Wow! Some years ago I was thinking about reasons for why people on ADHD/autism spectrum are different.

First heard somewhere (don't remember where or exact idea) that neurons initially form groups and these groups then perform functions. This led to an idea that if someone's brain sacrificed some "copy other primate" groups for "pattern recognition" groups, you would get a unit with higher IQ for non social use, without changing the brain to be more effective in general. This would come at a cost to social/copying skills. This idea doesn't explain "systems thinking" tendency or "not seeing forest for the trees" tendency in autist spectrum folks.

On another occasion, it occurred to me that regular brain run / loop consists of a short reality check and longer flow state. If there are too many reality checks, you get anxiety and can't work effectively. OTOH, too little realty checks and you get stuck on non important things. At the same time, impairing this "check to flow" balance in a safe (non anxiety provoking) environment would result in an individual that could perform the kind of deeper work with results not achievable by not modified individuals.

Have watched 50+ h of psychology lectures, but don't have any formal knowledge on these things so please take it with a grain of salt.

Edit: myself I'm formally on ADHD, and in personal opinion also on Autism spectrum. Just learned to "act normal" very well by the time I got into diagnosis.

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reliablereason 11 hours ago | parent | next [-]

All research points to ADHD having multiple causes. Each case will have a specific causal pattern. This makes sense as it is a diagnosis defined by symptoms. Same with autism.

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raducu 17 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> This would come at a cost to social/copying skills. This idea doesn't explain "systems thinking".

The concept of envy/malice/insecurity and people lying to your face and stabbing you in the back was completely foreign to me up to the age of 36. Only in the face of overwhelming evidence and harm to myself did it all click.

Lately I'm seeing myself in this junior dev I'm mentoring, I'm strongly suspecting he's on the spectrum (that's why he was rejected initially from an internship, despite my input that he'd make a great dev, which proved 100% accurate) -- the guy is totally happy in his technical world, jabs and callous remarks from others completely go over his head.

A lot of people on the spectrum simply have a deep interest in things and systems. I could be wrong, but I think some of those spindle neurons and circuitry made to model others just get used in some people to get systems.

I often get frustrated because people seem to want to learn HOW a technical insight and it's impossible for me to tell them HOW I got to that conclusion, other than I deeply immersed myself in it and it just clicks. I get the same awe when my wife makes jokes about a behavior of mine or someone else and I can see just how deep, funny and plausible her whole internal model of others is; and sometimes how wrong it is, just like my internal model of a system sometimes is. Alas I can change my internal models of systems on a whim.

	▲	kiba 12 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		I am on the autism spectrum. I have a deep interest in systems as well, and I like systems and so forth. Things and so forth. Social skills is not what I am good at and I still struggle with but improving with time. There is an art in which I basically don't do that kind of thinking, that's improvisational comedy. Improvisational comedy is an art in which I do by honed instinct. There's a system to it, and I can sometime recognize patterns, but most of the work I do is subconscious processing and rather autonomous. To this day, I think I would have something to teach to the community if I could articulate the unique skills I possess.
	▲	nxor 9 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		I can relate. It's an advantage for sure not being in tune to human social conflicts. I am to a degree, of course, but I don't consider the same things offensive and that has only helped me in learning a lot quickly. In this regard I wish autism was seen as less of a disability and more of a "you are different from most people but sometimes that is good."

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throaway123213 12 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Your reality check idea is interesting - coming from a person with ADHD, anxiety and schizophrenia in their family

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Fricken 17 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Without reading the article, the headline, taken at face value, should come with the caveat that human brain is preconfigured with instructions for understanding the world we've evolved to inhabit. Modern industrial civilization is something different. I wonder to what degree common mental disorders would count as disorders outside the highly unnatural environments and systems we've built for ourselves.

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sznio 15 hours ago | parent [-]

I feel like people on the autism spectrum would still be worse off in a pre-civilization pre-agrarian world, but ADHD would make pretty much no difference.

	▲	raducu 12 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		> in a pre-civilization pre-agrarian world, but ADHD would make pretty much no difference. I have ADHD and I also have hyperfocus, I think hyperfocus is an advantage in a pre-industrialized world. As a child I was fascinated with blowguns. After a summer of shooting unripe grapes out of plastic pipe, I could shoot anybody in the forehead from 20 meters away, easily. I shot the blowgun thousands of times a day, it was relentless. The same when I went fishing, a whole day could vanish and it would feel like a blink of an eye. I taught myself how to ride a bike and I woke up that night to ride the bike, even though it had a flat tire. I like to go mushroom hunting, but when I do, I usually like to go alone, I walk for extraordinary distances, rough terrain, I don't get bored, I can literally keep at it for the whole day that people think I'm crazy. It's a bit like a stimulant induced obsession, but my inner voice recedes far back in my skull, it's an incredible flow state-like feeling. I'm sure this kind of obsession builds skills and it has to have some benefits in pre-industrial societies.
	▲	delis-thumbs-7e 11 hours ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		I have ADHD and I bet your tribe would like to have a guy who snaps to attention from every little noise watching over while you eat or sleep. I also prob have ‘tism, I suck at typical modern social settings, but get along well in martial arts or other activities, where you are doing something physical and concrete together with people, without endlessly yapping about each other’s boring life. Today when I’m older people often elect me as some sort of leader in these settings, prob because I learn fast and it comes pretty naturally to me. I think I would be pretty successful in pre-civilisation society. I’m also great with animals, I kinda naturally know how to touch and groom them. Looking at apes, this is far more important in creating social connections rather than lying about your professional achievements on Linkedin. I’ve seen people who are “good with people” just make friendships in less than a minute pouring their whole life to another person like they had known for years. If you can do that you have a great career in sales, marketing or politics in front of you. To me it seems completely insane behaviour, like I was watching completely different species. Perhaps we all come with adhd and autism as a default, and some people get modernity updated into their system while in the womb?
	▲	BurningFrog 9 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		You can also think about why psychopaths, rapists, and other currently despised traits have evolved.