General Autism Discussion

People have double standards and aren't always considerate of others. So they will often both talk too fast and feel offended when asked to clarify, and then demand others slow down and demand clarification, and feel completely justified in both situations. Even though it's blatant hypocrisy.

Other people do not have their heads up their ass and are actually considerate of others. If most of your social interactions are with the former, then that just means you're surrounded by assholes.

TBF, if someone is desperate enough to ask a random person for directions, they are probably also in a hurry and are lost. That tends to set people in a bad mood. But that doesn't justify being rude to someone who was just minding their own business.

Edited by M84 on Sep 11th 2018 at 8:27:11 PM

Ah, now... That's an interesting side effect for which I've heard the following explanation:

It's because having the courage to wear those big fuck-off headphones on and essentially signalling 'screw everyone else, I'm not interested right now' makes you look self assured and confident and therefore someone who is looking for directions, and therefore in a position of insecurity, will be drawn to that.

It's literally the curse of being cool.

Which I why I personally don't mind it when that is the reason a stranger singles me out in a group if they want to ask a question.

And I much prefer it over the times when I get singled out for a question like that when I'm the only man in a group of women, which, given the gender distribution in my circle of friends, happens occasionally and never fails to piss me off.

I suspect that headphones are also often a good indicator of who is a local. If you’re wearing headphones and walking around you probably know your way, that makes you a better person to ask for directions than someone without headphones standing still.

I may have a bias though, I live in London and an unwillingness to interact with others and a grumpy face is a very good way to note a local here.

I was reading my Psychology book, and in a sidebar, they dedicated a page to "cosmetic neurology", which kinda feels vaguely ablest, and seems to completely misrepresent the nature of stimulants. Here's some of the worst bits.

on creativity and stimulants:

In favor of using "nuero-enhancers"

Against using them

Edited by megaeliz on Sep 11th 2018 at 9:06:03 AM

To be honest, so-called "brain boosters" have this habit of having rather nasty knock-on effects down the line, especially if they start becoming habitual rather than occasional.

Brains, they get easily hooked. And, we be crap at following how neurotransmitters get metabolized elsewhere and come back to bite us. :/

Not all chemicals are as forgiving as caffeine (and that can whammy you with headaches during withdrawal).

So, yeah. "Cosmetic neurology" is just another way of saying "I'm being paid by Russia to undermine bans on short-term performance-enhancing drugs with long-term health risks attached".

Edited by Euodiachloris on Sep 11th 2018 at 2:09:54 PM

I'm cynical of brain-enhancing drugs on the basis that they sound dangerous to me. I don't know much about them but it just seems to me like that's not how good ideas start.

I am a Transhumanist, though, so the core idea doesn't necessarily bother me.

Edited by Protagonist506 on Sep 11th 2018 at 6:53:46 AM

There is a fucking huge difference between wearing glasses or using hearing aids and taking drugs that work on your brain chemistry and stuff. Anyone who tries to make a comparison like that to make their point is full of shit.

Edited by M84 on Sep 11th 2018 at 9:53:13 PM

It’s even stupider and more falsely equivalent than that. The reason people need glasses is because of a problem with their eyesight, not to improve already good vision, which makes the whole metaphor make even less sense.

My favorite bit is the claim about “how being very focused on a task makes you less creative”. Sources please.

To be clear, I’m not one of those “no medicine ever” people though. I actually take Adderall myself, because of my ADHD, just like I wear glasses, because I am nearsighted. Both of them help me to function more effectively.

Which gets me into my other point. The flip side that it also presents is also problematic. Taking medication to help manage ADHD, is not “cheating”, or some type of “crutch”. All that type of language does, is shame people who do take that type of medication for a legimatimate medical reason, and only discourages the people who might actually benefit from it.

Edited by megaeliz on Sep 11th 2018 at 2:20:17 PM

Welcome to the real world. Where social skills are more important than job skills, to the point that organizations actually suffer from people who excel in the former, at the expense of those who excel in the latter.

Politics are unavoidable anywhere there are groups of people who have to work together, live together, etc.

I have an issue where I overthink things to a degree it affects my enjoyment of life.

Right now I'm obsessing over perception, how quickly I react to things/stimuli, how my brain works, my short term memory, the sort of stuff geniuses don't fully understand yet. It's infuriating.

