Aspies have different DNA

Post Reply New Topic

http://www.collective-evolution.com/201 ... this-mean/

Interesting set of articles

I was expecting a news story, and what I got was an annoying sophomoric editorial piece in which the author cant stop yapping about what he "thinks", but gives lno evidence for even knowing squat about autism disorders ( the very things he is opinining about).

But if the fact that he reports - that 27 genetic variations are in someway associated with aspergers and autism (ie they correlate with being on the spectrum and not with not being on the spectrum) then that would be rather significant.

In all fairness my computer crops part of the page- maybe my better computer upstairs can see it better.

Ill have to get back to you about this.

But id like to see some other source about this discovery.

I read some of the comments on the article page. Those people are f*****g nuts.

Correlation is not causation.

Just because 27 of your neighbors know at least one other person with Asperger's Syndrome, that does not mean that your 27 neighbors cause Asperger's Syndrome, it just means that your 27 neighbors are associated with two people who have Asperger's Syndrome.

That's all that the science of the article boils down to, imo.

Please could a mod change the title? Something like "genes identified that are associated with autistic traits" would be better than "Aspies have different DNA".

It's an interesting start but needs further investigation.

While I agree that using "genes" in the title is a better descriptor of the article's content, technically, there's nothing wrong with saying "different DNA." If Aspies have different genes, it's most likely a result of differing Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms or mutations, and those phenomena are a result of DNA that is different from the norm.

Just reread it from my better computer that can see the whole page.

Doest change anything.

The aritlcle is a seemingly important message being conveyed by an idiotic messenger (the article's author).

Anyone who would write "just because there are differences in social interaction doesnt mean it it a disorder" is an idiot. If your differences in behavior impede you in society than obviously your differences in behavior are a "disorder".

But when you cut away his dumb opinions and look at the facts he is reporting the nub is that some researchers started with assumptions that 68 genes are related to certain traits like empathy that spectrum people are impaired in. And of those 68 they found 27 to be different in many? (or most? or all?) auties and aspies.

Maybe they found them because -they were looking for them.

Might be a modest start in finding the genetic roots of autism, or not.
But again- id like to see some other source about this research.

"Never read the comments".

That's the motto me and my friends have.

This is a discussion thread. I found information, I'm sharing it, you are very welcome to complete it with other sources. But criticising like you do does not bring anything to it, so please refrain. That makes me really angry.
Have you even read the sources ???

I have read the sources, and that is why it makes me angry that so much is being made over it - the data only correlates with the conclusions, but they do not provide a definitive causal link.

Why Aspies all the time? Why don't they do studies on another group of people?

Being open to critique is part of having an open discussion. It's not an attack on you personally, but a viewpoint of the article you presented.
I personally am not a fan of the "next step in evolution" theory. Aspergers is not new, and most definitely presents social deficits so I don't see the point of putting a prettier label on it.

I agree. I always looked upon Asperger's as a disorder or a condition, not a type of species. It seems like they just pick on Aspies and study them, and it makes me feel like I'm sort of freak, not just a human with a slightly different brain wiring.

The question is: why do they seem so obsessed with Aspies??? I do not share your views about aspergers at all...

They HAVE been doing nature vs nurture studies on alcholics, obese people, psychotics, juvenile deliguents, homosexuals, and every other kind of deviant since long before they sequenced the human genome. So I dont know where you get the idea that aspies are being singled out.

It just seems like it. ''Aspies are aliens'', ''Aspies are neanderthal''. ''Aspies are indigo child'' (or whatever it is), and so on. Why can't people just accept that Aspies are also people too, just like our parents? We are not a different breed or a different evolution of race.