Are we on the RIGHT planet?

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There is a quite compelling theory that Aspergers is a normal manifestation of Neaderthal genes. The theory postulates that these genes have persisted into modern humans via hybridization. Unfortunately there is thus far no direct DNA evidence of hybridization. Recent examinations of mitochondrial DNA have yielded a conclusion that hybridization was quite rare if it occured at all.

So what if Aspergers is not only a Neaderthal characteristic but also the original neurology of modern humans? The aspie mind would be an advantage in a hunter gatherer society with its increased sensory ability, novel powers of reasoning, and overall high level of environmental interaction. After all humans have been around for perhaps 200,000 years but only since the last ice age ended around 10,000 years ago did agriculture and other constructs requiring complex social networks emerge. I wonder if neurotypicality is a recent mutation? If that is the case then those with autism are on the right planet and NTs are the bizzare creatures from the wrong planet.

Just something to think about. I invite your thoughts and discussion...

That's a really interesting theory, Archvile. I certainly feel like I'm on the right planet. I agree aspie thought would be very useful for evolution, with the thinking-outside-the-box and all. Beyond creative problem-solving I've noticed I'm more flexible in my thinking in general than many NTs, I assume that's aspie but I don't know. I think that type of mental adroitness would be useful too.

I'm sure your use of the word 'compelling' is deliberate! To me, 'compelling' implies a preferred truth rather than an objective truth. For example, some radical feminists have developed 'compelling' (for them) theories that ye anciente society was matriarchal, everybody worshipped the earth goddess and as a result of keeping those awful men out of the way, the world was in paradise. The only problem with this is that reality says otherwise.

Similarly, racists have all sorts of 'compelling' (for them) theories about whatever race they belong to being the 'original one true race' and when their own 'one true race' ruled the earth, verily the world was in paradise. Now the other 'impure, inferior' races need to be gotten rid of to restore paradise. Again, reality says otherwise.

As an Aspie, I'm drawn to the idea that we are 'the one true race', but I doubt there's anything objective in it. At worst, it is a dangerous path to follow, at best it's a load of nonsense that has no relevance to your life NOW.

The other, diametrically opposite, Aspie dream is that if we are not the past, then we are the future. Some new mutation that is going to save the planet, outlast the NT's etc etc etc.

Archvile, there have been many discussions here about what you're saying. RDos, who is a member here, has a website with lots of info on the Neanderthal theory: http://www.rdos.net/eng/


We are all on the right planet. But in my case, I seem to be in the wrong body

AS and NT as i see it are just two ways to solve the same problems...

there are some things which scientist have been looking at with regards to Mental "states", such as the advantages of ADHD in hunter gatherer societies...

but there has not yet been such a study with regards to AS...

i think AS people would have been the makers of change (technology, social, ect..) and "magic" in the primitive societies... i also think many Religious peoples have had either AS or things such as Schizophrenia ect..... remember in the days of the religious figures their actions would have been "New" and innovative...

"tired".... should make a habit of finding these threads while i have more juice left...ah.. another day another chance i guess:)

I will take some from here and there.

By the time early modern humans came into Neanderthal lands, they had been from the same line and apart for 200,000 years. It seems a very short time for the idea of them being a Species, unable to breed. We have been out of Africa much longer, our common ancestor with the Bushman was long ago, but we can still breed.

There is a pre Neanderthal contact period where some humans made advances, inventions, which do seem Autistic. This sub line is the one that later would have come in contact with the Neanderthal.

From the pitiful little we know of DNA, we can trace the mother line, ours goes back to Africa, but not the father line. There would be no trace, for it would become the new thing. There is a period that shows another sudden advance in technology.

There is now talk of dumping the whole Asperger's concept, for the facts do not fit the Syndrome.

While there is some connection with Autism, it is not consistant, to where there are now many Asperger Types, and the whole is expected to be lumped back together in the next DSM. ASD's as a catch all.

So a dual cause, Autism plus Neanderthal, would explain the differance we see in outcomes.

I do not think NT is a recent thing, for taking a look at a few hundred years back, 1700 to 1900, there were a very few writers, researchers, even wits, and 99% of the population made their living looking at the back end of a draft animal.

Socialization about nothing, small talk, was the only bond they had, and church, for they were on their own in times of war, fire, flood, famine, and a social network was all they had.

Over population, something rural folks are good at, lead to them flooding into towns and cities, and the factory system replaces the back of draft animals with the work bench, and they continue bonding through talk of sports, dog fighting and bear baiting, for there was no other level for them to connect.

Now it is football, a $500,000 plywood box, two $60,000 SUV's, all on credit. Of the 100,000,000 who took this road, there are thousands who started a business, and live in the back room.

They spent their children's future on a handful of glitter.

$1,000 per household would put $100 Billion into building a better world for their children, but they are not people of long term vision. They spend more on lottery tickets.

Where are the complex social networks now? All I see is fragments.

I agree. Ineteresting theory.

I don't see why your entire society would have to consist of people with AS-like traits. Early on, cooperation would have been vital; and Aspies don't do that very well. A few Aspies per group, definitely, to work out tool use, agriculture, domestication of animals, and shelter-building; but I think we were meant to be in the same society as NTs.

I don't know. An entire civilization of people who interrupt each other and let their conversations fly off on every sort of tangent doesn't seem destined for greatness. I can envision us starting off with a discussion of how best to attack a Zebra, then jump to how pretty its markings are, then off to how a similar pattern is on the nearby mountains, then off to how cold the mountains are in the winter, then off to how fun it is to play in the snow in winter, then off to how snow can turn into water when it get warm, then off to how thirsty we are. And then we walk back to camp to get a drink from the stream. I'll bet even the Zebra would wonder about our fitness for survival.

By the way, am I the only one who thinks this way?

Personally, I think that the NT part of society would have a hard time getting on without the AS part, and very much vice versa. I think we have to stop looking at it as us and them, and which is better, and which came first, and accept that we're both needed. A hand wouldn't be a very useful hand if it was all fingers, it needs a thumb. I hand full of 5 thumbs wouldn't be much good either.

Aspergers is also the right adaptation for a computer based culture. I suspect NTs and Aspies have existed side by side in our species. Each has some advantages and disadvantages. I would not be surprised if advanced spears and bows/arrows were designed by and Aspie with a fixation on ballistic weapons. Another Aspie, perhaps, had an obsession about drawing animals on cave walls. The NTs in the tribe/extended family probably thought these oddities were way cool since they could be put to ready use. Aspies are the engineers. NTs are the poets and musicians. Each has a place in the human scheme.

ruveyn

i am

Except for Aspie poets and musicians!

Aspies are specialists; NTs are generalists, and make up a society's social network.

I'm half poet, half engineer, and how 'bout putting words to structure?

I don't believe in evolution. I believe that God made us each unique and that He has a purpose for each of us.

Um, evolution's pretty indisputable, at least at it's most basic. It's basically a mixture of "like breeds like" and that "the dead don't breed": mutations which make you more likely to live are copied. And these mutations stack up, over time.
Not to dispute your faith. Lots of people can reconcile natural laws with a God behind it all. Just think that He works through setting up an complex rule-set and then watching it tick by, according to His plans, rather than Him having to constantly step in all the time.