So, what are we?

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Mainly directed to the aspies. Have you ever wondered.... of course you have, that maybe we are superior to the NT's. Maybe we are so aware of the things going around us that we see normal considered things as ridiculous, including the social interactions, social networks, maybe even some feelings. Maybe we are the evolution of the human species. I know my (our) thoughts can be considered crazy and all, but in the long run thoseere the thoughts that change the world, considering a lot of the great inventors and intellectuals had AS obviously makes me think a lot. Apart from that egotripping .... do you think we are more aware of the world and people, or less aware? Do you think we have a more conscious control of ourselves and so we fail to play along the subconscious rituals of the NT's?

I've felt superior than others because I had qualities they didn't have but I never gloated about it or acted better than anyone.

I wish people would stop propagating the fallacy that evolution is directional or goal oriented. It's not. We're not the "next step" in human evolution, because there isn't one. Evolution happens, to grossly simplify, in response to environmental pressures and changes in conditions. Look at Sickle Cell and malaria for a good example. Autism may, in its milder/higher functioning forms, be a similar adaptation, but that's not at all certain.

We're an interesting mutation which has not been harmful enough to be extinguished via selection mechanisms. We may have some advantages over NTs, but we also have plenty of disadvantages.

We don't know for a fact that a lot of great inventors/scientists had AS or any other ASD; we can only speculate that they did. The way autism has been defined, culturally, has changed since the 1940's. Most people with AS would not have been diagnosed as autistic prior to about 1980.

We aren't necessarily more aware of the world. I miss out on so much nonverbal communication, I'm sometimes less aware. Yes, it's great that I can notice small visual details that most NTs can't. I can also hear high frequency sounds; I can't stand flourescent lights because of that, and I have a very acute sense of smell. However, I also don't respond to novel situations with the same flexibility as an NT.

I have an ASD. It's a part of who I am, but I find the propensity of people with ASDs to talk about superiority to NTs rather bothersome. When you look at ASDs holistically, they're not a great advantage, and they're also not horribly debilitating.

Ok the whole evolution/superiority was an exageration, I wanted to talk about the possible advantages we may have. I guess the question is what is more important, human interactions or the understanding of our surroundings (and ourselves). Is it better to have the social interaction program built into our subconscious or to learn it, like we do? I guess our interactions are more synthetic, but maybe that can be an advantage somehow, like in the business word, you can end up predicting what the person will do and use that on your advantage.

I can't say that I've ever felt superior to anyone. I've sometimes felt inferior, but most times it's an equal footing, just arranged differently.

Superior to NTs? Doubtful. Different from NTs. Certain.

ruveyn

I feel both inferior (socially) and superior (IT-knowledge wise).

I don't feel inferior or superior to any group of people. Just different (or in some cases, similar.)
Sometimes I feel inferior or superior compared to specific people, but that's a different story.

We're just people.

It is a social world. Therefore,

Darwin would likely have considered the trait maladaptive.