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What It’s Like to ‘Wake Up’ from Autism After Magnetic Stimulation

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Re: What It’s Like to ‘Wake Up’ from Autism After Magnetic Stimulation

#91

Post by jere »

tgflynn wrote: post #83
jere wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>if you can get past his ego Sorry, I can't. >I was thought to be a child prodigy with exceptional mathematical gifts; in 1975 I was the first high-school student in the institution’s memory to present original research at the annual meeting of the American Mathematical Society. Unusually large working memory, check. I’m pretty sure the authors would consider me a genius, unless they know a lot of people who have bee…

Do you have evidence that the claims he made here are inaccurate ? I don't necessarily think accurately presenting one's accomplishments for the purpose of explaining the life basis for one's views constitutes arrogance, and even if it does a little arrogance in extraordinary individuals seems like a very minor fault compared against the spectrum of human defects responsible for the state of the world today. That isn…

>founders of successful reform movements that arguably changed history

I have no idea what he's on about here, but just by making this kind of grandiose claim he makes me skeptical.

>New York Times bestselling authors also nominated for a Campbell Award

I can't find any evidence he has a New York Times Bestseller and would be rather surprised to see that TCATB was one.

>world-championship-level players of strategy game

This is more the level of half truth. From what I can find, he says once he placed top 5 in Power Grid at a convention with 2000 participants and 100 games in Lancaster PA. http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=6125

All you have left after that is his genius programming ability (which to my understanding isn't widely agreed upon).

>I don't necessarily think accurately presenting one's accomplishments for the purpose of explaining the life basis for one's views constitutes arrogance

I would agree with you if that kind of self congratulation wasn't endemic to his writing (in this post and others). And anyway I did consider his viewpoint and don't find it convincing.

Re: What It’s Like to ‘Wake Up’ from Autism After Magnetic Stimulation

#93

Post by [deleted] »

no_wave wrote: post #66
luxpir wrote: post #59

I feel it needs pointing out that the savant-stereotype surrounding autism still needs taming a little. Autism can make the lives of some sufferers extremely difficult, and also those of their carers. We all know this, yet the typical response to 'my child is autistic' is an assumption, often verbalised, that that child would 'at least' be good at mathematics, music or 'computers'. Sometimes they are not. It's simila…

I don't think that's really fair. The perception is that raising an autistic kid or being autistic yourself is basically a nightmare and they're trying to find something not depressing to say.

[deleted]

Re: What It’s Like to ‘Wake Up’ from Autism After Magnetic Stimulation

#94

Post by tgflynn »

jere wrote: post #91
tgflynn wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have evidence that the claims he made here are inaccurate ? I don't necessarily think accurately presenting one's accomplishments for the purpose of explaining the life basis for one's views constitutes arrogance, and even if it does a little arrogance in extraordinary individuals seems like a very minor fault compared against the spectrum of human defects responsible for the state of the world today. That isn…

>founders of successful reform movements that arguably changed history I have no idea what he's on about here, but just by making this kind of grandiose claim he makes me skeptical. >New York Times bestselling authors also nominated for a Campbell Award I can't find any evidence he has a New York Times Bestseller and would be rather surprised to see that TCATB was one. >world-championship-level players of strategy ga…

I have no idea what he's on about here, but just by making this kind of grandiose claim he makes me skeptical.

I think he's referring to the free software movement.

EDIT: Or maybe the open source movement, I don't recall which of the two he is most associated with.

Re: What It’s Like to ‘Wake Up’ from Autism After Magnetic Stimulation

#95

Post by junko »

vertex-four wrote: post #86
junko wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But that burden can be lightened. I wonder why local groups along the lines of 'Autistic Anonymous' don't exist, or even if they do, aren't widespread enough as there is a significant minority of the population who are autistic. I'm talking about those who are in the 'higher' spectrum of course, though by no means the group should turn into genius club or something. I agree, autistic people can also be average-skille…

Autistic-spectrum people tend to prefer finding and interacting with people over the Internet - personally, much of my support network is a couple hundred miles away from me, and I get to see some of them only a couple of times a year. It works out - I also get as much irl socialisation as I desire (I even organise an unrelated monthly social event).

I agree, fortunately nearly everyone now socialises on the internet (Facebook etc) so hanging out in forums is no longer a strange and sad thing. But I'd argue that it's still not enough, even if we prefer it (I'm also mildly autistic). I found it the hard way when I couldn't express the most basic thoughts in a group project (for example) and it really affected my self-esteem and my work, and I've no doubt that there are many stories like that. I think it's important to acknowledge the fact that we also live in the real world, and that we need to try and learn how to 'blend' in the best we could without sacrificing our own 'quirkiness'. Otherwise our options range from hermit to (if you're lucky) lone genius! And learning how to blend in is no mean feat, so having peer support throughout that journey as I suggested earlier could be really helpful.

