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Is the rise in autism a sign of a human evolutionary process?

Humans are far from the only social animal.

We do have at least one unique characteristic related to socialization of course - possibly two.
But opposable thumbs; persistence hunting; and superior analysis, prediction, and planning are probably also relevant.

AFAIK the cause and effect sequence for the two major leaps in hominin brain size aren't known yet.

BTW I'm aware of the potentially interesting XX/XY split with this kind of discussion. But it doesn't matter in the long run. Modern genetics and our ever improving ability to see and figure out how the body works will resolve this fairly soon.
I haven't read this yet, but it looks interesting.
Evolution of the brain - Wikipedia
 
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Judge said:
Agreed.

However ironically the first thing that comes to my mind is the saying, "Keep your friends close. Keep your enemies closer".
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True. It does seem ironic... but a good "safety and security" strategy for "being aware" of your enemy's thoughts and movements. In this context, not something that causes feelings of "being safe", but rather a sense of "heightened awareness".
 
Noticed some thing strange this morning belong to a site we us for our social life They have a blocking feature which become a topic of conversation this morning I have never blocked any one some people were blocked by error by others. admistated check list reverse block being part of conversation asked if list only exists if you actually block somebody. She came back it's at bottom of lobby page I scanned the bottom for the life of me could not find it. asked wife if she could find it on main desk top computer she found it bottom left on page wrote back to admin bottom left is not bottom. No wonder NT's cannot make hundred page control plans. accurate. They need us with all our unusual skills. Even NT's have issues my wife cannot estimate time, distance, quantity. probably 2 sigma from mean. Our stuff is 3 sigma minimum many are 4 and a few 5. or more. Suspect my ability to visualize is 5 Einstein same ability 6 sigma or even 7.
 
Ronald Zeeman said:
If autism did not exist we would not have the general theory of relativity, and lots of mathematical breakthroughs .
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"Those who are the best... do it different than the rest." It also takes a higher level of focus... and intellect... and maybe even a little savant-like consciousness. It is difficult to say which of the many great minds were actually autistic or not, but certainly the written accounts of several individuals may suggest this type of neurodivergence.
 
Einstein was not as intellectually gifted as his peers, why he ended up working in a patent office. I share his gift he had 160 IQ I'm lucky if 130. Why it is not the whole story. but like money it sure helps.
 
No savants in my family as far as I know lots of autistics, bit strange how many of my ancestors only had a few kids with no birth control.
 
Study Traces Autism's Origin to The Rise of Human Intelligence

About the rise in autism rates; it is my direct observation that the rise is due to diagnosis rate - not the actual, real rate. For example:

I was diagnosed as retarded. That is because no one in my family, school, community or possibly state ever heard the word autism. Can't diagnose something if the something is not known.

I have many family members; cousins, uncles, aunts, etc. that fit practically every autistic trait. None of them were diagnosed with anything beyond retarded. Most had no official diagnosis at all, just considered to be "not all there", "backwards", or "mental case", etc. lots of slang terms.

I have a grand niece that is diagnosed with autism. She is less than 10 years old. She was born in a time when autism was known, thus diagnosable.

I believe it is extremely misleading to say the rate is increasing or has increased. I believe the real rate has not changed since - forever.

Note: the article above suggests that autism has not been seen in other primates or animals. Well, I'm not a scientist or neurologist, but I have seen many animals with autistic traits and many without. I suspect that is because I relate to other species more personally than I do with humans. I grew up with possums, skunks, raccoons, chickens, sheep, goats, cows, horses and more. They were my best friends. I understood them and they understood me. (not kidding)
 
Ronald Zeeman said:
No savants in my family as far as I know lots of autistics, bit strange how many of my ancestors only had a few kids with no birth control.
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Well... in my experience, I haven't found too many women swooning over and seeking out nerdy, geeky autistic men.;):D Even those of us that are married are probably more "intellectually stimulated" than being some sort of "stud" for our wives. :)

Of course... just an observation. Pay no attention to me. ;)
 
I My wife and I have one interest in common, While I was unemployed for two years liked to go to library would read one magazine after another, then read a martial arts magazine, which lead to reading about mixed martial arts which discipline is better was curious and then a couple of videos came out rented it my wife and kids and then my kids friends got into it. I do not like boxing but the technical stuff in the fights interested me. My wife just loves watching the fights, knows all the good fighters. So you never know.
 
This is the reason I wanted a promotion over the years not the prestige ambition just the ability to direct others so I could work what I could see in my head to further the employers agenda. What needed to be done was so obvious to me. This sounds so familiar. I'm a loner also a natural leader being the second oldest. Forty years of frustration. If only I or they had known.
 
TBRS1 said:
A hundred years ago when a typical day for a person might consist of plowing a field or walking a fence line, how noticeable would a autistic person be?
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My ASD2 & 3 children would have never functioned in those roles. He [ASD2] is perpetually stuck at the development level of a 6-10yo. And she [ASD3], a 1.5yo.

Because of executive dysfunction,* neither of them can grasp that their livelihood requires work. As unmanaged adults, they would starve and never realize why.

*Said dysfunction also rendered them impervious to conventional, transactional parenting tactics.
full
 
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Neonatal RRT said:
Well... in my experience, I haven't found too many women swooning over and seeking out nerdy, geeky autistic men.;):D Even those of us that are married are probably more "intellectually stimulated" than being some sort of "stud" for our wives. :)

Of course... just an observation. Pay no attention to me. ;)
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LOL - speak for yourself, dude.

I have trouble walking through the grocery store because of all the swooning.



(and anybody who believes that should read a book or something about how easy it is to lie on the internet)
 
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