How autism drives human invention with Simon Baron-Cohen

Is there a link between autism and invention? Is autism a unitary condition? Is autism more common in regions of the world that are rich in STEM (science-technology-engineering-mathematics)? Is autism genetic? Is autism a disorder, a disease, a difference, or a disability?
70,000 to 100,000 years ago, there was a cognitive revolution in the brain, transforming the behaviour of Homo Sapiens such that today we dominate the planet. The Systemizing Mechanism allowed our species alone to search for if-and-then patterns in the world, enabling generative invention; and the Empathy Circuit allowed our species alone to imagine the thoughts and feelings of others, enabling complex social interaction, including deception and self-reflection.
The archaeological record provides some of the evidence for the evolution of these two new engines in the mind and cognitive neuroscience is pinpointing their neural basis. But 3 studies also demonstrate a link between the autistic mind and the capacity for invention.
First, big data shows that those who work in STEM have a higher number of autistic traits. Second, areas of the planet which are enriched for parents who work in STEM have higher rates of autism among their children. Finally, genome wide association studies reveal that the genetic common variants associated with strong systemizing overlap with those associated with autism, suggesting the link between autism and invention lies in our DNA.
Society owes a huge debt to autistic people for the contribution that their genes have played in driving the evolution of human progress, and yet autistic people are excluded from society at multiple levels, including education and employment, and resulting in their poor mental health. It is time to redress this, through autism-friendly educational and occupational practice. Simon Baron-Cohen explains.
Sir Simon Philip Baron-Cohen is a British clinical psychologist and professor of developmental psychopathology at the University of Cambridge. He is the director of the university's Autism Research Centre and a Fellow of Trinity College. In 1985, Baron-Cohen formulated the mind-blindness theory of autism, the evidence for which he collated and published in 1995. In 1997, he formulated the fetal sex steroid theory of autism, the key test of which was published in 2015. He has also made major contributions to the fields of typical cognitive sex differences, autism prevalence and screening, autism genetics, autism neuroimaging, autism and technical ability, and synaesthesia.
Baron-Cohen was awarded the 1990 Spearman Medal from the BPS, the McAndless Award from the American Psychological Association, the 1993 May Davidson Award for Clinical Psychology from the BPS, and the 2006 presidents' Award from the BPS. He was awarded the Kanner-Asperger Medal in 2013 by the Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft Autismus-Spektrum as a Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to autism research. Baron-Cohen was knighted in the 2021 New Year Honours for services to autistic people. He is also the author of many books including "The essential difference" and "Pattern seekers: how autism drives human invention".
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[@deviantlegion]

I recently (in my 40's) got my diagnosis as a member of the Autism community and, quite frankly, I don't understand why more companies don't go out of their way to employ Autistic people. I was talking to someone the other day and he mentioned his frustration that an autistic colleague of his wasn't higher placed in the company because the colleague was always the one finding problems, finding solutions and basically one of the best people there. It's only because he struggles with the social 'rules' when dealing with office social/political environment (he lacks the 'brown nosing' skills to get further). Personally I also was diagnosed with ADHD (which is how they also picked up on the Autism). Once that was under control with medication my ability to see problems, see solutions and also my ability absorb/retain information became far more evident. Within a few short months I learned a CAD package, realized it wasn't right for me, learned a new package in a day and regularly am able to rapidly design solutions for all sorts of things. I can fully understand and comprehend how and why autism quite probably drove human invention and advancement. Thank you for this lecture, it's given me yet another reason why I'm proud to be a member of the Autistic community and a massive, heartfelt thank you to Dr Baron-Cohen for his research!

[@maryw3643]

❤️

[@___Anakin.Skywalker]

Maybe because Autistic people behave like little kids. They're childish !! The can get annoying and very rude also. They can talk alot and and go on and on. I'm sorry to say but I have a work mate who I suspect is autistic

[@deviantlegion]

@@___Anakin.Skywalker Really? Anyone who makes generalised statements like this blatantly have no idea about autism or autistic people. There are as many presentations of autism as their are autistic people and stop making assumptions based on ignorant notions like this. Yes, autistic people *can* have problems with emotional regulation for various reasons, but that's far from uncommon in the "neurotypical" portion of the human race and for Autistic people it's often caused by the trauma caused by masking, masking itself or from sensory overload. Before making sweeping statements please educate yourself a little better. I'll happily link you to some good yt channels to help avoid future embarrassments.

