As it turns out, inexplicably, this is not a trait that works out well within corporate America... Source: Of course I know him, He's me.
Yes. I can't help that everything is fascinating to me...
mine’s not orange
I do. And I know that folks will get snippy if I ask.
Thankfully, Wikipedia exists, and it is more than willing to vomit forth information without getting an attitude about it.
This is a tough one. I have an autistic child. I love that they’re curious, but sometimes, for all of our safety, I can’t explain why I need them to stop talking about a dangerous subject… for now.
Great. I love that you’re curious about bombs. We’re in line for security at the airport. I need you to be quiet now.
¯_(ツ)_/¯
Imagine if an evil villain could delete all of the times in human history that an autistic person thought "why" about something seemingly unimportant WAYYY too hard?
Fuck... would we even have shoes? Toothbrushes? Washing machines? ..idk It would be a devastating attack upon humanity in terms of pure capability, technology and knowledge, that is for sure.
I am not saying all of the important discoveries were made by autistic people, just like we all know that we have met some autistic people (wait, you ARE one of those people aren't you!?) that are extraordinarily smart in their own way, and you can see in the people around them that they are such a powerful, clear lucid mind that they are loved and supported in their quirkiness because they move mountains (or don't). As it goes with all minds that are different in one way or another.... but certain machines and weapon systems... I just feel like... there HAS to be at least ONE autistic person behind that shit! Probably a lot of other kinds of minds too! Hopefully!
To anyone who hasn't met those autistic people or is unaware they have, damn I am sorry those people are incredibly fun and illuminating to talk to wtf. Not that anyone in this lemmy community would fall under that category, just making a point like I get so mad when people attack autistic people for so many reasons, but weapon systems are a big one that is hard to argue with, weapons aren't clubs and swords these days they are fiddly, super complex electronics warfare sensor ridden monstrosities... and they NEED the people developing and using them to understand the kind of horrifyingly long manuals some autistic people eat for breakfast while humming happily to themselves.
...and people dare to pick a fight with those people and their friends????
"I have a great idea let's have a moral panic about autistic people and ostracize/punish/seperate them out while denying them the care they need (established by science) AND THEN try to fight wars using shit like this.....
???
TL;DR People are silly
Of course I do. It's only the impulse to ask out loud that was trained out of me.
To interact with the social world the way others do, we need to learn the mechanisms behind social interactions to a level that others don't. This urge to know why a social behaviour works before we can properly use it (manners, aggression, group identity, coercion, lying) carries over to physical things and systems in the real world (electricity, trains, cooking, cats, jobs, cars)
We need not understand the entire scope of the thing or concept (though we often do), but understanding the boundaries of the thing, where the walls of the box are, helps us understand the limits of our expectations for it. We know it can't leave the box. When we encounter something brand new, a behaviour, situation, environment or task, we feel fear, because at that moment, the box has infinite size, and only by learning about it can we make the box smaller and more manageable.
This is why I need internet. Every time a question pops up (like etymology of some word or what is the native range of some bird or other obscure stuff) I can just search for the answer. Sometimes the information doesn't exist, but even that is an answer, just not the one you wanted. Obviously it can also spiral into finding so much interesting stuff that you forget everything else and do couple hours or pointless research into subject that doesn't really matter, but that's not a downside if you look at it from a certain perspective.
What I really don't understand is how so many people end up wondering about some facts in a conversation, then everyone goes "huh, that's a good question" and just drop the subject and talk about something else. It usually takes less than a minute to do a quick search and everyone has a phone these days. So... how? How?!
I'm frankly not of the opinion that natural human curiosity should be described as autism.
It's like, what, let's not have science? Let's not have history? Let's not have medicine?
This is actually kind of bad because it encourages "normal" people to not ever question anything
It makes me great at independent learning. It also makes me horrible at following orders. A "do this thing" without a "because" will get done quite differently to what you'd expect, if at all.
Hmmm, I am almost 70. I think I am neurodivergent?
After all the stuff I have been reading the past couple of years on Reddit and Lemmy I seem to exhibit quit a few of the traits mentioned about being neurodivergent. Starts with me having Aphantasia(no pictures in my brain) and Anendophasia (no inner voice at all) maybe. Not sure. Is it even worth getting a diagnosis at this point in my life?
Why indeed.
Yes. It's why I'm in university in middle age, acquiring science degrees. Unfortunately most of what I've learned is "we don't know yet"!
I'm not autistic but my partner is, can confirm she has it.
but why?
I don't think this has anything to do with autism, ADHD, or neurodivergence.
Intelligent people are curious. That's what makes them intelligent.
IMHO neurodivergent people don't have a trait for "curiousity" -- they're just more intelligent (if their neurodivergence isn't too severe) and so are interested in things. That's why there's so many in technical and engineering fields, mathematics, science -- the really hard stuff (hard for most people.)
Yeah, it's still not easy because there's so much other stuff going on inside the mind, but all that other stuff is going to lead to some pretty cool thoughts that could turn into a paper, project, business, thesis, etc. (if you manage to remember them long enough to write them down!) Over years this builds brain matter and this is where the intelligence comes from (again assuming the neurodivergence isn't severe.)
By "intelligence" I mean the raw ability to process information and gain understanding from it. Not IQ.
Yes.
But why do I?
Sure let's make "why" into a negative.
Might as wel surrender your life and live by a.i.'s statements.
Always.
Yes I have read multiple encyclopedias, as the internet was not available to most people when I was a child
The more I read the more I think im somewhat autistic and not adhd.
Sure. I often get fixated on some topic, especially if it’s work related. I buy lots of used textbooks to learn about the topic.
