Live data from Hacker News

A human-accelerated neuron type potentially underlying autism in humans

academic.oup.com

61–70 of 178 posts

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

#61
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know what they say, “if you’ve met one autistic person, you’ve met one autistic person.”

Yep it's like they're grouping all kinds of mental disabilities as autism

It is the so-called "autists" who do that. It's become a vanity diagnosis for the rich and powerful.

Look at the case of Kanye West

https://freddiedeboer.substack.com/p/sick-people-are-sick

There was this study that found that "autists" have 5 different diseases

https://www.princeton.edu/news/2025/07/09/major-autism-study...

If it wasn't something people were flocking to like neurotypicals that is now a valuable part of their identity they'd just be honest and say that a lot of these people would have to give up their diagnosis. Funny enough, before autism became a fad there were 5 different conditions for it in the DSM...

https://spectrumofhope.com/blog/5-different-types-of-autism/

Now we need an "awareness of everybody who isn't autistic" movement.

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

#62
post #50

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…

Thank you for the clarification. Can't read the paper. Who was it that was quoted often a decade ago that described the intellectual variance difference between the sexes? The research concluded that women are smarter (just kidding) that men have much greater variance while women are generally closer to the mean and one another in abilities. Since differences between the sexes exist, I would also expect differences a…

IANAG but the idea is that women get two copies of the X chromosome (XX), and men only one (XY). This explains why women have squared the colour blindness rates of men - women have to get two bad copies, men only one.

Many intelligence related genes are on the X chromosome, so it makes sense you get more variation in men. However, not all genes interact in this way.

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

#63
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you for the clarification. Can't read the paper. Who was it that was quoted often a decade ago that described the intellectual variance difference between the sexes? The research concluded that women are smarter (just kidding) that men have much greater variance while women are generally closer to the mean and one another in abilities. Since differences between the sexes exist, I would also expect differences a…

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

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

#64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there now? High functioning autism exists, but autism in general doesn't seem to give any advantage to general intelligence. And the low end of functioning in autism is really, really low.

An observation I've made is that the most people ("the general population") will compromise on hard facts without pause to attain social goals. I.e.: They will follow instructions from a workplace superior with zero push-back even if the instructions are total nonsense or impossible to physically implement. It's a rare breed (1-2%) of the population that will actively push back, insist on facts, and stick to only the…

I've seen a related effect: most people will stick with an emotional position despite conclusive proof that it's based on a flawed "reality".

I have a strong suspicion that autism is a case of too much of a good thing. Things like being a carrier for Tay Sachs confers a survival advantage but two copies is lethal.

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

#65
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An observation I've made is that the most people ("the general population") will compromise on hard facts without pause to attain social goals. I.e.: They will follow instructions from a workplace superior with zero push-back even if the instructions are total nonsense or impossible to physically implement. It's a rare breed (1-2%) of the population that will actively push back, insist on facts, and stick to only the…

I think dismissing social realities as not being part of that hard, unyielding reality is a mistake. Part of intelligence (maybe a different part) is being able to bend the social fabric to achieve desirable outcomes. The other thing is you don’t always know why people do what they do, the world is a very subjective place. The people at work who don’t call things out, they might just be collecting a paycheck and are…

My two cents: what you describe mainly applies on the micro level: advancement within peer groups. But if you step back and look at the macro level, accounting for biases, you can sometimes make giant leaps.

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

#66
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.

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

#68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An observation I've made is that the most people ("the general population") will compromise on hard facts without pause to attain social goals. I.e.: They will follow instructions from a workplace superior with zero push-back even if the instructions are total nonsense or impossible to physically implement. It's a rare breed (1-2%) of the population that will actively push back, insist on facts, and stick to only the…

I've seen a related effect: most people will stick with an emotional position despite conclusive proof that it's based on a flawed "reality". I have a strong suspicion that autism is a case of too much of a good thing. Things like being a carrier for Tay Sachs confers a survival advantage but two copies is lethal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belief_perseverance

Also known as the backfire effect, where people will paradoxically believe in a false position even more when presented with the contrary evidence.

There are anthropological explanations of this, such as wanting to remain seen as being loyal to a "social group" by publicly and visibly rejecting the behaviours or positions of a rival group.

There are many real-world examples of this, such as immigrants become more religious as a way to distance themselves from the dissimilar mainstream religion of their new home. Back where they came from, there was no need to "show off" their adherence to their faith because it was the default state and everyone was the same as them. But when faced with dissenting viewpoints, they feel a need to demonstrate their loyalty.

There are similar effects with sports fans that move locations, conservatives that move to very gay-friendly areas, etc...

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

#70

What if it is more like Vegeta's super saiyan 2. A false super saiyan 2 form. Just like the real SS2 maintains both power and agility the real Übermensch will attain new levels of IQ while maintaining if not advancing a strong EQ. https://dragonball.fandom.com/wiki/Super_Saiyan_Second_Grade

this man autisms
Post reply on HN