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by impulsivepuppet 741 days ago
blaming Neanderthals for most things is a gross over-simplification and misdirects reader's attention towards genetics. While there is some humour to it, I would be cautious of giving into unwarranted fixation towards genetics, as we no longer live in the world where it needs to be defended against Lamarckism and like.

I posit that the "runtime environment" i.e. epigentics, among other things, has a far traceable cause than the smidge of related species. The nature and consequences of autism land me to believe that it's more likely a consequence of a compiler error, although shoddy source code could be a secondary/compounding cause for it. Take Down's Syndrome as an prime example of genetic disorder, and it becomes clear why such categorization does not work for autism: autism is too broad, it describes the effect rather than cause, and I'd argue that autism is far less debilitating (pronounced) and definitely not inherited.
1 comments
mrangle 741 days ago
Autism is definitely not inherited?

Autism being "too broad" is why it doesn't have a genetic cause?

Autism's nomenclature not being descriptive enough is why it doesn't have a genetic cause?

Autism not being as debilitating as DS is why it doesn't have a genetic cause? (developmental logic aside, are you familiar with Type 2 and Type 3 autistic individuals?).

Extra dings for not for over-use of CS analogy, "unwarranted fixation", and "we no longer live in the world".

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jfyi 741 days ago
We know for a fact that there are genetic markers for autism.

Analogies aside, they were arguing it is a mix of genetic and epigenetic factors and that, generally, we only pay attention to the genetics.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigenetics_of_autism

I think the real problem here is this can potentially be a politically heated take. I don't believe it is in this case, or they were making an effort to not make it so. Of course, that is just my reading of it.

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jabowery 741 days ago
In identical twins, autism and homosexuality both have about the same rate of non-occurrence between the twins: 50%. This means, of course, that autists and gays are "born, not made" by the environment. Move along. Nothing to see here.
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astrange 741 days ago
"Inherited" and "genetic" are not the same thing. Or rather, "genetic" vs "environment" are not two separate causes for things.
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