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Is autism the legacy of humans evolving the ability to innovate?

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Re: Is autism the legacy of humans evolving the ability to innovate?

#21

This article fills a gap in my vocabulary for someone who shares some traits associated with ASD but doesn't suffer from any negative effects, i.e. is not in the scope of the medical autistic spectrum. The word is systemizing or being systematic. Autistic spectrum disorders then manifest in systemizing behaviour, but that doesn't mean only people with autism are systematic.

> This article fills a gap in my vocabulary for someone who shares some traits associated with ASD but doesn't suffer from any negative effects, i.e. is not in the scope of the medical autistic spectrum

Another phrase you could add to your vocabulary to describe that is "broad autism phenotype" (BAP). People with BAP have significantly more autistic traits than the average person does, but not to the extent that a diagnosis of ASD is warranted.

BAP is very common in two groups of people (i) close blood relatives of people with ASD (parents, unaffected siblings, etc); (ii) people in STEM professions. (Of course, those two groups are overlapping–ASD is more common in children of STEM professionals than in the general population)

The term "systematising" is specifically associated with Simon Baron-Cohen's theories of the nature and causes of ASD, which are controversial. By contrast, the term "BAP" is much more neutral, it doesn't presume any particular theory about what ASD is or where it comes from.

Re: Is autism the legacy of humans evolving the ability to innovate?

#22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I once read a theory that it was caused by different prenatal nutrition and lack of Vitamin D, which of course involves the mother but I wouldn't call blaming her since, as they say, it takes a village. Not sure if people currently believe this or not.

> lack of vitamin D Wouldn't that mean we would see more autistic kids further away from the equator and born from April to June?

Only if you assume everyone has the same diet, biology, and tendency to stay inside as each other and as previous generations, which isn't true.

There would definitely be an effect but you'd have to do things like blood tests, I don't think you can easily predict which people are deficient.

Re: Is autism the legacy of humans evolving the ability to innovate?

#23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That certainly doesn't explain an awful lot of cases. Two of the most fit women I knew had autistic kids in their early 20s. And "blame the mother" has a really bad history for autism.

I once read a theory that it was caused by different prenatal nutrition and lack of Vitamin D, which of course involves the mother but I wouldn't call blaming her since, as they say, it takes a village. Not sure if people currently believe this or not.

> I once read a theory that it was caused by

One thing that is almost certainly true: ASD doesn't have a single cause. Any theory to explain ASD is, at the very best, only going to explain a minority of cases, and even in those cases quite possibly only partially.

ASD is caused by a complex interaction of dozens of poorly understood factors, and the mix of causes differs widely from individual to individual

It is a very complex phenomenon, and all simplistic explanations in terms of a single cause are doomed to fail

Re: Is autism the legacy of humans evolving the ability to innovate?

#24
I am now quite curious about this book. One thing which seemes puzzling and distinctive about autism is that it appears to manifest much more in males than females (I think somewhat over 4x) - I'd be interested to see how Baron-Cohen addresses that.

Re: Is autism the legacy of humans evolving the ability to innovate?

#25

This article fills a gap in my vocabulary for someone who shares some traits associated with ASD but doesn't suffer from any negative effects, i.e. is not in the scope of the medical autistic spectrum. The word is systemizing or being systematic. Autistic spectrum disorders then manifest in systemizing behaviour, but that doesn't mean only people with autism are systematic.

> This article fills a gap in my vocabulary for someone who shares some traits associated with ASD but doesn't suffer from any negative effects, i.e. is not in the scope of the medical autistic spectrum Another phrase you could add to your vocabulary to describe that is "broad autism phenotype" (BAP). People with BAP have significantly more autistic traits than the average person does, but not to the extent that a di…

Thank you, that is an interesting insight.

Personally I don't find the Empathising–systemising theory convincing, it seems as a false dichotomy to me. On the other hand I just remembered that my father's use of the word systematic in the above sense predates this theory because that's how he happened to describe me when I was a child.

Re: Is autism the legacy of humans evolving the ability to innovate?

#26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I once read a theory that it was caused by different prenatal nutrition and lack of Vitamin D, which of course involves the mother but I wouldn't call blaming her since, as they say, it takes a village. Not sure if people currently believe this or not.

> lack of vitamin D Wouldn't that mean we would see more autistic kids further away from the equator and born from April to June?

autism does correlate with birth month https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3296777/?report... and does seem to be more prevalent in particular latitudes, though that may be an effect of social/industrial/economic conditions.

Re: Is autism the legacy of humans evolving the ability to innovate?

#27
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> lack of vitamin D Wouldn't that mean we would see more autistic kids further away from the equator and born from April to June?

autism does correlate with birth month https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3296777/?report... and does seem to be more prevalent in particular latitudes, though that may be an effect of social/industrial/economic conditions.

Thanks! That was the perfect paper.

Re: Is autism the legacy of humans evolving the ability to innovate?

#28
How does this explain the comorbidities associated with autism?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conditions_comorbid_to_autis...

It seems to somewhat focus on the more high functioning/savant cases than those who have to wear diapers through their entire life and suffer from severe metabolic and immune system issues.

Re: Is autism the legacy of humans evolving the ability to innovate?

#29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe... but anecdotally we had an autistic son born when my wife was 26. But we later had 4 more children (including 2 more boys) who were born throughout her 30s and none of them are autistic. I think there is more going on than simple advanced maternal age.

Was that a difficult conversation with your wife about whether to keep trying for kids knowing your first was autistic?

I don't know about this person but I have an acquaintance who is a autistic and has three children, all on the spectrum, and they love them all. It never occurred to them that they should not have more children.

Re: Is autism the legacy of humans evolving the ability to innovate?

#30
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> lack of vitamin D Wouldn't that mean we would see more autistic kids further away from the equator and born from April to June?

autism does correlate with birth month https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3296777/?report... and does seem to be more prevalent in particular latitudes, though that may be an effect of social/industrial/economic conditions.

Somali children in Sweden are 3-4x more likely to be Autistic than Swedish children:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/23221308_Prevalence...

73% of pregnant Somali women in Sweden are Vitamin D deficient vs 5% of pregnant Swedish women:

https://www.alliedacademies.org/articles/vitamin-dbinding-pr...

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