a sort-of-new autism theory
2009-Dec-27, Sunday 09:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mellowtiggerI dreamed again last night. More accurately, I awoke and still remembered the dream.
Nothing in the dream involved autism directly. There is the subtle similarity that autism is considered a universal "wrongness", never to be approved or desired. Yet I woke with a new theory about autism, and it specifically involves university campuses.
The CDC finally admitted a few days ago that the incidence of autism is indeed rising, currently at about 1 out of every 110 children. People are wondering what environmental trigger (poisonous exposure) is causing this "epidemic". What if there is no chemical trigger for autism? What if the trigger is actually social?
We know that environmental conditions (health, stress, etc.) change which genes that a person has switched on and off. We know, through the wonders of epigenetics, that these changes can be passed along to offspring as "preset conditions" in their genetic machinery. In essence, epigenetics allows children to be prepared for the same environment that their parents faced, giving them a competitive edge in meeting those particular challenges.
During the last century, however, the environment that people face has changed dramatically. First, women entered the workforce during World War II. The demands placed upon the bodies and minds of women changed significantly. Second, the workforce began attending college in increased numbers. These days, college degrees are listed as job requirements for careers that (in my opinion) should not in any way require them. College has essentially become a mandatory experience.
What if these social changes caused two very significant biological changes?
We already know about the engineering effect and the Silicon Valley effect. What if the same thing is happening on a grand scale, worldwide? What if the combination of "women's liberation" and the "technology revolution" together are helping to produce the next evolutionary change in humans, and we are just now beginning to see the side effects of Mother Nature's experimentation in how to produce Homo brains?
I was attending another university. The dream involved my trip there and the days of my first week in classes. The university was odd for three reasons. First, it was founded by one man who had earned his fortune in business. I think it was the movie business, sort of like a Walt Disney story. He still lived and worked on university grounds. Second, although the university was a secular institution, the policy there included a strong religious slant in order to acquiesce to the founder's own personal beliefs. Not quite like Oral Roberts University, but along those lines. Third, it was very cheap to attend. The costs were low because the founder insisted they be so, and that's the reason that I was attending; it was affordable to me.
I was going at my current age, so I was much older than other students. I got paired on campus with a roommate that I think was gay, but he was still too closeted to say so to anyone. That's when I noticed that nobody on campus was "out". Somehow this realization morphed into me confronting the founder of the institution about his beliefs on homosexuality. One male and two female students joined me, but they again were very closeted and would not even come out to me. I was the only one who spoke to the man.
We argued for a while and then I suggested that he attend one of his own Psych 101 classes to learn that homosexuality is an inherent condition rather than a moral failing. He ranted about how gay was evil. It was the usual and familiar tripe. We left the meeting without getting permission for a gay group on campus. I was left with a personal choice about staying or leaving before my first week was even up.
I was going at my current age, so I was much older than other students. I got paired on campus with a roommate that I think was gay, but he was still too closeted to say so to anyone. That's when I noticed that nobody on campus was "out". Somehow this realization morphed into me confronting the founder of the institution about his beliefs on homosexuality. One male and two female students joined me, but they again were very closeted and would not even come out to me. I was the only one who spoke to the man.
We argued for a while and then I suggested that he attend one of his own Psych 101 classes to learn that homosexuality is an inherent condition rather than a moral failing. He ranted about how gay was evil. It was the usual and familiar tripe. We left the meeting without getting permission for a gay group on campus. I was left with a personal choice about staying or leaving before my first week was even up.
And then I woke.
Nothing in the dream involved autism directly. There is the subtle similarity that autism is considered a universal "wrongness", never to be approved or desired. Yet I woke with a new theory about autism, and it specifically involves university campuses.
The CDC finally admitted a few days ago that the incidence of autism is indeed rising, currently at about 1 out of every 110 children. People are wondering what environmental trigger (poisonous exposure) is causing this "epidemic". What if there is no chemical trigger for autism? What if the trigger is actually social?
We know that environmental conditions (health, stress, etc.) change which genes that a person has switched on and off. We know, through the wonders of epigenetics, that these changes can be passed along to offspring as "preset conditions" in their genetic machinery. In essence, epigenetics allows children to be prepared for the same environment that their parents faced, giving them a competitive edge in meeting those particular challenges.
