Aspergers

[SueEllen]

What really worries me is that I can relate to that.

No need to get tested.

A mate of mine statements school children as part of her job.

There are cases where she has a talk with the parents. She tells them that giving their child a statement will hinder them due to where they are on the scale i.e. on the mild end where they have already worked out coping mechanisms.

Off course if the child doesn't have helpful, mainly middle class parents they get statemented but then they normally also have much bigger problems.

[Fred Bloggs]

Well quite. That's why it surprises me!

Unless they use a different mental approach to thinking about indirect or "proxy" relations.

There is a heck of a lot of research going into just this field right now. A lot of it is being done at Cambridge (I can't remember the name of the guy doing it, but he's the brother of the actor who did the Borat film).

[darrenb]

I don't think selfish actions are fundamentally pointless TBH, they evolved with good reason in much the same way as altruistic ones did.

It's an anachronism based on the reptilian part of the brain. An evolutionary dead end.

[doodab]

It's an anachronism based on the reptilian part of the brain. An evolutionary dead end.

Evolution isn't some hippy quest for perfect consciousness. It's an arms race. Like most species we compete among ourselves for mates, and any traits which would increase the chance of successful reproduction (like a certain amount of selfishness, but not too much, and a certain amount of altruism, but not to much) will be selected for. If selfishness wasn't useful it wouldn't be so prevalent.

In fact there is a strong argument that altruistic and selfless behavior is ultimately selfish, in that the reason we indulge in behaviors which benefit the group and society is because it ultimately benefits us as individuals. Even in our wildest utopian dreams we imagine a society in which everybody's desires are fulfilled, not a world where desire doesn't exist.

How do you envisage this society of anti lizard people functioning? Why would they bother to live?

[darrenb]

Evolution isn't some hippy quest for perfect consciousness.

I'll recommend this book to you and leave it at that.

Star Maker - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia