How autism drives human invention with Simon Baron-Cohen

Is there a link between autism and invention? Is autism a unitary condition? Is autism more common in regions of the world that are rich in STEM (science-technology-engineering-mathematics)? Is autism genetic? Is autism a disorder, a disease, a difference, or a disability?
70,000 to 100,000 years ago, there was a cognitive revolution in the brain, transforming the behaviour of Homo Sapiens such that today we dominate the planet. The Systemizing Mechanism allowed our species alone to search for if-and-then patterns in the world, enabling generative invention; and the Empathy Circuit allowed our species alone to imagine the thoughts and feelings of others, enabling complex social interaction, including deception and self-reflection.
The archaeological record provides some of the evidence for the evolution of these two new engines in the mind and cognitive neuroscience is pinpointing their neural basis. But 3 studies also demonstrate a link between the autistic mind and the capacity for invention.
First, big data shows that those who work in STEM have a higher number of autistic traits. Second, areas of the planet which are enriched for parents who work in STEM have higher rates of autism among their children. Finally, genome wide association studies reveal that the genetic common variants associated with strong systemizing overlap with those associated with autism, suggesting the link between autism and invention lies in our DNA.
Society owes a huge debt to autistic people for the contribution that their genes have played in driving the evolution of human progress, and yet autistic people are excluded from society at multiple levels, including education and employment, and resulting in their poor mental health. It is time to redress this, through autism-friendly educational and occupational practice. Simon Baron-Cohen explains.

Sir Simon Philip Baron-Cohen is a British clinical psychologist and professor of developmental psychopathology at the University of Cambridge. He is the director of the university's Autism Research Centre and a Fellow of Trinity College. In 1985, Baron-Cohen formulated the mind-blindness theory of autism, the evidence for which he collated and published in 1995. In 1997, he formulated the fetal sex steroid theory of autism, the key test of which was published in 2015. He has also made major contributions to the fields of typical cognitive sex differences, autism prevalence and screening, autism genetics, autism neuroimaging, autism and technical ability, and synaesthesia.
Baron-Cohen was awarded the 1990 Spearman Medal from the BPS, the McAndless Award from the American Psychological Association, the 1993 May Davidson Award for Clinical Psychology from the BPS, and the 2006 presidents' Award from the BPS. He was awarded the Kanner-Asperger Medal in 2013 by the Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft Autismus-Spektrum as a Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to autism research. Baron-Cohen was knighted in the 2021 New Year Honours for services to autistic people. He is also the author of many books including "The essential difference" and "Pattern seekers: how autism drives human invention".

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[deviantlegion]

I recently (in my 40's) got my diagnosis as a member of the Autism community and, quite frankly, I don't understand why more companies don't go out of their way to employ Autistic people.
I was talking to someone the other day and he mentioned his frustration that an autistic colleague of his wasn't higher placed in the company because the colleague was always the one finding problems, finding solutions and basically one of the best people there. It's only because he struggles with the social 'rules' when dealing with office social/political environment (he lacks the 'brown nosing' skills to get further).
Personally I also was diagnosed with ADHD (which is how they also picked up on the Autism). Once that was under control with medication my ability to see problems, see solutions and also my ability absorb/retain information became far more evident. Within a few short months I learned a CAD package, realized it wasn't right for me, learned a new package in a day and regularly am able to rapidly design solutions for all sorts of things.

I can fully understand and comprehend how and why autism quite probably drove human invention and advancement. Thank you for this lecture, it's given me yet another reason why I'm proud to be a member of the Autistic community and a massive, heartfelt thank you to Dr Baron-Cohen for his research!

[barbaracale]

UPDATE: my formal assessment is scheduled for a week from tomorrow, with the same doctor who diagnosed my adult son. I am nervous, excited, scared, and happy all at once, and probably some other things I cannot describe.

Those not struggling with a lot of support needs probably still have hidden areas of struggle, and getting a proper understanding of themselves through proper diagnosis isn't a bad idea. Realizing the truth about myself and stepping into my identity has been extremely impactful for me as a teacher. I lean into advocating for my autistic students, recognizing now that I am like them. I'm truly enjoying this new understanding in my approach to teaching music.

however...There are currently a lot of obstacles to my getting the formal assessment. Insurance doesn't cover it, and I live in an area without much understanding of autism in adult women. My adult son is formally diagnosed, and after years of rigorous study, I see myself as clearly like him.

[jackiehensen]

I have 2 autistic grand kids. Same parents. One is completely different from the other. One wants to please and the other will challenge you. So far the one that challenges you is the 4year old that reads at a 10th grade level. The older one that wants to please reads and has math skills beyond his oblity doesn't share that as much.

[ms]

Since I can remember, and my first memories are in my mother's belly, I have never stopped thinking and producing ramifications of thoughts to decode systems and create new ones. I have not been able to study much because my language of thought is synaesthetic, and I think by modifying and estimating the speed, volume and interactions of shapes that I see in my mind and that are abstract representations of the concepts I am thinking about. The educational model is based on canceling the knowledge we are born with instead of developing it as a basis, and the world is a reflection of this. Learning is a pleasure not a sacrifice. I have learned from nature and it has taught me everything as a living being, as being aware of being life. But I don't feel more than any other being. Human beings tend to believe themselves to be more than they really are and instead of creating they transform, that is what we are experts at.

