Is it super-intelligence or just the natural desire to just consume stuff about a topic?
I don’t have Autism, but I do have ADHD and I am just gifted with an innate curiosity to learn new things which can seem like I’m intelligent, but honestly I have no control over it. I could spend a week learning about how the brain works and it will be all consuming, then all of a sudden I have zero interest in it.
This means I have a rudimentary understanding of so many topics, but rarely will I master any one of them.
One time in a company night out, the boss announced that anyone who split his arrow (we were doing archery and drinking for fun) with their own arrow, robin hood style, would get a raise.
So I did it. I remember my thought process is “Oh this will be fun I’ll blow his mind with this”. I didn’t have a doubt in my mind I was gonna split his arrow with my own.
I have not practiced archery. I had not fired a bow since the 4-5 arrows I fired once in high school, some 20 years prior.
But I knew I was gonna do it, because that’s how my autism works. I didn’t sight or anything. I just put myself into a particular mental state, the one where things go perfect, then willed that arrow into the other arrow, drew and fired in one motion.
My arrow split his arrow in half. He didn’t give the raise, instead pretended to be too drunk and distracted to notice.
But still, I split that fuckin arrow.
So yeah, it does involve some obsession, and that leads to the knowledge But there’s also something different about the autistic nervous system at a low level.
I once spent a week researching the tumble of bullets fired from American rifles during the Vietnam war and the resultant bullet wounds. Why? Because someone said in a group setting “the M16 was introduced during the Korean war, not 'Nam.”
By the way, make sure not to get shot by a 'Nam era M16 firing 5.56mm, as you’ll never get all the bullet fragments out.
Is it super-intelligence or just the natural desire to just consume stuff about a topic?
I don’t have Autism, but I do have ADHD and I am just gifted with an innate curiosity to learn new things which can seem like I’m intelligent, but honestly I have no control over it. I could spend a week learning about how the brain works and it will be all consuming, then all of a sudden I have zero interest in it.
This means I have a rudimentary understanding of so many topics, but rarely will I master any one of them.
One time in a company night out, the boss announced that anyone who split his arrow (we were doing archery and drinking for fun) with their own arrow, robin hood style, would get a raise.
So I did it. I remember my thought process is “Oh this will be fun I’ll blow his mind with this”. I didn’t have a doubt in my mind I was gonna split his arrow with my own.
I have not practiced archery. I had not fired a bow since the 4-5 arrows I fired once in high school, some 20 years prior.
But I knew I was gonna do it, because that’s how my autism works. I didn’t sight or anything. I just put myself into a particular mental state, the one where things go perfect, then willed that arrow into the other arrow, drew and fired in one motion.
My arrow split his arrow in half. He didn’t give the raise, instead pretended to be too drunk and distracted to notice.
But still, I split that fuckin arrow.
So yeah, it does involve some obsession, and that leads to the knowledge But there’s also something different about the autistic nervous system at a low level.
I once spent a week researching the tumble of bullets fired from American rifles during the Vietnam war and the resultant bullet wounds. Why? Because someone said in a group setting “the M16 was introduced during the Korean war, not 'Nam.”
By the way, make sure not to get shot by a 'Nam era M16 firing 5.56mm, as you’ll never get all the bullet fragments out.