Full disclosure: I have been diagnosed with Asperger’s (and prior to that, PDD-NOS and ADHD). I am also female and 31 years old at the time of this writing.
All that said, one thing I persistently have trouble with is thinking in terms of “isms” in the first place (well, with the exception of “autism”, though that is a neurological configuration rather than an ideology). Hence I have no idea, really, whether my default mode(s) of thought fall into the “utilitarian/consequentialist” schools, and I have a very difficult time following the sorts of discussions wherein people are constantly trying to figure out whether a given notion fits in with this-ism or that-ism, or even where folks seem to be worrying about keeping everything they decide in line with a given, externally-sourced “system” of organizing ideas.
(This, incidentally, is why I stopped identifying as a “transhumanist”—I just could not figure out what the word meant, it seemed to “lose meaning” the more I examined it, and eventually I determined the energy expenditure of even continuing to attempt discerning that thing was not worth it, so I disconnected myself from identification with the term. I still maintain my strong interests in longevity, human-machine interface, and whatnot, but I do not believe they NEED an over-arching ideology or what-have-you in order for my interest to be legitimate).
As far as making ethical decisions goes for me, my impression (as much as my own insight can be considered reliable here; I don’t know for sure) is that I do usually invoke certain very basic principles (bodily autonomy, for instance) but that I tend to consider specific situations on a very individual basis each time, without concerning myself so much over being “consistent”. Different situations can certainly share pattern-elements with one another, of course, and I can notice that, but for the most part—and I don’t know if it is a language processing thing or what—I seem to have more trouble than most people on this site (who frequent it) with “ism”-based discussions. Moreover, while I believe my thinking to be quite rational and logical most of the time, I sort of burned out on heavy debate/argument over the 2006-2008 time frame and hence I say less about “heavy” subjects on the Internet than I used to these days,
EDIT: …and the point of all that was to basically suggest (albeit without reference to data other than my own observations and pattern-identification skills, so take the suggestion for whatever you think it is worth on that basis) that while you may indeed find SOME correlation between AS/autism and whatever you consider to be particularly “utilitarian” or “consequentialist” thought, my take is that this is only one specific possible manifestation of “autistic specialization”. Which is to say that some of us may indeed specialize in more abstract areas, however, there are also those of us who remain welded to the “concrete” and hence are less likely to be found as, say, regular LW commenters. Personally I identify, for instance, more with the “engineer” than the “philosopher” archetype, though that has little to no bearing on the presence of otherwise-inclined autistic persons in this or other forums.
Well in my case the thing that stands out is that the ADHD diagnosis was given after a very quick/superficial evaluation, whereas the AS diagnosis came after many months of testing, evaluation, and thorough analysis of my developmental history. I cannot exactly speak to whether the two configurations can or cannot coexist in the same person without further study, but my suspicion is that AS and ADHD can appear superficially similar to adults who are observing children and teenagers, merely because of the fact that the child/teenager does not appear to be attending to what the adult wishes they were.
I cannot exactly speak to whether the two configurations can or cannot coexist in the same person without further study, but my suspicion is that AS and ADHD can appear superficially similar to adults who are observing children and teenagers, merely because of the fact that the child/teenager does not appear to be attending to what the adult wishes they were.
Full disclosure: I have been diagnosed with Asperger’s (and prior to that, PDD-NOS and ADHD). I am also female and 31 years old at the time of this writing.
All that said, one thing I persistently have trouble with is thinking in terms of “isms” in the first place (well, with the exception of “autism”, though that is a neurological configuration rather than an ideology). Hence I have no idea, really, whether my default mode(s) of thought fall into the “utilitarian/consequentialist” schools, and I have a very difficult time following the sorts of discussions wherein people are constantly trying to figure out whether a given notion fits in with this-ism or that-ism, or even where folks seem to be worrying about keeping everything they decide in line with a given, externally-sourced “system” of organizing ideas.
(This, incidentally, is why I stopped identifying as a “transhumanist”—I just could not figure out what the word meant, it seemed to “lose meaning” the more I examined it, and eventually I determined the energy expenditure of even continuing to attempt discerning that thing was not worth it, so I disconnected myself from identification with the term. I still maintain my strong interests in longevity, human-machine interface, and whatnot, but I do not believe they NEED an over-arching ideology or what-have-you in order for my interest to be legitimate).
As far as making ethical decisions goes for me, my impression (as much as my own insight can be considered reliable here; I don’t know for sure) is that I do usually invoke certain very basic principles (bodily autonomy, for instance) but that I tend to consider specific situations on a very individual basis each time, without concerning myself so much over being “consistent”. Different situations can certainly share pattern-elements with one another, of course, and I can notice that, but for the most part—and I don’t know if it is a language processing thing or what—I seem to have more trouble than most people on this site (who frequent it) with “ism”-based discussions. Moreover, while I believe my thinking to be quite rational and logical most of the time, I sort of burned out on heavy debate/argument over the 2006-2008 time frame and hence I say less about “heavy” subjects on the Internet than I used to these days,
EDIT: …and the point of all that was to basically suggest (albeit without reference to data other than my own observations and pattern-identification skills, so take the suggestion for whatever you think it is worth on that basis) that while you may indeed find SOME correlation between AS/autism and whatever you consider to be particularly “utilitarian” or “consequentialist” thought, my take is that this is only one specific possible manifestation of “autistic specialization”. Which is to say that some of us may indeed specialize in more abstract areas, however, there are also those of us who remain welded to the “concrete” and hence are less likely to be found as, say, regular LW commenters. Personally I identify, for instance, more with the “engineer” than the “philosopher” archetype, though that has little to no bearing on the presence of otherwise-inclined autistic persons in this or other forums.
Since you were (at times) diagnosed both ways, could you respond to Peter McCluskey’s comments about the compatibility of AS and ADHD?
Well in my case the thing that stands out is that the ADHD diagnosis was given after a very quick/superficial evaluation, whereas the AS diagnosis came after many months of testing, evaluation, and thorough analysis of my developmental history. I cannot exactly speak to whether the two configurations can or cannot coexist in the same person without further study, but my suspicion is that AS and ADHD can appear superficially similar to adults who are observing children and teenagers, merely because of the fact that the child/teenager does not appear to be attending to what the adult wishes they were.
Upvoted just for this.