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Nerds or Geeks...?

That is a really interesting article.

The most interesting part for me was the statement that, "MRI investigations comparing the brains of ASD patients to neurotypical control groups unearth any number of differences in activity within the areas of the brain commonly used for social communication and restricted and repetitive behaviors. In the case of autistic savants, those areas are apparently repurposed to perform other feats of intelligence."

I've always felt exactly like that - like the part of my brain that is supposed to help me do normal, social stuff instinctively is non-functional and that I have to figure out how to do that on my own. Instead of that natural social ability, I have abilities that most other people don't.

I also really appreciated the statements that differences in brain structure are not "something that therapists or families working with autistic patients should become obsessed with" and that "Dealing with each patient as an individual, with their own capabilities and deficiencies, is the core of the functional behavior assessments used by applied behavior analysts to assess behavior deficits and develop treatment plans."

Thanks for sharing this article.
 
It's an interesting article. Can't say that l feel any more intelligent but l can truly say l am driven unlike my NT cousins.
 
Interesting. It will be good to know more as the science around this further develops. I was glad to know they can observe significant difference between the two types of brain in action, because it validates how this feels and is experienced by us. They just need to get better at understanding the upside of our brains functioning in more depth, next.
 
Crossbreed said:
Savantism is a condition distinct from gifted intelligence. It is always the product of a serendipitous injury whether at birth or later.
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Yes, thank you.

I was not only "gifted" as you and others have kindly put it but, into my 40s appallingly slow and muddled up, severely hampering the expression of my gifts, to others' puzzlement and my frustration.

My brain scan (a rare boon) showed "atrophied cerebellum" but whether from birth or mid life (one of those viruses you know ;) ) is a mystery.

I'm a great believer in serendipity.

How do the colloquial terms nerds or geeks overlap with i) savants ii) muddled up young people iii) knowing old men? A bit on all sides probably (in the minds of those who use those two words)?

A description of me that I'm glad of was clunky.

Perhaps the thread title started leading me away from its subject?
 
The relatively neuro typical can equally benefit from capitalising on their own equal potential for "multi-use" neuro "plastic for life". Why haven't most of them woken up yet? When I colour coded my boxes in the office they all copied me and their performance went up by more than mine did! Diversity = boost for everyone!
 
Wolfgangus Faldestolius said:
How do the colloquial terms nerds or geeks overlap with i) savants ii) muddled up young people iii) knowing old men? A bit on all sides probably (in the minds of those who use those two words)?
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I use
"Savant" is already used colloquially.
"Knowing" old men? I'm not sure how age figures into it, unless it is to emphasize experience.
  • A "polymath?"
  • A "Renaissance man?"
  • A jack-of-all-trades?
  • A "MacGyver...?"
 
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Wolfgangus Faldestolius said:
hyperlink unintended hence can't be what ever you call a "computer whizz"
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full
(There weren't any computers during the Renaissance, anyway... ;))
 
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Outside of this community those are colloquial, disparaging terms I generally avoid using. Besides, dictionary definitions appear to be void of any neurological implications anyways.
 
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We were already a sub-culture before being assigned our neurological nomenclature.
 
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Geeks used to mean a type of Circus Freak, that ate disgusting things, so I stay away from that one.

;)
 
Crossbreed said:
Now, it means "Geek Squad" (among others).
full
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And some people loathe Best Buy. :p

So many colloquial terms simply mean different things to different people. Without any universal meaning to one and all. Even when copyrighted.
 
Judge said:
So many colloquial terms simply mean different things to different people. Without any universal meaning to one and all. Even when copyrighted.
Click to expand...

"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less." - Through the Looking Glass, Lewis Carroll

I am very much a descriptivist - "Geek" used to describe circus freaks, then used to mean any social outcast. But it has lost those meanings and now is used mainly to describe any kind of enthusiast. There are car geeks, computer geeks, train geeks, math geeks etc.
 
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