[@___Anakin.Skywalker]

@@deviantlegion the only ignorant person here is you. I know alot of austistic people, I even have family members that are Autistic and they have core behaviors. Stop lying!! You're not autistic and have no idea what autism is. It's a great disability and for the few who overcome it, they're extremely talkative, rigid in thinking, self centered and annoying

[@deviantlegion]

@@___Anakin.Skywalker at no point did i call you ignorant. I said you were making ignorant statements. You nay well have autistic friends and relatives but anyone who thinks they can say all autistic people are the same, which you clealy did, is working of incorrect data and bad presumptions. I have no.idea why you got so butthurt when i was trying to correct your false assumptions and if you want to challenge my diagnosis you're more than welcome to talk to the qualified specialists who diagnosed me. I.hope you'll take up my offer to help educate yourself, there are too many false assumptions and media led bad stereotypes already. Whatever you decide, best of luck to you and next time you want to start throwing insults and calling people liars do make sure you're justified and not making a tit out of yourself.

[@jackiehensen896]

I have 2 autistic grand kids. Same parents. One is completely different from the other. One wants to please and the other will challenge you. So far the one that challenges you is the 4year old that reads at a 10th grade level. The older one that wants to please reads and has math skills beyond his oblity doesn't share that as much.

[@barbaracale1015]

UPDATE: my formal assessment is scheduled for a week from tomorrow, with the same doctor who diagnosed my adult son. I am nervous, excited, scared, and happy all at once, and probably some other things I cannot describe. Those not struggling with a lot of support needs probably still have hidden areas of struggle, and getting a proper understanding of themselves through proper diagnosis isn't a bad idea. Realizing the truth about myself and stepping into my identity has been extremely impactful for me as a teacher. I lean into advocating for my autistic students, recognizing now that I am like them. I'm truly enjoying this new understanding in my approach to teaching music. however...There are currently a lot of obstacles to my getting the formal assessment. Insurance doesn't cover it, and I live in an area without much understanding of autism in adult women. My adult son is formally diagnosed, and after years of rigorous study, I see myself as clearly like him.

[@conniegarvie]

The intro to this video was extremely triggering for me! I hope it's not the same for the outro!

[@cookiediangelo8511]

Why?

[@Hagrid_the_quantum_G]

Got you. Felt like some evil aliens were coming through earth's atmosphere, ready to destroy whatever comes their way.

[@aidanmays7825]

Skip it?

[@emmanuelbeaucage4461]

how is it that, when unmasked, people [incuding health & psychological specialist] act with us [autistic adults without cognitive problem] as if we were really young children or as if we had cognitive problems? solving that would, in my opinion, help my tribe more than anything. In fact, I beleive it could prevent some of us from taking our own life. with a 9 times population average suicide rate, any help would be welcome...

[@maftunamashrabjonova7845]

science is a wonderful thing. I would love to meet the person who gave the lecture

[@ScienceCocktails]

Yes, science is amazing!

[@29979ms]

Since I can remember, and my first memories are in my mother's belly, I have never stopped thinking and producing ramifications of thoughts to decode systems and create new ones. I have not been able to study much because my language of thought is synaesthetic, and I think by modifying and estimating the speed, volume and interactions of shapes that I see in my mind and that are abstract representations of the concepts I am thinking about. The educational model is based on canceling the knowledge we are born with instead of developing it as a basis, and the world is a reflection of this. Learning is a pleasure not a sacrifice. I have learned from nature and it has taught me everything as a living being, as being aware of being life. But I don't feel more than any other being. Human beings tend to believe themselves to be more than they really are and instead of creating they transform, that is what we are experts at. Very late diagnosis, I am autistic with 56 turns to the sun. The diagnosis helped me put my life back together and I must say that I absolutely agree with Simon Baron Cohen. Just as a dog is carried away by its sense of smell and its genetic and vivid olfactory memory, I cannot stop analyzing systems and creating interrelated ideas, so related that my knowledge is all interrelated and every time I think about something I use everything I have. I know how to achieve solutions. I don't get tired because it works alone, it's my ability, but I get tired of humanity, its chaos and disorder. That is why to reduce uncertainty my mind does not stop analyzing and transforming systems, and that works very well in the mind, but in reality the whole of humanity is a clear representation of disorder and obsolescence, except for those who only see what interests them, which are many, any idea can end up becoming imbalance. If something characterizes the vast majority of humans, it is that they never think about the consequences of their actions and decisions, and always think about achieving their individual interests. With so many millions doing the same thing every day the result is a system, a pattern that magnifies the frequency and impact of the consequences it develops. So I am glad that the imbalance in indicators such as climate is beginning to become evident, which is not the only one that fuels this planetary-scale transformation. Precisely due to the impact that advances develop, I think that we must be cautious when sharing ideas that in our heads are just thoughts, but that if they are not applied and developed in reality thinking about the consequences that they would develop, they produce evil that we suffer in humanity and on which the established economic model is based, the creation of differences and the consequent inequality of opportunities, confrontations, war, weapons, deads, ... It is very sad to me know our history, know who we are and what this represents for the future we are building. I decided to close my mind to people. Peace