One solution I've found to that is distraction. Whether it be with videogames, following social media forums, Youtube surfing, or copious amounts of alcohol. Not that I'm necessarily recommending any of those, especially that last one. Especially if you're underage.

But personally, all of those things do a fairly passable job of distracting me from the voice in my head telling me how much I suck as a human being.

Edited by M84 on Sep 14th 2018 at 10:33:05 PM

I dunno about y'all, but focusing on how drunk I (probably) am does a lot to help me take my mind off my inner demons.

I actually get very nervous when people try to talk to me on the street these days, because I've been mugged three times on the street for trying to help people. I know logically speaking that most people, especially in broad daylight, are probably just trying to ask for directions or maybe asking to fill out a survey, so I try not to be rude, but it's hard for me to resist the urge to just keep walking.

Mugged for trying to help people. That's fucked up. I read once that autistics are more likely to get actively involved if they see someone in distress, or if someone begs them for money. The irony of course bring that autistics tend to freak people out due to their differences in how they come across, so while they're more charitable, people fear them.

I wanted to pass this along:

Meaning, it seems, that people accept weird behavior more when there's an explanation.

Disclosure of autism at work holds risks and benefits

Sometimes disclosure helps, and sometimes it hurts:

My coworkers know that I'm autistic. I never told, but they were told. Good, because faking complete normalcy is impossible for me. I seem to be liked enough, it seems. My boss once even told me she heard coworkers talking about how "more social" and "more open" I'd become.

Edited by BonsaiForest on Sep 19th 2018 at 2:53:08 PM

In Latin America, you get mugged for pretty much everything.

Also, is really true that people in the spectrum tend to be more altruist. Because that actually...kinda make feel our altruism feel "lesser" to speak. Dunno.

I'm sure that we can be awful humans beings too, right?

Edited by KazuyaProta on Sep 19th 2018 at 5:11:11 AM

You called?

Yeah.

Hey, lets gonna commit mass murder. Ethnic or ideological genocide? We should go full commie or full nazi? We need some neurodivergent rep as genocidaires too

Now seriously. I've heard a lot phrases such as "autists love stronger" or similar, even from actual autists.

Dunno but that make me feel...deshumanizated. I'm a human, Not some type of angel or fairy.

Edited by KazuyaProta on Sep 19th 2018 at 5:31:46 AM

Is it possible to have multiple thoughts at once? I can't seem to find real scientists online speaking about this. I know multi tasking is effectively impossible, but that's not what I'm asking. I'm not entirely sure what I'm asking.

Does it make sense to say we can only think of one thing at a time when our thoughts have so many connections to so many other thoughts? If we could only have one thought at a time, could we really live in such a chaotic world?

And I'm asking it here because it's a result of my Aspie brain overthinking things.

The answer is no. You cannot have multiple conscious thoughts at once.

Have you ever heard of the duck-rabbit optical illusion? Look it up. What do you see? A duck, or a rabbit?

You can't see both at once, right?

Thinking two conscious thoughts at once is as impossible as that.

You can have conscious thoughts in rapid succession. Your brain is constantly handling other unconscious processes in the body while you are thinking conscious thoughts. Your brain even goes on "autopilot" of a sort when handling routine activities. That last one incidentally is a major contributor in the cases where children die due to their parents forgetting them in cars on hot days.

Edited by M84 on Sep 22nd 2018 at 12:42:51 AM

Wow. That rabbit/duck pic is so cool. I love optical illusions of that style.

I'm personally wondering. After our talk of writing autists characters.

How you would wrote a autist villain?.

Realistically. How a Extremely selfish and dangerous /Evil person in the Autist spectrum would look?

Edited by KazuyaProta on Sep 21st 2018 at 1:49:12 PM

Well if the writer is autistic, I guess they could write themselves sans any empathy or compassion for others. Writers do sometimes make their own Author Avatar the villain. Stephen King's done it a few times.

Like I said before, the creator of Rick and Morty is on the spectrum and hinted at Rick being autistic.

I guess a simple way of doing it would be having the autistic villain take their autism as a sign that they are superior to "normal" people and that their autism is an excuse to act selfish and uncaring.

It's tricky because you've got to do this in a way that doesn't fall prey to autism stereotypes. And you really want to avoid any implication that the autism is directly responsible for the person being villainous.

Edited by M84 on Sep 22nd 2018 at 4:01:01 PM

Harmon or Roiland?