If autism gave you super-intelligence with quirky social deficiencies everyone would want it.
But that’s not how it works.
It kinda is. At least for some of us. It’s more like super-intelligence about an incredibly narrow topic that probably doesn’t matter. Some of us win the lottery and our special interests align with something in the world that capitalism values highly. Like one of my special interests is computer science, math, and logic. So I’m good at programming. Some people with autism have a special interest in one obscure comic strip from the 1930s, which makes it hard to get a job that they can succeed in.
Do you think you’d be smart enough to do those jobs well if I could give you a magic pill that took away the autism?
Is it even a meaningful question to ask if you can unpick the autistic traits from the rest of you ?
Frankly I don’t think it’s a meaningful question. I don’t think my personality would survive untangling all of my AuDHD traits from the rest of me. I don’t think it would even be possible to point at specific traits and say for sure whether they are resultant from the ND. It’s all me.
Its fine to ask, but the answer is “no”. Autism is a blueprint for how the brain gets wired. Its not something a person ‘has’, it’s a defining attribute of consciousness itself - its what a person ‘is’.
If you had a pill that could rewire someone’s brain, it would kill that person and use their meat as spare parts to build a different person.
For me, it’s like, I have a lot of knowledge about computers, because I do a lot with computers.
And I do a lot with computers, because they don’t overstimulate me like going to parties/events/whatever.
I do imagine, there’s other factors involved, too. Like, I’m able to memorize things really well and probably able to think more rationally, which makes me good at computers to begin with, but I’d still have a lot of knowledge about computers and not a lot of knowledge about all the social stuff.
Independently, I also happen to have chronic fatigue+pain. It meant that I spent even more time doing things with computers.
And yeah, that one I’ve thought harder about. What if I do go to the doctor and they make it disappear. Would I become a different person?
Probably the same answer. I might lose my hyperfocus and pick up more interests over time, but I’d probably still do a lot with computers. I’ve got hardly any other hobbies now and still far too little time for all my computer side-projects.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned about YouTube is that the most niche topics can gather an audience. I’ve never been interested in the workings of heat pumps, mechanical switches, or car horns. But I look forward to a new drop every week.
Like you said, some “win the lottery”. I think most people would prefer not to have to deal with the difficulties. You can be autistic and good at something or not autistic and good at the same thing.
You can be autistic and good at something or not autistic and good at the same thing.
Let’s not erase the unique characteristics of autism. People with autism can often achieve a higher level of mastery or understanding than most people in a specific topic, or can do so with much less effort. I’m not saying there aren’t challenges, but there are definitely also benefits for some of us.
Is it super-intelligence or just the natural desire to just consume stuff about a topic?
I don’t have Autism, but I do have ADHD and I am just gifted with an innate curiosity to learn new things which can seem like I’m intelligent, but honestly I have no control over it. I could spend a week learning about how the brain works and it will be all consuming, then all of a sudden I have zero interest in it.
This means I have a rudimentary understanding of so many topics, but rarely will I master any one of them.
I once spent a week researching the tumble of bullets fired from American rifles during the Vietnam war and the resultant bullet wounds. Why? Because someone said in a group setting “the M16 was introduced during the Korean war, not 'Nam.”
By the way, make sure not to get shot by a 'Nam era M16 firing 5.56mm, as you’ll never get all the bullet fragments out.
One time in a company night out, the boss announced that anyone who split his arrow (we were doing archery and drinking for fun) with their own arrow, robin hood style, would get a raise.
So I did it. I remember my thought process is “Oh this will be fun I’ll blow his mind with this”. I didn’t have a doubt in my mind I was gonna split his arrow with my own.
I have not practiced archery. I had not fired a bow since the 4-5 arrows I fired once in high school, some 20 years prior.
But I knew I was gonna do it, because that’s how my autism works. I didn’t sight or anything. I just put myself into a particular mental state, the one where things go perfect, then willed that arrow into the other arrow, drew and fired in one motion.
My arrow split his arrow in half. He didn’t give the raise, instead pretended to be too drunk and distracted to notice.
But still, I split that fuckin arrow.
So yeah, it does involve some obsession, and that leads to the knowledge But there’s also something different about the autistic nervous system at a low level.
Yeah, for me I think it’s less about “being more intelligent” as a general and more “I learned way more about (X) because I was hyperfixated”. I think that’s where people get mixed up. It’s not a generalized boost to intelligence so much as spending way more time studying something than a normal person would because brain tickle feel good. People only see the result of that
Ehh… thats why we don’t often mention the Autism HUD. Once the neurotypicals find out about it everybody going to start wanting it. Fortunately everyone who uses Lemmy is an Autistic Femboy Linux user.
Identic memory doesn’t require autism and can very well make you seem hyper intelligent when you’re just remembering shit.
Intelligence, to me, is defined as on the fly problem solving and improving. You can’t always remember a solution to a rapidly changing problem.
