[jcranberry]

I wouldn't say I hold such a strong position. I tried to make my conclusion fairly noncommittal ("it wouldn't be correct in my eyes to say it's certain in any way that people with ASD have a ToM deficit"). My knowledge has evolved along with this conversation (hence why we may have seemed 'stuck'), so perhaps my conclusive tone of writing was inappropriate, which may have created a false impression of certitude.

Back when I was in school for mathematics and taking a few grad classes (my math knowledge drained out unfortunately quickly) I was told by a colleague that the Riemann Zeta hypothesis was generally regarded as 'true', and that it's not uncommon for mathematicians to do research proving theorems on the condition that the Riemann Zeta hypothesis is true. Point being, don't think there's anything wrong building on something which we may not yet know to be true...as long as caveats are stated up front.