3 ms·

For conversation's sake, my non-scientific guesses on this are that autism may be caused by one of the following: 1) A result of humans living longer and there

by jb775 6y ago

For conversation's sake, my non-scientific guesses on this are that autism may be caused by one of the following: 1) A result of humans living longer and therefore having babies at a later age (i.e. older sperm and eggs) 2) A stage in human evolution where the human body is trying to figure out how to maximize efficient brain power in relation to amount of energy available (i.e. our caveman instincts aren't as important nowadays, so what brainpower-energy could be shifted elsewhere?") 3) Something unnatural that's recently been introduced to human life (which I feel like should be able to be figured out if the families of autistic people answered extensive questionnaires without lobbyists getting in the way).

kshacker 6y ago
4) lower infant mortality and in general better healthcare - think about it
kypro 6y ago
Given the amount of scientific and technological progress the human race had made thanks to people on the spectrum it seems fairly obvious to suspect there would be selection pressure for autistically-minded individuals. I'm sure there are factors that make someone more likely to present as autistic though. I think there is some evidence to suggest that prenatal hormone levels (and specifically testosterone) have some influence, and I believe some researchers have even gone so far to say that the autistic brain is wired like the male brain but to an extreme. It may just be that older woman are more likely to have suboptimal hormone levels which makes these kind of developmental extremes more likely.
BurnAphterRead 6y ago
Fetal imprinting, perhaps. It'd be hard to quantify. But with all the societal shifts occurring around the 70's, economics drastically shifted. I'm not even going to pretend like I know anything about maternity, but with the constant slew of shit the modern human has to deal with, usually something somehow novel, I'd be willing to point fingers at a shift in the baseline hormone profile before during and after pregnancy. Particularly in fetal development. There's undoubtedly research on the effects of elevated glucocorticoid levels in pre-, during, and postnatal development. But that's only one end.

by jb775 6y ago

kshacker 6y ago

4) lower infant mortality and in general better healthcare - think about it

kypro 6y ago

Given the amount of scientific and technological progress the human race had made thanks to people on the spectrum it seems fairly obvious to suspect there would be selection pressure for autistically-minded individuals. I'm sure there are factors that make someone more likely to present as autistic though. I think there is some evidence to suggest that prenatal hormone levels (and specifically testosterone) have some influence, and I believe some researchers have even gone so far to say that the autistic brain is wired like the male brain but to an extreme. It may just be that older woman are more likely to have suboptimal hormone levels which makes these kind of developmental extremes more likely.

BurnAphterRead 6y ago

Fetal imprinting, perhaps. It'd be hard to quantify. But with all the societal shifts occurring around the 70's, economics drastically shifted. I'm not even going to pretend like I know anything about maternity, but with the constant slew of shit the modern human has to deal with, usually something somehow novel, I'd be willing to point fingers at a shift in the baseline hormone profile before during and after pregnancy. Particularly in fetal development. There's undoubtedly research on the effects of elevated glucocorticoid levels in pre-, during, and postnatal development. But that's only one end.