[@qaismahmoud8913]

Thx for the upload

[@ScienceCocktails]

Thank you for being here :)

[@ventrust7507]

Simon Baron Cohen’s presentations always have to be taken with a good drink of skepticism. I would like to see the source documents foe SBC graphics. The last statement he said about not needing the label of autism is way more cocktails than science.

[@MsLeticiaPadilha]

Neste vídeo, Simon Baron-Cohen explora a ligação entre o autismo e a capacidade humana única de invenção. Ele começa por discutir a história da invenção, desde os nossos antepassados que criavam ferramentas simples até ao Homo sapiens, que demonstrou uma capacidade de invenção generativa. Isso foi possível devido a um mecanismo de sistematização no cérebro, que permite identificar padrões no mundo e criar invenções com base em "se e então" lógicos. Baron-Cohen argumenta que esse mecanismo evoluiu há cerca de 70.000 a 100.000 anos e examina exemplos arqueológicos, como joias, arco e flecha, e instrumentos musicais, para ilustrar como a lógica "se e então" estava envolvida na invenção. Além disso, ele introduz a ideia de um circuito de empatia no cérebro, que não apenas explica como fazemos invenções, mas também por que as fazemos. A empatia permitiu o desenvolvimento de habilidades sociais complexas, como a comunicação referencial. Finalmente, ele explora a relação entre o autismo e a invenção, observando que muitos inventores famosos exibiram traços autistas e que as pessoas que trabalham em STEM tendem a ter mais traços autistas. Isso sugere uma ligação entre aptidão para entender sistemas e traços autistas. Em resumo, o vídeo explora como a capacidade de invenção humana está relacionada com mecanismos cerebrais de sistematização e empatia, com evidências sugerindo que traços autistas podem desempenhar um papel nessa relação.

[@renatastelmantas7086]

Very interesting and informative video. Thanks

[@ScienceCocktails]

Thanks for watching!

[@rutharunasalam1349]

brilliant as always prof simon with his outstanding analysis

[@koffing2073]

lol he is always repeating the same talking points

[@jacorachan]

@@koffing2073 lol what a deep and detailed answer. You have added so much value with that comment. /s

[@Desertphile]

It has been my experience that employers do not want autistic people, as we are considered "too odd." I have brilliant and creative organization and problem-solving skills, yet few employers want employees that do not lie socially.

[@RimantasVancysProductions]

Would have been nice if the lecture was longer and a bit more in depth. That’s why I think that Q&A at the end added some “meat” to it.

[@ScienceCocktails]

Hey, thanks for the comment. The professor has establiahed the link between autism and invention, which was the goal. But yes, the Q&A adds additional info which is always great.

[@RimantasVancysProductions]

@@ScienceCocktails all in all I really enjoyed the talk, so thank you for it :)

[@1984ieji]

Very interesting insights

[@ScienceCocktails]

Thanks for watching! Which part did you enjoy the most? :)

[@MsLeticiaPadilha]

Aos 25 minutos ele fala da relação marcadores genéticos x eugenia.

[@yuginoty65]

Hello. Oh my god I just read the first two paragraphs of your book, “How autism drives human invention”, it is so me! I’m autistic, with ADHD and Tourette’s. I’m an unusual mix! I have been telling this statement, “It is the ‘different’, that drive innovation, who are also visionaries.”, to many for years. Wow! Thank you so much. Peace…Aria ☮️🏳️‍⚧️💜🦄

[@crystalstar927]

That intro hurt my brain.

[@playstationsimracing1108]

I don't know why but I was expecting a round of questions at the end and Ali G emerging from the audience.

[@SlobodanSchumacher]

THE BEST VIDEO ON UTUBE

[@user-yq1bs4is6y]

21:42 What a flimsy assertion! Autism has always been diagnosed more among the wealthy, and Eindhoven's median salary is approximately double the national average, while Haarlem is slightly above average, and Utrecht is about at average. Higher diagnosis of Autism in Eindhoven (as well as with Haarlem) is far more likely correlated to greater diagnosis among the wealthy. That a prestigious academic is presenting this graph without addressing this is shameful. Perhaps the claim is true, idk, but that graph is terrible science, which makes me question his credibility. At least he generously said Autistic people should be treated as humans being, and that we should reject eugenics😐

[@sameeraali2592]

Pleaseeeee yesssss

[@xxsnow_angelxx3953]

How accurate is autism testing for adults.

