4 ms·

Mental disabilities are mostly adaptations that have huge upside. Technology is exacerbating that upside. You can’t have a majority autistic society, but you wa

Mental disabilities are mostly adaptations that have huge upside. Technology is exacerbating that upside. You can’t have a majority autistic society, but you want some of them around

primroot 6y ago
That's an interesting take. I have seen the disability-as-adaptation idea in the past but nothing regarding Technology exacerbated upside. For instance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_vs._farmer_hypothesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_vs._farmer_hypothesis and https://slate.com/technology/2016/06/the-monkeys-of-south-america-evolved-to-be-colorblind-perhaps-because-its-actually-an-advantage-for-them.html https://slate.com/technology/2016/06/the-monkeys-of-south-am... .
- 0b01 6y ago
  There's an entire field (although a small one) dedicated to this called Evolutionary Psychopathology. The idea is that mental illnesses are failure modes of adaptive phenotypes. For example high functioning autistic couple could produce a severely autistic child.
cbozeman 6y ago
> Mental disabilities are mostly adaptations that have huge upside. There is extremely scant evidence to support this claim, and conversely, an enormous amount of evidence to disprove it. The first part is questionable in its very premise. Mental disabilities as an adaptation? By what metric do you measure this? And having huge upsides? There aren't many upsides to someone being born severely mentally retarded. There aren't really even many upsides to severe autism. For every "House, M.D." you're thinking of, there's another totally non-functional person who requires an enormous amount of caretaking.
- godelski 6y ago
  I think a big problem of this is that we don't actually represent these people and the way we talk about mental illnesses and disabilities is just strange. Like a lot of people were confused by Robin Williams and Chris Farley, but I don't think anyone that's ever suffered from depression was surprised at all. We think of depression as sadness instead of the existential emptiness or mundane that many experience. Autism is represented by geniuses like House or Sheldon Copper and no one understands the sensory overload aspect that is so common. It's also trendy in some circles to have illnesses because it represents struggle and overcoming obstacles. But the challenge is that many mental illnesses are extreme versions of the human condition and if you dilute it enough everyone has an anxiety disorder and depression and multiple personalities. I don't blame people for not knowing but maybe we should cool the jets on how woke we are because it seems like we're perpetuating misnomers more than recognizing nuances.
  - cbozeman 6y ago
    > if you dilute it enough everyone has an anxiety disorder and depression and multiple personalities. I don't blame people for not knowing but maybe we should cool the jets on how woke we are because it seems like we're perpetuating misnomers more than recognizing nuances. My God, this is so well said. Thank you for this comment. I could not agree with you more.
  - grugagag 6y ago
    This is on the one hand a good point but on the other it is a good example of exactly what you’re pointing out. Your implicit dismissal of the idea that there is a spectrum invalidates the ones with the milder form, the highly functionals who feel extremely liberated when a diagnosys is made and why they want to share it that with the world.
    - godelski 6y ago
      > Your implicit dismissal of the idea that there is a spectrum This was really not my intent. Would you care letting me know where I implicitly said that so I cannot make the same error in the future?
layoutIfNeeded 6y ago
You could believe this if you have only ever saw mental disabilities in movies. Pay a visit to an actual mental ward and I can guarantee it will change your perspective.
- programmerslave 6y ago
  My family has multiple people who have spent extended periods of time in mental hospitals, I know what goes on there. But I still stick by my point
cm2012 6y ago
Just world fallacy
pickpuck 6y ago
I think what you might be getting at is that having a minority of people with mental disabilities increases the overall diversity of thought within our species, which can sometimes prove beneficial. However, any given mental disability may not be beneficial for the individual. So one explanation is that natural selection has found a balance that yields benefits for the group.
galoisgirl 6y ago
Where one is on a spectrum is key here. When you have high functioning autism or ADHD, sure, you think outside a box and provide a unique perspective, and there's a workplace you can bring that to. When you're too low functioning to hold a job, it's hard to see an upside.

Mental disabilities are mostly adaptations that have huge upside. Technology is exacerbating that upside. You can’t have a majority autistic society, but you want some of them around

primroot 6y ago

That's an interesting take. I have seen the disability-as-adaptation idea in the past but nothing regarding Technology exacerbated upside. For instance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_vs._farmer_hypothesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_vs._farmer_hypothesis and https://slate.com/technology/2016/06/the-monkeys-of-south-america-evolved-to-be-colorblind-perhaps-because-its-actually-an-advantage-for-them.html https://slate.com/technology/2016/06/the-monkeys-of-south-am... .

0b01 6y ago
There's an entire field (although a small one) dedicated to this called Evolutionary Psychopathology. The idea is that mental illnesses are failure modes of adaptive phenotypes. For example high functioning autistic couple could produce a severely autistic child.

cbozeman 6y ago

> Mental disabilities are mostly adaptations that have huge upside. There is extremely scant evidence to support this claim, and conversely, an enormous amount of evidence to disprove it. The first part is questionable in its very premise. Mental disabilities as an adaptation? By what metric do you measure this? And having huge upsides? There aren't many upsides to someone being born severely mentally retarded. There aren't really even many upsides to severe autism. For every "House, M.D." you're thinking of, there's another totally non-functional person who requires an enormous amount of caretaking.

godelski 6y ago
I think a big problem of this is that we don't actually represent these people and the way we talk about mental illnesses and disabilities is just strange. Like a lot of people were confused by Robin Williams and Chris Farley, but I don't think anyone that's ever suffered from depression was surprised at all. We think of depression as sadness instead of the existential emptiness or mundane that many experience. Autism is represented by geniuses like House or Sheldon Copper and no one understands the sensory overload aspect that is so common. It's also trendy in some circles to have illnesses because it represents struggle and overcoming obstacles. But the challenge is that many mental illnesses are extreme versions of the human condition and if you dilute it enough everyone has an anxiety disorder and depression and multiple personalities. I don't blame people for not knowing but maybe we should cool the jets on how woke we are because it seems like we're perpetuating misnomers more than recognizing nuances.
- cbozeman 6y ago
  > if you dilute it enough everyone has an anxiety disorder and depression and multiple personalities. I don't blame people for not knowing but maybe we should cool the jets on how woke we are because it seems like we're perpetuating misnomers more than recognizing nuances. My God, this is so well said. Thank you for this comment. I could not agree with you more.
- grugagag 6y ago
  This is on the one hand a good point but on the other it is a good example of exactly what you’re pointing out. Your implicit dismissal of the idea that there is a spectrum invalidates the ones with the milder form, the highly functionals who feel extremely liberated when a diagnosys is made and why they want to share it that with the world.
  - godelski 6y ago
    > Your implicit dismissal of the idea that there is a spectrum This was really not my intent. Would you care letting me know where I implicitly said that so I cannot make the same error in the future?

layoutIfNeeded 6y ago

You could believe this if you have only ever saw mental disabilities in movies. Pay a visit to an actual mental ward and I can guarantee it will change your perspective.

programmerslave 6y ago
My family has multiple people who have spent extended periods of time in mental hospitals, I know what goes on there. But I still stick by my point

cm2012 6y ago

Just world fallacy

pickpuck 6y ago

I think what you might be getting at is that having a minority of people with mental disabilities increases the overall diversity of thought within our species, which can sometimes prove beneficial. However, any given mental disability may not be beneficial for the individual. So one explanation is that natural selection has found a balance that yields benefits for the group.

galoisgirl 6y ago

Where one is on a spectrum is key here. When you have high functioning autism or ADHD, sure, you think outside a box and provide a unique perspective, and there's a workplace you can bring that to. When you're too low functioning to hold a job, it's hard to see an upside.