I’ve heard the theory before, but from this interview it sounds a bit… woo-ey. I skimmed it, and their response to the savant question has a particular flavour of optimism that makes them seem unbelievable. If they said “hypothetically, yes, but it’s hard to unlock it”, it’d be fine, but “severely autistic people that cannot speak or interact at all have locked up abilities even greater than savants”, that rings alarm bells and make me distrust them more generally.
Although, the fear thing makes sense, explains my social anxieties—I thought it was just spergy poor social skills made me screw up more, but in retrospect definitely I’ve been hurt more than a normal person should be by various minor embarrassments through my childhood that still give me flashbacks and that’s a better explanation.
I’ve heard the theory before, but from this interview it sounds a bit… woo-ey. I skimmed it, and their response to the savant question has a particular flavour of optimism that makes them seem unbelievable. If they said “hypothetically, yes, but it’s hard to unlock it”, it’d be fine, but “severely autistic people that cannot speak or interact at all have locked up abilities even greater than savants”, that rings alarm bells and make me distrust them more generally.
Although, the fear thing makes sense, explains my social anxieties—I thought it was just spergy poor social skills made me screw up more, but in retrospect definitely I’ve been hurt more than a normal person should be by various minor embarrassments through my childhood that still give me flashbacks and that’s a better explanation.