[@sameeraali2592]

They have other abilites and qualites

[@MsLeticiaPadilha]

Aos 27 fala do autismo x modelo de deficiência.

[@christophertoolsee2781]

Proof of Evolution

[@nikitran8935]

Any other autist found the intro vibration to be satisfying? Was thus deliberate?

[@raxitkaria]

Why that intro on that good content

[@RealizeANDCreate]

Nobody: Simon Cohen: “Stonekeeper, does this chattering animal speak for you?

[@SmartestRick13]

That brown noise is horrible

[@russell2910]

Wtf is up with the into ?

[@WomanFemaleAdult]

I have sympathy with SBC as he seems decent, but this does seem like a PR effort after the Spectrum 10K data/eugenics disaster

[@yoni-in-BHAM]

I dig the science but not the cocktails. How about science and coffee, tea or, hot cocoa with marshmallows and a cinnamon stick or candy cane! 😊Yuuum!!! Er, anyway, great lecture Dr Baron-Cohen! 👏🏽👍🏽

[@sto3359]

“We KNOW that 2 million years ago…”. We KNOW nothing about 2 million years ago in terms of absolute facts. This is illogical! And, yes I am Autistic!

[@cheersspaceboat4807]

Well, aren’t we all in the spectrum?

[@ScienceCocktails]

Seems like women are less so then men…

[@mikepp9588]

No

[@katedawson6654]

@@ScienceCocktails I dont think so that much. We are bad actors, its enough to pass off as just a weirdo rather than an autistic. If I had if my way, I'd scream at people and myself.

[@RatsPicklesandMusic]

Not really... You could argue there is subclinical autism up to like a halfway point but then after that there are definitely half of people not at all Autistic.

[@HappyHoney41]

@@ScienceCocktails Nope, we're just better at hiding it. It's called 'Masking'. We learn how to 'act normal' easier than men; but it can be at a tremendous cost. It takes great study and effort. We never really get it right, but we get close enough. As I get older, I can keep it together for short periods of time; then I need to get out, so I can be myself. It can take lots of preparation and practice to try to blend in. That is, if you are lucky enough to have a higher IQ. But, just because a person with Autism has a higher IQ, it doesn't mean they don't struggle. That IQ can come at a mighty price.

[@Merriestofcats]

Really bad scientific practice. This is honestly terrible.

[@___Anakin.Skywalker]

25:53 🤦‍♂️ This is absolutely wrong. Majority of autism victims are suffering and living horrible animalistic lives. Even lower forms of animals like monkeys can live on their own, independent in the wild unlike many many austistic individuals. Baron Cohen is advocating that disabled people remain disabled which is vile. There is so much suffering in individuals and families with ASD. It's a curse and denial of life arguably more horrible than abortion.

[@LinDa-vx3ly]

Agree. I’d love to actually have a talk with Baron-Cohen to point all of that out to him.

[@FPSAllTheWay18]

I'm terribly sorry that the lecture didn't, likely intentionally, include the struggles families of intellectually disabled autistics face. Perhaps an autism researcher providing a lecture on the intellectual disability comorbidity would be more accurate to what you're looking for.

[@magnusm1]

You're talking about autistics with very high support need, either due to them being extremely autistic or having simultaneous intellectual disability. Autism is not rare or often makes you "animalistic", if you believe that you haven't been keeping up with the last 30 years or so of research. I recommend you watch some recent lectures by researchers and/or autists.

[@jrodayeoh]

Maybe you should watch that part again and listen well. He said genetic screening even if it's possible is unethical and could lead to eugenics and that is dangerous. As he pointed out, and as said by Temple Grandin autistic people are different, not less. I'm talking from experience here, my children have autism ( my daughter has mild autism and my son has level 3 autism). I agree that it's a struggle, especially in the beginning. But it's you as a parent or loved one who decide how to make life better for them and for you. You must do everything you can for them. The primary hindrance to a happy life that autistic people can encounter is from their immediate family. I love my kids and they're smart and wonderful and I wouldn't have them any other way. So it's up to you. If having an autistic child is a 'suffering' for YOU, don't you think it's even more of a suffering for the autistic child? And you're the one who's making them the victim? Kind of selfish, don't you think? I find it abhorrent that you say having autism is a curse and a denial of life! No one is perfect!

[@haleydoe644]

There are Autism-like conditions that are more often than not linked to the X chromosome and MTDNA. I do not believe they're the same disorder.