[rsstack]

I'm sorry, but this hand-picked list of exceptional people with light symptoms of ASD is minimizing a spectrum that includes some very serious disorders. Bringing out Bill Gates, with speculated mild Asperger's, is simply not a reasonable argument that "ASD can be good".

For perspective: Arguing "I know I guy who needs to squint to see things that are far away but he's an amazing pianist" doesn't add to a discussion about early detection of vision impairment and vision loss.

[13rac1]

You may discount the entirety of positives, but there are, in fact, positives. This does in no way minimize the severe cases, rather simply contends ASD is not always negative, which was your original concern.

I cannot agree with your perspective comparison. Vision many help someone learn piano more quickly at first, but is immaterial to their maximum ability as a pianist. A better comparison is early detection of the development of additional fingers or exceptionally large hands (example: Rachmaninoff), both of which directly and permanently affect a person's ability to play difficult piano pieces. This too would be a concerning eugenics issue.

[danielheath]

The ability to focus more deeply than the general population is quite valuable in a world where technological progress requires increasing specialisation.

[rsstack]

Can you continue your line of thought? This ability, which is extremely rare, is quite valuable. What's the next step, the conclusion?

[danielheath]

It’s also one of the diagnostic criteria for ASD, one that almost all autistic people share.

They typically can’t deliberately choose the subject of the focus, but it’s usually the case that any bit of deep knowledge is useful for something.