Are you a religious person? An atheist? Agnostic?
I consider myself to be agnostic. Mostly because I Don’t Know.
If I had to choose any belief system to attach to, I would be a Darwinist. By this, I mean that I believe that Natural Selection is a meaningful explanation of life. When I think about ‘why we are here’, I can’t help but recognize how life persists through time.
In short, I believe Darwin best explained what I think the purpose of life is. Life begets immortal individuals that can reproduce and perpetuate. Life dies, but life persists. The chief mechanisms in this dance are DNA, sexual reproduction, and Natural Selection. I capture this argument in episodes about Sexual Selection and Love, Let’s Talk About Sex 1 and 2, the Uniqueness Imperative, and the Evolution Paradox.
In short, the purpose of life is to perpetuate diversity to ensure we persist through environmental changes. The creation of diversity maximizes the probability for survival where ‘fitness’ results when biological characteristics work out when things change.
The purpose of this episode, and the future direction for my work, is how this applies to neurodiversity.
Sexual reproduction creates new individuals that are different from their parents. These individuals express those differences during their lives. Individuals deemed ‘fit’ for their environments will reproduce and continue the process.
Of course, this applies to our nervous systems. I define neurodiversity as genotypic (in an individual’s DNA) and phenotypic (the physical expression of DNA) variation. To me, the nervous system is the interacting parts that facilitate our sensory interpretation of the environment.
When we talk about neurodivergence in the form of autism, ADHD, OCD, and many other conditions we are referring to the different ways our nervous systems work. Briefly, our brain, spinal cord, and other nervous cells and tissues coordinate with our sense organs to interpret our external environments
It should come as no surprise that a diversity of neurotypes is beneficial to survival. We’re supposed to be different in every way. To represent a continuum — a spectrum, if you will. It is true for height as well as sight. Diversity is key to survival. Not for individuals, but for species.
The bothersome thing is that as critical as diversity is, modern humans try very hard to be the same.
Being forced into conformity is what’s wrong, not neurodivergence
Why would we all ‘work’ the same way? We are unique individuals. We are products of sexual reproduction, which ensures that we are similar, yet differ, from our parents.
We used to be cool with this variation. We understood the value of diversity. We might not have known why, but we supported instead of rejected our differences. At least I like to believe that to be true.
The more we seek conformity, the more we notice neurodivergence. This matters. This needs to stop. My goal is to help change this BACK to how I think it used to be.
Accept that different is good. Stop trying to reduce it.
Neurotypes have different capacities for interacting with the world. Phenotypes. External stimuli are differentially intercepted and interpreted. Each one of us has a unique way of navigating the world. We can all benefit fr
If you are enjoying this content, please tell your friends.
Are you a religious person? An atheist? Agnostic?
I consider myself to be agnostic. Mostly because I Don’t Know.
If I had to choose any belief system to attach to, I would be a Darwinist. By this, I mean that I believe that Natural Selection is a meaningful explanation of life. When I think about ‘why we are here’, I can’t help but recognize how life persists through time.
In short, I believe Darwin best explained what I think the purpose of life is. Life begets immortal individuals that can reproduce and perpetuate. Life dies, but life persists. The chief mechanisms in this dance are DNA, sexual reproduction, and Natural Selection. I capture this argument in episodes about Sexual Selection and Love, Let’s Talk About Sex 1 and 2, the Uniqueness Imperative, and the Evolution Paradox.
In short, the purpose of life is to perpetuate diversity to ensure we persist through environmental changes. The creation of diversity maximizes the probability for survival where ‘fitness’ results when biological characteristics work out when things change.
The purpose of this episode, and the future direction for my work, is how this applies to neurodiversity.
Sexual reproduction creates new individuals that are different from their parents. These individuals express those differences during their lives. Individuals deemed ‘fit’ for their environments will reproduce and continue the process.
Of course, this applies to our nervous systems. I define neurodiversity as genotypic (in an individual’s DNA) and phenotypic (the physical expression of DNA) variation. To me, the nervous system is the interacting parts that facilitate our sensory interpretation of the environment.
When we talk about neurodivergence in the form of autism, ADHD, OCD, and many other conditions we are referring to the different ways our nervous systems work. Briefly, our brain, spinal cord, and other nervous cells and tissues coordinate with our sense organs to interpret our external environments
It should come as no surprise that a diversity of neurotypes is beneficial to survival. We’re supposed to be different in every way. To represent a continuum — a spectrum, if you will. It is true for height as well as sight. Diversity is key to survival. Not for individuals, but for species.
The bothersome thing is that as critical as diversity is, modern humans try very hard to be the same.
Being forced into conformity is what’s wrong, not neurodivergence
Why would we all ‘work’ the same way? We are unique individuals. We are products of sexual reproduction, which ensures that we are similar, yet differ, from our parents.
We used to be cool with this variation. We understood the value of diversity. We might not have known why, but we supported instead of rejected our differences. At least I like to believe that to be true.
The more we seek conformity, the more we notice neurodivergence. This matters. This needs to stop. My goal is to help change this BACK to how I think it used to be.
Accept that different is good. Stop trying to reduce it.
Neurotypes have different capacities for interacting with the world. Phenotypes. External stimuli are differentially intercepted and interpreted. Each one of us has a unique way of navigating the world. We can all benefit fr
If you are enjoying this content, please tell your friends.