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Is autism the brick wall of human evolution?

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zeno

Paranormal Novice
In my experience most of the parents of the children I work with work in the technology field,usually high income earners with above average I Q. Sometimes I wonder if the western economy is influencing how people meet and breed. I would like to know peoples thoughts on this.
 
I think that to some extent tech work attracts individuals with limited social skills, who'd rather deal with machines than people. This may correlate with autism. It's really a matter of percentages though. Most of the people I work with seem socially normal (more than I am!). I'm more inclined to wonder if computers, video games etc. don't reinforce what you might call autistic tendencies in children. I'd just be guessing about that though.
 
zeno said:
In my experience most of the parents of the children I work with work in the technology field,usually high income earners with above average I Q. Sometimes I wonder if the western economy is influencing how people meet and breed. I would like to know peoples thoughts on this.
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All I know is my wife has cared for a number of lovely children with Autism. All I can say they are more highly intelligent than many of the people who I have meet who tend to have closed minds .:)
 
To the best of my (albeit extremely limited) knowledge we have no real idea what causes autism. My hunch is that it is a random act of mutation. In the animal species this is weeded out through natural selection. So in my mind it exists because humans do not let natural selection take its natural course. We alter it by protecting the weak and infirm. Thusly increasing the probability of transferring this genetic code on. Then it is a random matter of when that section of the DNA is triggered.

I wonder if we cloned an autistic child would the clone be autistic? Since different phenotypes would be triggered in the clone it would be genetically identical but that code could present dramatically differently. Somewhat like the movie Twins with DeVito and the Schwarzenegger.

What would the results be? I don't know if this is even a valid thought experiment but it is kinda interesting.
 
When I read this thread , I became highly insulted... I i have two friends a family member who has autism and to call it a brick wall of human evolution is ignorant , immature and bigotted. I'm blocking you . Have a shit day.
 
Slim Shady said:
When I read this thread , I became highly insulted... I i have two friends a family member who has autism and to call it a brick wall of human evolution is ignorant , immature and bigotted. I'm blocking you . Have a shit day.
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As somebody who was born with a "birth defect" I can understand your feelings. It's just that some of our "junior scientist" on this forum are in "love" with Dawianism. They can't imagine that anything can happen for any reason other than "natural selection." So, any "defect" of any kind must be a result of some random mutation. It sounds really "smart" and you can dance to it. :-) However, while Autism indeed has some "reason" that is certainly related to a physcial of celluar or even a DNA issue. The people or person is much more than a "mutant." I don't think Autism is a mistake or a "brick wall" of "human" evolution anymore than I think homosexuality is a "biological error." I think there is much more going on with the "human" species and acutally with all "creation" than simple chance and "random" mutations. All the best to your family and friends. God Bless. :-)
 
Well, zeno claims to work with autistic children, so I doubt that he/she intended any bigotry (nor did I). Maybe the thread title could have been better chosen.
 
Wade said:
The mother of all bumps.

I just heard if this procedure on a show Cane across this link. Good Story

How ‘Shock Therapy’ Is Saving Some Children With Autism
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I'd recently come across something too. After years of anecdotal sucesses with probiotics, there are actually studies coming up now that back some of the claims made. I can't find the article, but a large number of the chemicals our bodies use come from our own microbiomes. And they are also looking at them for things like depression and anxiety.
 
Would not be surprised as some children have odd memories of past life's and was told by a teacher she seen a number of cases through her working career which she never closed off or ridiculed the child as other might do. She said they seem to grow out of it and some don't.
 
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