Very late diagnosis, I am autistic with 56 turns to the sun. The diagnosis helped me put my life back together and I must say that I absolutely agree with Simon Baron Cohen. Just as a dog is carried away by its sense of smell and its genetic and vivid olfactory memory, I cannot stop analyzing systems and creating interrelated ideas, so related that my knowledge is all interrelated and every time I think about something I use everything I have. I know how to achieve solutions.

I don't get tired because it works alone, it's my ability, but I get tired of humanity, its chaos and disorder. That is why to reduce uncertainty my mind does not stop analyzing and transforming systems, and that works very well in the mind, but in reality the whole of humanity is a clear representation of disorder and obsolescence, except for those who only see what interests them, which are many, any idea can end up becoming imbalance.

If something characterizes the vast majority of humans, it is that they never think about the consequences of their actions and decisions, and always think about achieving their individual interests. With so many millions doing the same thing every day the result is a system, a pattern that magnifies the frequency and impact of the consequences it develops. So I am glad that the imbalance in indicators such as climate is beginning to become evident, which is not the only one that fuels this planetary-scale transformation.

Precisely due to the impact that advances develop, I think that we must be cautious when sharing ideas that in our heads are just thoughts, but that if they are not applied and developed in reality thinking about the consequences that they would develop, they produce evil that we suffer in humanity and on which the established economic model is based, the creation of differences and the consequent inequality of opportunities, confrontations, war, weapons, deads, ... It is very sad to me know our history, know who we are and what this represents for the future we are building. I decided to close my mind to people. Peace

[conniegarvie]

The intro to this video was extremely triggering for me! I hope it's not the same for the outro!

[emmanuelbeaucage]

how is it that, when unmasked, people [incuding health & psychological specialist] act with us [autistic adults without cognitive problem] as if we were really young children or as if we had cognitive problems?

solving that would, in my opinion, help my tribe more than anything. In fact, I beleive it could prevent some of us from taking our own life. with a 9 times population average suicide rate, any help would be welcome...

[maftunamashrabjonova]

science is a wonderful thing. I would love to meet the person who gave the lecture

[ventrust]

Simon Baron Cohen’s presentations always have to be taken with a good drink of skepticism.

I would like to see the source documents foe SBC graphics.

The last statement he said about not needing the label of autism is way more cocktails than science.

[MsLeticiaPadilha]

Neste vídeo, Simon Baron-Cohen explora a ligação entre o autismo e a capacidade humana única de invenção. Ele começa por discutir a história da invenção, desde os nossos antepassados que criavam ferramentas simples até ao Homo sapiens, que demonstrou uma capacidade de invenção generativa. Isso foi possível devido a um mecanismo de sistematização no cérebro, que permite identificar padrões no mundo e criar invenções com base em "se e então" lógicos.

Baron-Cohen argumenta que esse mecanismo evoluiu há cerca de 70.000 a 100.000 anos e examina exemplos arqueológicos, como joias, arco e flecha, e instrumentos musicais, para ilustrar como a lógica "se e então" estava envolvida na invenção.

Além disso, ele introduz a ideia de um circuito de empatia no cérebro, que não apenas explica como fazemos invenções, mas também por que as fazemos. A empatia permitiu o desenvolvimento de habilidades sociais complexas, como a comunicação referencial.

Finalmente, ele explora a relação entre o autismo e a invenção, observando que muitos inventores famosos exibiram traços autistas e que as pessoas que trabalham em STEM tendem a ter mais traços autistas. Isso sugere uma ligação entre aptidão para entender sistemas e traços autistas.

Em resumo, o vídeo explora como a capacidade de invenção humana está relacionada com mecanismos cerebrais de sistematização e empatia, com evidências sugerindo que traços autistas podem desempenhar um papel nessa relação.

[Nath-dp]

21:42 What a flimsy assertion! Autism has always been diagnosed more among the wealthy, and Eindhoven's median salary is approximately double the national average, while Haarlem is slightly above average, and Utrecht is about at average. Higher diagnosis of Autism in Eindhoven (as well as with Haarlem) is far more likely correlated to greater diagnosis among the wealthy. That a prestigious academic is presenting this graph without addressing this is shameful. Perhaps the claim is true, idk, but that graph is terrible science, which makes me question his credibility.
At least he generously said Autistic people should be treated as humans being, and that we should reject eugenics😐

[HalfGodHalfBeast]

I often wonder what thought without language would be like, or if language needed for logical thought?

[RimantasVancysProductions]

Would have been nice if the lecture was longer and a bit more in depth. That’s why I think that Q&A at the end added some “meat” to it.

[kandacebasso]

Why are interviews mostly verbal? Let people do the job and show their worth. I am autistic I hope we get change.

[rutharunasalam]

brilliant as always prof simon with his outstanding analysis

[MsLeticiaPadilha]

Aos 25 minutos ele fala da relação marcadores genéticos x eugenia.

[renatastelmantas]

Very interesting and informative video. Thanks

[Desertphile]

It has been my experience that employers do not want autistic people, as we are considered "too odd." I have brilliant and creative organization and problem-solving skills, yet few employers want employees that do not lie socially.

[xxsnow_angelxx]

How accurate is autism testing for adults.

[playstationsimracing]

I don't know why but I was expecting a round of questions at the end and Ali G emerging from the audience.

[dougcard]

As if any other human is more aware of my autism than myself. Might have been interesting to see what they say 40 years ago.