Economic Autists
It’s harder to get outside your own head than you think.
-Tyler Cowen
I recently finished Create Your Own Economy by Tyler Cowen. Cowen is my favorite living economist who, most famously, has run the blog Marginal Revolution since 2003. Create Your Own Economy was published in 2009 and has little to do with economics. The book is about autism– how people with autism are different, why they act the way they do, and the history of those with autism.
Are You an Autist?
Maybe.
A friend recently discovered she’s autistic. Many take an autism test and score neurotypical, but when taking a test that screens for camouflaging autistic traits, they score on the spectrum. This is more true for women as they tend to hide their autistic traits better than men.
Create Your Own Economy seeks to rid readers of the autistic stigma. There are upsides– autistics are great at ordering and perceiving information. Their local processing is higher– autistics could have an especially attuned sense of smell or hearing. However, they’re bothered when their senses are overwhelmed. Not that I can relate to that or anything.
Empathy for Autists
Humans have more sympathy for ingroup vs outgroup. Autistics are, by design, the outgroup.
If one identical twin is autistic, then there’s a 60-90% chance the other twin is autistic. For a gay identical twin, it’s a 30-50% chance the other twin is gay. Being autistic is more genetic than even sexual preference. However, they’re still stigmatized.
The assumption that those with Aspergers are heartless or callous is false. They aren’t acting the way they are because they don’t care about other people. Many autistics simply don’t understand why neurotypicals act the way they do.
Those on the spectrum can feel even more and deeper than others. When they put in the effort, they can relate well to neurotypicals and naturally understand those on the spectrum. Those with autism have the capacity for extreme empathy.
Whether someone is an asshole or not does not correlate with whether they’re on the spectrum. Assholes can be neurodiverse or neurotypical.
Superpowers
We often describe a friend as simultaneously having a 400 IQ and a 4 IQ. Which one we get depends on the circumstances. We joke, but it’s not wrong. Autistics can be savants in some areas and utterly clueless in others.
Most of humanity's greatest minds were autistic: Einstein, Newton, Mozart, Beethoven, Dickinson, Michelangelo, Lovelace, Turing, and the list goes on.
In fiction, although written before autism was defined or known, Sherlock Holmes was completely ignorant of philosophy and political science but highly knowledgeable about the few things he studied. Autist confirmed.
What Can Autism Do For You?
In the same way, free, wealthy, prosperous societies are not natural; neither is modern education. Education uses social influence to encourage autistic behavior.
Economics is everywhere, and understanding economics can help you make better decisions and lead a happier life.
-Tyler Cowen
Autistics find the web easier to use than others. Things are ordered, so it’s calm. It makes sense. With our modern economy, we can hyperfocus on one or two particular tasks. More so than in the agricultural and industrial age, autistics will continue to thrive in the information age and beyond.