The Pattern Seekers: A New Theory of Human Invention - with Simon Baron-Cohen

Psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen argues that our ability to identify patterns, particularly if-and-then patterns, allows humans to be the only animals on the planet with the ability to invent things.

From the first musical instrument to the digital revolutions, what is the unique ability that has driven human progress for 70,000 years?

In this talk, psychologist and world renowned autism expert Simon Baron-Cohen puts forward a bold new theory. From his book ‘The Pattern Seekers’ he discusses how humans can identify patterns, specifically ‘if-and-then’ patterns.

By linking one of our greatest human strengths with a condition that is so often misunderstood, Simon challenges us to think differently about those who think differently.

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He created the first UK clinic for adults with suspected Asperger Syndrome (1999) that has helped over 1,000 patients to have their disability recognized. He gave a keynote address to the United Nations in New York on Autism Awareness Day 2017 on the topic of Autism and Human Rights.

He serves as Scientific Advisor, Trustee or Patron to several autism charities including the Autism Research Trust, the Cambridge Autism Centre of Excellence, and to the company Auticon, which only employs autistic people. He has taken part in many television documentaries, including the BBC’s Horizon, and Employable Me.

This talk and Q&A was recorded by the Royal Institution on 26 November 2020.
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[thesoundsmith]

I have been a jazz painist for 60 years. Pattern usage is quite prominent in much of what I do both as soloist and accompanist. Predictability, recognition, humor, mapping to alternate solutions/harmonies/chord scales - a never-ending set of things to do within a framework. Slonimsky's Thesaurus showed us all the possibilities, but we don't play 'scales' even when we happen to (though some of the Slonimsky lines require that kind of mindset..) We play phrases which sometimes are patterns. And we'll play a phrase and turn it into a pattern, That's the beauty of music, there is always another choice.

[zeldaadlez]

That's pretty much what intelligence is: pattern recognition. How you think is defined by your brain's organizational structure. There hasn't been a new neuron that sets us apart; it's about how efficiently and complex those neurons connect to each other like legos to form a sufficiently intelligent being. In essence, who you are is dictated by your neurological web. It's why we grief. It's why we dream. And why we wake up.

[nertia]

I personally think that autism, ADD/ADHD, and synesthesia are evolution's way of dealing with the effects of the ever-increasing density of information our brains must deal with

[modernmagic]

So happy he used the platform to highlight the current societal issues. Acceptance, respect, dignity! 👏
I feel it’s worth mentioning that women with ASD are massively and the examples given in this talk reflect that.

[TauvicRitter]

Now i understand why I like programming if ten else structures. And my interest in logic, Prolog, databases, maths and physics. Being diagnosed as autistic. I work as a software engineer and love to think about problems and try to find solutions. I find it hard to learn facts and terminology but understand logical relationships. Passing an exam requires me to understand the thoughtproces of the examinator in order to select the Right answer. Many times had discussions about the right answer with my teachers. Even invented a new way to solve a complex mathematical equation

Graduated cum laude bachelor of electronics. But did not go to university found it too busy and noisy. I'm reading the book now and i wanted to hear the author speak first as to get an impression on him.

[jeroylenkins]

33:00 It's not that we're necessarily walking around looking for patterns and relationships between things in our lives. We will see them whether we are looking or not.

[trevormatthews]

At 22 minutes there is an illustration of a wheel, connecting rod and lever. I would argue that there are various possible correct answers. While there is an arrow on the wheel to indicate the direction of travel the output depends on how far the wheel rotates. The initial question… if a wheel rotates as shown,  

1. and the arrow is 1/4 of a rotation long  then the lever moves from the left position to the right position and stops.
2 if the rotation is continuous then the answer is moves back and forth is correct
3. The diagram connects the wheel to the rod by one linkage rod. In this case P would flap around unless the wheel and lever fulcrum have some other connection like a supporting frame. No frame is shown but inferred.

I have struggled before in psychology tests like this before for what appear to me as confusing questions. In this case being asked to select one option when there are various valid answers some of which are not even present on the answer sheet.

Emh, I guess these questions place me on a particular part of the spectrum! I get irritated that such tests lack the details to answer the questions properly. Flowing from that is what impact it might have on my life, job offer etc.

[MrCMPUTR]

16:16 I'm not sure how well this is supported by evidence. A couple things I've see through out my life:
Squirrels will pretend to hide food when they know they're being watched.
Primates have complex social structures which include doing favors for one another to make allies.

