From: Thomas Buckner (tcbevolver@yahoo.com)
Date: Fri Nov 04 2005 - 16:59:26 MST
--- David Picon Alvarez <eleuteri@myrealbox.com>
wrote:
> > By the way, does anyone here suspect that
> Autism has nothing to do with
> "low
> > empathy" or no "theory of mind" but rather
> with low empathy with normal
> > humans due to the sheer magnitude of
> differences?
>
> This might be possible, but it would appear
> that autists do not have
> particularly good theories of mind of each
> other? Difficulties in
> communication which seem to underpin most/all
> autism manifestations seem
> also to point towards the "no simmulation
> capacity" model in my view, I just
> don't know though.
>
> --David.
>
If you've heard of autist Temple Grandin, you
should know that she has made a career of
empathizing with cattle. I think autism will
prove to be like cancer or flu or cold: one name
for a number of not-quite-the-same maladies. I
recall discussing with a friend the idea that he,
I, and most of the other posters on a board not
very different from SL4 might be mild Asperger
cases. 'Twould explain plenty. John Lennon meant
the same thing with the Strawberry Fields lines:
"Someone, I think, is in my tree; I mean, it must
be high or low." He felt different growing up but
didn't know if it was because he was gifted or
defective, a sentiment with which I can empathize
strongly (while failing to empathize with much of
what is supposed to be normal).
Speaking of empathy, I recommend to all SL4's the
Diane Ackerman book "A Natural History of Love,"
and especially the chapter 'The horror of the
Ik.' The Ik are a tribe (Sudanese?, IIRC) driven
from prosperous lands into an area so marginal
that the struggle for food seems to have
destroyed their capacity for empathy: perhaps
PERMANENTLY. A disturbing case to ponder.
Tom Buckner
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