What if everyone in the world had AS?

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I posted this thought in another thread but since was sort of OT I thought I'd start a new topic.

What if everyone in the world was an aspie? For all of the grief NT's are given on this forum (some of it deserved) what kind of world would we have if everyone had AS? The rigidity, the sensory issues, the black/white right/wrong kind of mindset? I can hardly wrap my mind around what it would be like.

Would it be an orderly, structured, peaceful world or would it be one filled with chaos and angst because every aspie had a different idea of what "right" or "correct" was? "No, no no you're doing it all wrong!! ! That's not how you screw in a lightbulb!! !" "For god sakes would you stop chewing your food so loud!! !" : )

I dunno. Discuss.

In my world, an awful lot of people have an awful lot of autistic traits...actually there was a similar discussion among environmental activists about what life would be like on "activist island".

Whoa.

I'd presume if everyone in the world has AS, all neurotypicals would become deviants. Not that I'm saying Aspies are deviants. I mean, autistic traits would be the norm. In other words, whatever is prevalent today would be the other way around.

agreed... all of this is perseption

If everyone in the world had AS, then Aspies would be neurotypical.

Think about that one for a moment.

That be cool but there still be jerks and bullies and criminals and pecking orders.


I have thought of a story, it be about the majority being aspie so they are the norm but this one kid is NT and is impairs him because he is different and he can't follow anyones standards so he gets diagnosed with Neurotypical syndrome.

Interesting idea that if more than 50% of the population had AS then AS would be the new NT, we would then have some of the non-AS community living underground trying to pretend to have AS.

They might then try and create a non AS community, they might even have "Non-AS planet"

Interesting.

It could just be that I'm way overly optimistic about everything, but I think the world would be full of way more understanding. I immediately pictured everyone singing. But, you know... Being different would be a good thing. I feel like the world the way it is claims to be accepting of uniqueness, but then why are so many people unhappy/isolated/misunderstood?

This would make a good movie. Hmm.

What would the world be like if the neurology currently called "Aspergers" were the norm?

This goes off in two wildly different directions depending on your timeline. Would this neurology have been there from the start of humanity or would it be something that everybody suddenly woke up with one day?

1)If it had been there from the start, I think we would be a very different species. Our brains are expansions of primate brains and our societies are expansions of primate groups. What would we be like if the desire to group together and follow a leader was weak and the desire to look for patterns and fiddle with things was comparatively stronger? Like orangutans maybe. I seem to remember that they are less "groupish" than some other primates. Unfortunately, I don't think we'd last very long. Compared to almost all other animals, humans as individuals have almost no survival skills. We've prospered and taken over the earth rather than gone extinct only because we band together. Unless a different body type with different physical skills evolved to compensate for lack of group unity, I think the human race would go extinct. We are simply too slow, blind, deaf, smell-deprived and physically weak to survive without group unity. The Aspie mental skills to invent quality spears and other primitive tech would hold off extinction for a bit, but I think the human race would ultimately be undone by too much hyperfocus on getting the spear just so and not enough multi-tasking to notice that the lion was sneaking up on us. With group unity you have a look-out to scan for the lion while somebody else sharpens the spear but without it....you're fussing with getting the spear just right and chomp!

2)If one day a great neurological switch was thrown and everybody woke up with that neurology? Civilization would grind to a halt as nearly 6 billion people woke up thinking they had gone insane because their minds were so radically different than they were yesterday and they had no coping skills to understand the new neurology they had. Meanwhile, the few million natural-born Aspies who experienced no perceptual shift when the switch was thrown wouldn't think they had suddenly lost their minds because there would be no difference. However, the sight of 6 billion people simultaneously freaking out and the breakdown of literally every routine the natural born Aspies had in place (because those routines depend on the rest of the world functioning more or less the same each day) would send the natural born Aspies over the edge too. If you have trouble coping with NTs suddenly doing unexpected things, think how much of a mindf*** it would be to have every single NT person out there suddenly freaking out over the inexplicable way the world suddenly seemed. Rather than picking up the pieces because they are the only ones with coping mechanisms in place, I think natural born Aspies would go down with the ship- undone by the shock of the collapse of NT society.

Civilization would probably slow way down. Sales people would actually tell the truth about what they are selling, and THAT would really throw a wrench into things. Taxi drivers would drive you on the shortest route to where you're going, and be polite. Clerks at electronic store would NOT be playing with the devices and would LISTEN to what you're asking about. And politicians, hmmmmmm ....

I am able to agree with it all except one point "Clerks at electronic store would be playing with the devices"

I would disagree, I think that while some aspies would go nuts faced with such a crazy world but many other aspies would work out a way of coping.

Some aspies would grab food and head into the woods, and sit it out on their own or in a small group. If it all went away after a week, these aspies would slowly return to the normalised world.

If the switch was for good, then I think that some aspies could do very well for themselves. They would have an insight into what was going on around them. These would be the smarter aspies and auties who can tolerate a change in their environment, they would have to work a little harder to maintain their "normal way of life" but as long as they could find food, shelter and energy they would be OK.

I think that Wrong Planet would vanish along with the rest of the internet, I suspect that those aspies and auties left moble and functioning would have more pressing things to do than keep the internet going. If I was able to see it coming, I would PM some of my fellow aspies and give them a location (In a semirural location near an international airport) and I would try to meet them there.

I do not know how long international air travel would stay running after the big switch, I suspect that some people with AS might make good pilots. In the recent Oliver Sacks book "An Anthropologist on Mars" he mentions a medical doctor with TS who has a PPL. Maybe a man like him could be found to fly a bunch of natural born Aspies from A to B.

I imagine that it would be like a scene out of 28 days later, waiting in woodland for some of the other WP members to show up.

I just hope that the NTs who have just switched are more friendly than the "infected".

Whoa, did this thread ever take an unexpected turn...

lol. I can't even remember how many times i've told someone something like "you might be able to get a used one across the street at gamestop," recommended a game that my store doesn't even carry, or talked someone OUT of getting something if it doesn't seem to me like they need it. I need to make some kind of "why there aren't more aspie salespeople" list.

But, really, if the world was full of aspies then i don't think much would get done. For one, executive dysfunction seems very common among aspies... And then everyone would be focused on the minor details instead of how to get everything running smoothy together. Everyday conversations would probably get to the point a little quicker without all of the small talk, BUT most of the time any kind of conversation would involve each person trying to pull the conversation in a different way toward one of their obsessions. I've noticed this when i have a conversation with a spectrum-y friend of mine... He keeps talking about all the songs that are going to be in the next rock band game while i keep talking about the upcoming reptile expo or something... When both sides are pulling the conversation toward a different interest and maybe inserting a random out-of-nowhere observation here and there, it doesn't "flow" very well at all. With the world functioning like this, i don't think people would be able to cooperate enough to do much.

Last edited by ColdBlooded on 31 Aug 2009, 3:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.

If everyone in the world had AS, we could divide everyone up and put them in their "special interest" sectors where they could be with like minded people who shared their special interest (or reasonably similar special interest). That way they could be with innovative, passionate people such as themselves and could learn from one another. Since everyone would be surrounded by people who share what they like there wouldn't be anyone around discouraging them.
The older Aspies would, naturally, be the leaders with more experience in the special interest than the younger, since they have had more time to gather information and experience, thus, becoming "experts". They could mentor the younger Aspies in the special interest so every generation would become more knowledgeable.

I've noticed this, too, and I'm totally guilty!