Re: What It’s Like to ‘Wake Up’ from Autism After Magnetic Stimulation

#96

Post by thedevil »

Diederich wrote: post #89
motti wrote: post #84

My mother published a fairly seminal paper on the topic [1] 18 years ago which concludes that emotional awareness (specifically, the "Theory of Mind"[2]) can be learned by people with Autism. At the time this was against prevailing wisdom but AFAIK is now considered accepted wisdom. [1] https://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?cluster=165456960940191... [2] https://www.autism.com/understanding_theoryofmind

It's unclear how far along I am on the spectrum, but emotional intelligence is something I acquired late and with much effort.

Same here. I was able to learn social skills in my late teens and through my twenties.

It wasn't exactly a fun process though. I'd try to "act normal" and then get feedback that taught me I was breaking a social norm. Feedback = kids making fun of me or cringing out of pity and embarrassment for me. And I wasn't very sensitive to the feedback so it took a lot of feedback to learn.

Now I seem normal-ish and life is peachy and my different ways of thinking feel like a superpower rather than a handicap. But man, teenage life was hard.

Disclaimer: I was never actually diagnosed with ASD (I was just called "weird" and "nerdy" and other things), but I have no doubt I would be diagnosed ASD if I ever got diagnosed.

Re: What It’s Like to ‘Wake Up’ from Autism After Magnetic Stimulation

#98

Post by Houshalter »

restalis wrote: post #90
Houshalter wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Magnetic stimulation isn't going to radically change your entire brain. As I understand it it just changed that one symptom of autism by stimulating a single brain area. As I understand it the treatment is temporary, so it's not like you have to stay that way if you don't like it. And if I could experiment with inducing autism in myself I totally would. I'm going to research this treatment more because it sounds tota…

"if I could experiment with inducing autism in myself I totally would" You can. You distance yourself from people, suggesting yourself over and over that you don't really need much social interaction, communicate with people only outside perceptions and feelings and the entire world around you starts to change. Each time you'll catch yourself analyzing emotions you'll stop due to its error-prone nature and switch to…

Well I already do that pretty much. I would not recommend it. Social interaction can be very rewarding, sometimes.

I don't agree with your spock like view of emotions. As if they were the enemy of the rational. You can be rational and emotional. They are orthogonal.

I think of emotions are sort of a utility function. They tell you what you want. Rationality just tells you how to get what you want. They complement each other. Without emotions there'd be no point in doing anything.

Re: What It’s Like to ‘Wake Up’ from Autism After Magnetic Stimulation

#99

Post by Zenst »

motti wrote: post #84

My mother published a fairly seminal paper on the topic [1] 18 years ago which concludes that emotional awareness (specifically, the "Theory of Mind"[2]) can be learned by people with Autism. At the time this was against prevailing wisdom but AFAIK is now considered accepted wisdom. [1] https://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?cluster=165456960940191... [2] https://www.autism.com/understanding_theoryofmind

Too a degree yes, it is more case of the ability to process those emotions are slow, so as somebody with aspergers I will days later realise what I missed, sometimes years and other times be completely ignorant of what I missed.

But equally I find it hard to explain emotional states and have a real hangup on fairness to the extent that as people say "I cut my nose of to spite my face".

THink of emotions like book openings in a chess game, normal people know this naturally persay and other have to learn them, yet are able for all intent able to play chess and play well. Yet because they do not do the standard book openings, they end up with a slightly off balanced game with the other person getting upset you did not do a standard move. Not sure if that helps explain it, but for me is a good analogy.

Still emotions and body language is in effect a form of communication that many use to say what they would not say directly and that is not autisims fault for not playing that game and being upfront and direct and honest, however blunt. With that, I console myself that if over 50% of the World was autistic, ther ewould be less liars and normal would be autism with those with emotional hidden communication being the ones deemed too have an issue by society.

Still I do wish I had the skill set to cold-read people, certainly save much time.

Re: What It’s Like to ‘Wake Up’ from Autism After Magnetic Stimulation

#100

Post by [deleted] »

motti wrote: post #84

My mother published a fairly seminal paper on the topic [1] 18 years ago which concludes that emotional awareness (specifically, the "Theory of Mind"[2]) can be learned by people with Autism. At the time this was against prevailing wisdom but AFAIK is now considered accepted wisdom. [1] https://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?cluster=165456960940191... [2] https://www.autism.com/understanding_theoryofmind

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