My head is in books whilst my heart sings with the wind.

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Just playing with some ideas here which I have not yet fully reflected upon.

I was thinking yesterday about Cohens theories on masculinity and autism. With particular relevance to the following



Systemizing

“Systemizing is the drive to analyze, explore, and construct a system. The systemizer intuitively figures out how things work, or extracts the underlying rules that govern the behavior of a system. This is done in order to understand and predict the system.

Male brain (=Type S): A brain in which ‘systemizing’ stronger than ‘empathizing’.

Female brain (=Type E): A brain in which ‘empathizing’ stronger than ‘systemizing’.


What interests me greatly is there must be many artistic aspies out there that seriously challenge his views on autism, with particular relevance to his 'masculinization' theory.

I have spent much of my life trying to reconcile seemingly irrconcilable opposites, only to now be a mush more integrated person, knowing that I am just as much the artist as I am the scientist, and just as much a verbal thinker as I am visual.

My head is in books whilst my heart sings with the wind.

Are there any other aspies that are learning to live with this dynamic interplay?

Chris.

Actually, this is one way in which I kind of understand what Baren Cohen is saying, because I think his definition of Systemizing is nice and open - it leaves open the possibility that the systemizing mindset could be used effectively to be creative.

So, the system could be a method of music composition, it could be an alternative world that you choose to write about in novels or make detailed paintings or drawings of. Its a myth that creativity is completely intuitive and that you have to discard rules entirely in order to do it. Actually, a lot of creativity consists of making a set of rules and then following them, eg. "What if.. this and this and this..." and then you find out what the outcome is.

The system does not have to be something as concrete as, say, an electrical circuit.

c/s

Creativity transcends the systemizing/empathising/misc other divisions

I know both Aspies and NTs that are congruent with your description. Aspies are not just hyper intellectual wind up toys. They come is many flavors.

While I am at it, what is a good toy for a boy Aspie? Maybe a G.I. Action figure that carries a programmable calculator rather than an automatic rifle. G.I. Geek? G.I. Nerd?

This is not exactly a joke. I have a grandson who loves it when I print out trig tables for him on my computer. He learned to read at three and do arithmetic at four. I have not ye broached the issue of whether he might be an Aspie because I know it will upset his dad (my youngest son). But I am keeping an eye on the grandchild until I have some definite evidence to present. My son thinks I am a bit weird, but he doesn't understand that I am Different.

ruveyn

err, what does c/s mean??

co sign

Males sometimes think in terms of achievement vs females who think in terms of relationships.

What about the type of person who doesn't identify with any gender, who thinks in terms of music?

Indeed. You can't be a good programmer or mathematician if you're not creative, and you can't be a good musician or writer if you're not systematic.

at the male / female / left / right brain stuff. It's all BS stereotypes.