Quote from: UltaFlame on March 28, 2009, 12:55:51 am
Autistic Savants. They can't function in our society at all. Yet we've all seen Rain Man. We've SEEN how quick and how immediate they can process data. We know the brilliancies they are capable of. Ok then, but they aren't 'intelligent'. They can't communicate, they can't function at all, LITERALLY, outside of their small comfort zone.
Aspies. Aspergers Syndrome. Like Autism, only milder. Usually, but not always, smarter than the average person. Not too much though, just like High School would be like 'if i handed in my homework and was all BLAH for everythign else, I'd pass with a 95... in everything.' that's sort of... me. Having never studied, EVER, I still do the best in nearly everything i do. I'm gettin pretty kick-ass in Brawl. I am Aspie.
I've heard tell from a trustworthy source that there IS one Savant-level person in the world who can TELL you how he thinks. he's like the perfect cross between an Aspie and a Savant. He's sociable, he can interact, yet he still thinks how we aspies and autistics do. he is AS SMART as savant. he can do math that would take anyone else probably days in his head. This, I believe, is where humanity is heading. All evolutions go in stages, yet humanity has never had a chance to document it as it happened. we have a chance, Now.
Sure, for now our intelligence comes at a social-loss. but a lot of the standard social rules make no logical sense. I can't tell you how many times I've heard the argument 'Yeah I agree, it shouldn't matter how you look, but sometimes it's just the logical choice. Like when you're going for a job interview.' when my entire statement was that it SHOULDNT matter what you look like. My hair is clean. My clothes are clean. I have sensory issues. I CANT STAND JEANS. or dress pants. I like sweats. theyre comfortable.
It seems to me like a lot of our mentality is wasted on dealing with the opinions of others, or with looking right. or Acting right. At my job I'm supposed to be like this, and do this. at home I'm supposed to be like this. Oh but if we go here, you can't wear that, and if you don't do this and this and this, and say that to this guy, and shake that person's hand, and if you don't follow some strange cultural rule you're spposed to instinctually know but that you don't because its total BS you'll totally embarass yourself. and you don't want that, do you?
I've been diagnosed with asperger's as of VERY recently. I'm 16, by the way. I RARELY study, and just got AB honor roll all year in AP classes (well, I had two, but had A's and B's in them alongside everything else.). I have a tested IQ of 129, and made a 30 on my ACT the first time around. So, yeah, I think that we're both evidence of what you mention.
Regardless, humanity MUST be evolving, because NO species STAGNATES. The problem is that because physical evolution is no longer emphasized, we may, in theory, be DE-VOLVING. Think about this:
***holes reproduce more, because they whore themselves. Therefore more ***hole babies. Because, in America, intellectuals are shunned, wheras, to my knowledge, in, say, the UK, intellects are treated as the jocks are here. Point being, at least in America, because the intellectually inferior reproduce more (for the most part. Stereotypes tend not to be completely true, but mostly so, in this case.), their traits are passed on more often. Point being, I'd say that qualities that help us to survive in the wild, and qualities that help us to survive in the context of the padded room, cookie cutter world which humans have created, are NOT actually the ones being passed on.
Now, of course, that's me talking. I'm pissed, as far as that goes, and, one could argue that those who attempt to remain monogamous actually have more successful reproductive occurrences, then, in fact, their traits are being passed on more.
Either way, natural selection, in the context of humans, no longer exists. However, it is indeed molded by what humanity has become.