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The Pattern Seekers: How Autism Drives Human Invention
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About This Book
In The Pattern Seekers, Cambridge University psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen makes a case that autism is as crucial to our creative and cultural history as the mastery of fire. Indeed, Baron-Cohen argues that autistic people have played a key role in human progress for seventy thousand years, from the first tools to the digital revolution. How? Because the same genes that cause autism enable the pattern seeking that is essential to our species's inventiveness. However, these abilities exact a great cost on autistic people, including social and often medical challenges, so Baron-Cohen calls on us to support and celebrate autistic people in both their disabilities and their triumphs. Ultimately, The Pattern Seekers isn't just a new theory of human civilization, but asks people to consider anew how society treats those who think differently.
Reviews
"Baron-Cohen's insistence on being the arbiter of such a wide array of knowledge becomes trying."
"He also briefly discusses how 'we can bring hyper-systemizing into education.' Insightful and mostly convincing."
"The term should be reserved only for diagnosis when people are struggling to function, he explains ..."
"By the end of this carefully constructed, profound book, it's hard to disagree."
"Nonetheless, his work buttresses the case that aspects of autism can be positive, and that thoughtful guidance can channel some with that diagnosis into productive and meaningful work."
"Might it also be, though, that 70,000 years ago our ancestors also evolved grammatical language, meaning that at last the best inventors were able to pass their inventions on?"
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