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A human-accelerated neuron type potentially underlying autism in humans

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Re: A human-accelerated neuron type potentially underlying autism in humans

#101

> In summary, we introduce a general principle governing neuronal evolution and suggest that the exceptionally high prevalence of autism in humans may be a direct result of natural selection for lower expression of a suite of genes that conferred a fitness benefit to our ancestors while also rendering an abundant class of neurons more sensitive to perturbation. I don't see how the title "Autism may be the price of hu…

The idea is that the same evolutionary process that rapidly selected human brains for intelligence also selected for autism as a side effect. Perhaps because the genes are proximally linked or it’s just the way brains work or some other random reason.

It is NOT saying that for specific individuals intelligence is correlated with autism. That is actually not the case.

Re: A human-accelerated neuron type potentially underlying autism in humans

#102
post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't have to die to be selected out of the gene pool, you just need to fail to reproduce. If intelligence contributes to wealth and wealth contributes to reproductive success, then there will be evolutionary pressure favouring intelligence (and any other genes that "come along for the ride" with it).

The reality is that wealth is inversely correlated with fertility. As are intelligence, education, secularity, and so on. IQ is a decent proxy for intelligence. What many people don't know is that it's not a raw score, but relative. The mean of a population is always set to 100 and a standard deviation is generally 15 points. So an IQ of 115 means you performed better than 84% of people, one positive standard deviati…

For most of human history wealth was positively correlated with fertility and especially with next generation fertility. The trend has changed in the more recent centuries but it’s not enough to affect us too much evolutionarily (for now).

Re: A human-accelerated neuron type potentially underlying autism in humans

#103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Boys are diagnosed with autism 4 times more than girls by age 8. There's a certain amount of supposition that this is due in part or largely down to "boys being boys" type handwaving, though my two nephews are on the spectrum and neurodivergent behavior in them presented as distinctly different from simply being energetic (one being almost nonverbal). Though it's possible, it seems unlikely to me that there isn't act…

I think boys just present symptoms that are more obvious. Girls with autism are very often much better at masking than boys are.Young girls also tend to fixate on more 'socially acceptable' topics that make that fixation less obvious

Also, 'better at masking' there isn't necessarily inherent by gender; it could well be a consequence of young girls in general being put through more social training than boys.

Re: A human-accelerated neuron type potentially underlying autism in humans

#104
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s kind of rude to equate autism with “insanity”, but I understand you probably didn’t mean it that way.

He equated being insane with being a genius. Nowhere did he mention autism. I'm diagnosed as autistic and I am therefore more qualified than you to classify what is rude and what isn't rude to autistic people. I think misrepresenting what he actually said is what is rude, not what he in actuality said.

Thanks, I am also autistic, so I guess we're evenly matched for this battle to the death :)

Also, I wouldn't presume to speak for all autistic people, though I am one.

Sometimes people can take the same sentence to mean different things. Please don't assume malice from others where it could be a difference of understanding.

I am not mad or anything, I know how it is to misunderstand things.

Re: A human-accelerated neuron type potentially underlying autism in humans

#105
post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't have to die to be selected out of the gene pool, you just need to fail to reproduce. If intelligence contributes to wealth and wealth contributes to reproductive success, then there will be evolutionary pressure favouring intelligence (and any other genes that "come along for the ride" with it).

The reality is that wealth is inversely correlated with fertility. As are intelligence, education, secularity, and so on. IQ is a decent proxy for intelligence. What many people don't know is that it's not a raw score, but relative. The mean of a population is always set to 100 and a standard deviation is generally 15 points. So an IQ of 115 means you performed better than 84% of people, one positive standard deviati…

> This is yet another reason why fertility is, in my opinion, the issue of the century. The world is going to look so absurdly different, and not in a good way, in 50 years, owing to fertility rates alone.

Have you ever seen Idiocracy?

Re: A human-accelerated neuron type potentially underlying autism in humans

#106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Never being married did however.

There are essentially no married virgins, i.e., essentially all the virgins are unmarried, so it seems inconsistent to consider the unmarried as losers but not the virgins.

> There are essentially no married virgins,

Which is something I point out to JWs rude enough to interrupt my Sunday breakfast. Which of the following scenarios present as most likely:

1. A married couple, living together as a married couple, had never had sex, or

2. They had sex

Re: A human-accelerated neuron type potentially underlying autism in humans

#107

There's an ambiguity in the title, reflected in some comments below. It can be understood either as the claim that "in a particular human being, to be intelligent as measured by IQ means that you are more likely to be autistic", suggesting for example a trade-off between social and general intelligence; or the claim that "the evolution of the human brain and so human intelligence as such, which characterizes both tho…

That’s interesting, thanks for posting an explanation.

There is a parallel strain of argument for the former:

- https://www.tinygnomes.com/qwiki.cgi?mode=previewSynd&uuid=B...

- https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-06-brain-overgrowth-dict...

(I have my own theory, which is that a large brain increases the risk of ADHD rather than autism—a larger flow of thoughts and ideas requires more executive function to manage, and therefore more executive function is required to achieve the same attention span—but that ADHD is a kind of multiplier for autism, because social situations are more challenging to navigate if you can’t reliably stay focused on the social interaction you’re having.)

Re: A human-accelerated neuron type potentially underlying autism in humans

#108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reality is that wealth is inversely correlated with fertility. As are intelligence, education, secularity, and so on. IQ is a decent proxy for intelligence. What many people don't know is that it's not a raw score, but relative. The mean of a population is always set to 100 and a standard deviation is generally 15 points. So an IQ of 115 means you performed better than 84% of people, one positive standard deviati…

> This is yet another reason why fertility is, in my opinion, the issue of the century. The world is going to look so absurdly different, and not in a good way, in 50 years, owing to fertility rates alone. Have you ever seen Idiocracy?

That documentary? Yeah, highly recommended.

Re: A human-accelerated neuron type potentially underlying autism in humans

#109
post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

lol that’s an interesting comparison. Another angle is that our categorization of what is atypical is the actual problem, and not the symptom itself.

’round these parts it's not atypical. Merely a categorization. Goddamn auties are so stubborn though, my way or the highway all the way. Okay bub, go explore and ignore the team priorities. Curse yer down votes, tell me rigidity isn't a manifestation of the condition.

You are unfortunately totally right

Re: A human-accelerated neuron type potentially underlying autism in humans

#110

I'd thought that by living indoors and in otherwise controlled environments that there's not really much evolutionary pressure in any particular direction. Higher intelligence isn't a specific requirement to have (many) children live healthy lives.

This is obviously untrue, isn't it? A great many person has died maidenless, as it were.

Nobody offerred them toyota accord either. Really unfortunate
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