During the last century, however, the environment that people face has changed dramatically. First, women entered the workforce during World War II. The demands placed upon the bodies and minds of women changed significantly. Second, the workforce began attending college in increased numbers. These days, college degrees are listed as job requirements for careers that (in my opinion) should not in any way require them. College has essentially become a mandatory experience.
What if these social changes caused two very significant biological changes?
- Epigenetics favored mental changes in individuals, more women were changed but also many men.
- Breeding opportunities changed, allowing more individuals with these mental changes to partner and produce children?
We already know about the engineering effect and the Silicon Valley effect. What if the same thing is happening on a grand scale, worldwide? What if the combination of "women's liberation" and the "technology revolution" together are helping to produce the next evolutionary change in humans, and we are just now beginning to see the side effects of Mother Nature's experimentation in how to produce Homo brains?
no subject
Date: 2009-Dec-27, Sunday 04:54 pm (UTC)that's pretty much how it is for me I guess! all that social interaction that most people seem to do without thinking for me is an explicit effort ... social events are work, and exhausting. fascinating and rewarding and deeply interesting, but damned hard work. and yeah I spend huge amounts of time inventing systems to explain human behaviour LOL wow. what a neat idea. approaching human behaviour as a coding assignment.
no subject
Date: 2009-Dec-27, Sunday 05:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-Dec-27, Sunday 07:19 pm (UTC)The theory requires that technology influence epigenetic (gene methylation) changes within an individual person.
* I suspect that such changes could be seen in how the body devotes energy (calories, oxygen, and other resources) to brain activity compared to physical activity (bone growth, muscle growth, etc.).
* There could also be epigenetic changes seen that favor development of certain kinds of brain growth over other kinds. For example, brain activity devoted to gathering food and planning meals should be (in my theory) different from the brain activity devoted to planning out formulas in Excel spreadsheets. Perhaps high-tech is all about metacognition?
We already know that autistic brains are different at both the cellular and cooperative (functional area) levels. There needs to occur, however, epigenetic change within a "typical" individual trained for high-tech activity. Failure to find such changes will negate my theory entirely.
* After such changes are found, we need evidence that they are being passed through germline to offspring.
The power of epigenetics is that such Lamarckian inheritance really does happen. I foresee no problems confirming this step.
* Societies which adopted one of the two social changes (high-tech or women's liberation) but not both should experience a slower rate of increase in autistic prevalence. Societies which adopted neither change would have an even slower rate of increase or none at all.
Failure to observe this difference would also negate my theory. Failure on this step would open the possibility that there is an environmental exposure causing the previously observed epigenetic changes rather than the social environment itself.
no subject
Date: 2009-Dec-27, Sunday 07:31 pm (UTC)I'm going totally personal. I'm thinking now about how, around 18-20, I went from being a totally focussed code geek to being a totally focussed human behaviour geek. Same brain, different input.
Also I'm thinking about my dad's irrational accumulation behaviour, and mom's desire for everything to always be orderly and feeling overwhelmed when it was not.
no subject
Date: 2009-Dec-27, Sunday 07:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-Dec-27, Sunday 08:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-Dec-27, Sunday 06:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-Dec-27, Sunday 07:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-Dec-27, Sunday 05:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-Dec-27, Sunday 06:07 pm (UTC)(Oh, check your Facebook. I'll be getting ready soon to go see Avatar at the zoo.)
no subject
Date: 2009-Dec-27, Sunday 08:22 pm (UTC)Here's the author's take on autism (http://www.elizabethmoon.com/autism-general.htm)
no subject
Date: 2009-Dec-28, Monday 03:49 am (UTC)I hadn't read that webpage previously. I like that she spends time on the sensory issue, which is frequently overlooked, but I think that even she overlooks something important. I keep harping on the fact that emotions are another sensory input (chemical signals within the blood) that require extra time to identify and contend with.
I also like that she mentions the effort needed to synchronize various inputs and outputs. I think this problem is central to my suggestion for a non-sequential language as a tool for helping to communicate with the "isolated" ones (no verbalization, no sign language, no gesturing).
no subject
Date: 2009-Dec-28, Monday 05:12 am (UTC)Cheers.
no subject
Date: 2009-Dec-28, Monday 05:55 am (UTC)As with depression among homosexuals, however, it's easy to wonder if the depression would occur "in a vacuum" or if it only happens because of the difficulties with integrating into a world designed for different standards.
no subject
Date: 2009-Dec-28, Monday 02:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-Dec-29, Tuesday 07:13 pm (UTC)Just started reading it, wondered what your take on it was if you had.