Anyone who owns a dog will know that often they act as though they understand how you're feeling.

To say that humans are uniquely gifted with this kind of empathy I feel is only slightly true. We may be able to take it to a higher more abstract level by cooperating inside of global social structures and empathizing with people we haven't even met, but I really don't believe empathy in and of itself is what we can lay claim to.

[OmgEinfachNurOmg]

Animals do play hide and seek. Everybody who owns two cats knows this

[nonindividual]

Glenn Gould was a classical pianist, not jazz*.

[brothermine]

The table of "5 different brain types" looks absurd. In particular, the white "Balanced Type" stripe includes three clearly different subtypes of people: those who have both tremendous empathy and tremendous system-thinking, those who have both average empathy and average system-thinking, and those who have both minimal empathy and minimal system-thinking. It would make more sense to divide the square into 9 types (3 rows, 3 columns).

[BsktImp]

30:44 Glenn Gould was a "jazz pianist"? I know Bach was a consummate improviser, but that's stretching the definition of jazz! Of course you meant to say "classical pianist".

[UnexpectedMaker]

This was great insight! I'm a dad of 2 young autistic kids (girl and boy) and I'm a hardware and software engineer - A perfect match to your hypothesis! I worry for my kids and their futures in our "currently" intolerant society. Autism awareness is so important and I hope this video and your book help people to broaden their understanding and perceptions of what autism is and what it's not. Thanks very much!

[cambob]

I love the video but I have a problem with assuming that intelligence, learning, and empathy are uniquely human. Its observed in many other animals not just mammals even.

[ShamanicSavant]

Not sure about the if-then thing leading to invention as it's kind of after the fact. It may be a reason to retain an invention, but imagination is the inventor and necessity the cause. If-then is also just simple logic, not true pattern recognition. I'm an autistic savant and my particular skill set involves deep pattern recognition, patterns that our objective consciousness blocks from view by focusing on details. To see the patterns I'm talking about you need to go deeper than surface consciousness, into the collective subconscious. That's where autism is a tool most people don't have access to. I work in crypto with the USAF and a special team comprised of nothing but autistic savants, because we're required to work together in a place you can't even get to in our waking state.

True pattern recognition requires two things, mental capacity and comparative analysis. Mental capacity is built by being in opposition to the world around you. It creates and maintains the mental divisions within the mind, the more divisions you have the more space(s) you have to store information. The more you can compress that information the more you can pack into those spaces. The most compressed form of information is a pattern, not something seen but rather felt as mental impressions. I'm comparing the patterns in my internal world to those in my external world using a form of scaling. My, or rather OUR subconscious does most of the work and feeds me the pertinent info. The human collective subconscious is the most advanced A.I. in existence and access to it is what makes a savant a savant.

It's hard to explain so I'll give an example. The universe we live in is a scaled up version of the human anatomy as seen from the perspective of a single atom within it. Normally that would be impossible to see from our perspective because we're looking at details and not the underlying pattern. At maximum mental capacity you contain a scaled down version of the universal pattern within you. Now we all contain everything within us, but at varying levels of complexity depending on individual mental capacity. Mental capacity is built thru conflict and suffering, opposing the world around you, and that's why all religions preach suffering. The universe is able to contain everything within it not because it's "bigger" but because its pattern is more complex than the patterns of anything it contains.

If you ask any one of us if we'd rather be "normal", the universal response without exception is a resounding NO! Without society treating us like we don't belong we'd lose the opposition that makes us special and gives us our unique abilities. Terence McKenna surmised that what the universe values above all else is novelty, and there is nothing novel about being just like everyone else. Human society is about to change in ways we cannot currently even fathom, and it will be autistic people forging the way ahead, because "normal" people that are well adjusted to a profoundly sick society cannot even see where they're at, much less where to go :)

[pathologicallyfriendly]

I'm a pattern-seeking Saturn-peeking astronomer

[duncanmatthews]

Great lecture. Very interesting and well explained

[JohnnieHougaardNielsen]

I'd say that older tool use also matches that if/and/then pattern. Chimpanzee: If I get a stone and whack the nut, then yum. Basically just a more abstract way of beings willing a cause to get to the desired effect.

[ToninFightsEntropy]

1 minute in and I broke up laughing, then waved, and said "Hi..!" but I don't think I need to say why. Now I'll enjoy the rest of it!

[sunson]

Very inspiring! However the moving facecam, the thick line on the graph at +1/-2 and the mystery 'other' group (neither STEM or Not STEM) were all quite disturbing. Yes i am.