Microblog Memes

Autism As a Disorder of High Intelligence

A suite of recent studies has reported positive genetic correlations between autism risk and measures of mental ability. These findings indicate that alleles for autism overlap broadly with alleles for high intelligence, which appears paradoxical given that autism is characterized, overall, by below-average IQ. This paradox can be resolved under the hypothesis that autism etiology commonly involves enhanced, but imbalanced, components of intelligence. This hypothesis is supported by convergent evidence showing that autism and high IQ share a diverse set of convergent correlates, including large brain size, fast brain growth, increased sensory and visual-spatial abilities, enhanced synaptic functions, increased attentional focus, high socioeconomic status, more deliberative decision-making, profession and occupational interests in engineering and physical sciences, and high levels of positive assortative mating. These findings help to provide an evolutionary basis to understanding autism risk as underlain in part by dysregulation of intelligence, a core human-specific adaptation.

I'm not fond of the "Republicans just want to make Americans dumber, because dumb people are ".

But there's a special irony in Conservatives fixating on autism as a public health crisis, given that it is literally boiling down to "too many smart people are fucking", a thing their eugenics-loving elites think we need more of.

The end goal of these policies will have to be - intentionally or otherwise - to dumb down the average American. I guess malnutrition, early childhood disease, and mass management of toxic waste could achieve these ends.

So, uh... yay?