syndrome is mental retardation. Why would so many autistic people be mentally ret*d if it isn't a feature of the condition? Then suddenly there are others with social difficulties who are geniuses?
I think there are different conditions that have some similarities which they label as one condition.

As for evolution, it's strange how I have other features which they say are rare such as having rhesus negative blood type.

How can a case of skin cancer which is cured by a short procedure be the same disease a terminal cancer where the person is wasted away and in agony? Both cases have the same core characteristic, cancerous cells. Autism has a number of core charactoristics.

As far as I know, the experts believe that autism has many different causes. The symptoms are similar, but it's often different things that cause them. So there are autisms caused by a single gene, and those caused by multiple genes, and still others possibly caused by non-genetic factors such as physical trauma during birth or conditions in the womb. Nobody knows for sure what all the different causes are. It's too complicated and not well enough understood at the moment.

So they lump it all together and call the various disorders "autism spectrum disorder." But that doesn't mean that all of the lower-functioning people who have classic autism symptoms all have the same cause. And it doesn't mean that all of the higher-functioning people are autistic for the same reasons.

People with low and high functioning autism are often in the same families, such as being siblings, which suggests that some types of low and high-functioning autism likely have the same cause. The only difference may be in severity of symptoms.

People with Down syndrome have symptoms that vary in severity as well. Some are severely intellectually disabled, while others are perhaps only borderline. And they have different physical ailments too. There are also at least three types of Down syndrome that I'm aware of, with different causes. Some people even have something called mosaic Down syndrome, in which only some of the cells have trisomy-21. It seems to get better with age, as the abnormal cells are outnumbered by normal ones over time.

There are a few people with Down Syndrome who have normal intelligence. Many have only mild cognitive issues, and can live independently. "Corky," from "Life Goes On," is an actor with Down Syndrome. Read up on him.

In a way yes. I don't think people with Asperger's are superior or more intelligent. I've met plenty of NTs who were very intelligent.

But remember the way evolution works is by trying lots and lots of random things and seeing what works. So in that broad sense Asperger's is a part of evolution.

Asperger's is an experiment of evolution. It may not be a successful experiment and it may not stick. People with Asperger's may one day die out. Extinction is also a part of evolution.