UCWG 029: How do Neuroatypicals Function in an Ordinary Society?

Natalie Marsh joins Uncomfortable Conversations to discuss the problems of unconventional, exceptional thinkers trying to thrive in a conventional world. Neuro atypicals, including those with Low Latent Inhibition (LLI), Autism, ADHD, and so on, must learn to construct their own societies in a world not made for how they naturally are, in spite of their great gifts.  

From the episode of Prison Break where Michael Scofield is diagnosed with Low Latent Inhibition:

"People who suffer from low latent inhibition see everyday things like your or I do…but where we just process the image…they process everything. Their brains are more open to incoming stimuli and the surrounding environment. Other people’s brains, yours and mine, shut out the same information. We have to do it in order to keep our sanity. If someone with a low IQ has low latent inhibition, it almost always results in mental illness. But, if someone has a high IQ, it almost always results in creative genius."

A genius is someone who is able to push the limits of normal conceptions of intellectual ability. Intelligence is the ability to categorize information. They are the next step in the evolution of the human psyche, in at least one specific domain. However, everyone symbolizes information differently, accounting for the various traits we associate with different “types” of genius. A person can be extremely capable in one domain of thinking (such as mathematics or language), but weak in others because of how they conceptualize the necessary factors.

A great painter understands the symbolic concepts of color and proportion. A musician’s ears are equipped to pick up sound better, and his mind to rearrange it meaningfully.

Geniuses and divergent thinkers are often socially isolated from average minds because they do not have a way to communicate effectively. The way they perceive the world is just too different. It often leads to a life of quiet desperation or rapid revolutionary innovation. Societies change over time as minority subgroups rapidly become more successful than the majority norms which randomly bred them. This is how humanity becomes more intelligent over time. Neuroatypicals today are analogous to the random genetic mutations that ultimately change the entire DNA of a species.

In the modern world, we are arbitrarily born into and conditioned to be part of social groups we never chose for ourselves. We are limited by trying to understand the world through the group we were born into. Social outliers question these rules and branch off on their own to form new groups with new rules. If you can live as an outlier but still meaningfully participate in society as it is, you can have the best of both worlds and still push the world in a positive direction. All you have to do is be able to adapt.

Society has prepared many conventional paths that are designed to give the average person an averagely successful life. For extreme outliers, these established paths are ideological death sentences. They must be willing to explore and design their own lifestyles, brick by brick, to find their own highest happiness. They need an indomitable will to match their powerful intellect.

Confidence is often mistaken for arrogance or narcissism. This is ironic in comparison to the fact that our culture glorifies specific types of acceptable exceptionalism, so long as they do not threaten the average mind too far. It is okay for someone to claim to be superior in a very specific way, so long as you have other ways to bolster your own ego. We don’t mind if someone is taller, faster, better at playing the piano, and so on, because we know we have other qualities. The moment a claim of superiority is generalized enough to apply to everyone and threaten their ego, a dominance dispute is created. The world resists.  

People of average intelligence can feel very threatened when faced with intelligence as an objective concept that can be measured and compared on an equal playing field. No one wants to consider the possibility that their brain does not work as well as someone else’s.

It was not until recently that outlying behaviors, such as nerdy and geeky pastimes, became socially celebrated. Nowadays, it seems that nearly every big budget movie has its roots in books, video games, and comics, which were once shunned and specialty pursuits to be ashamed of. The story of outlying behaviors is already changing.

Focus on your own evolution. The only person you can be responsible for is yourself. Do not be limited by your attachment to society. Build your own society so that you can be yourself to the maximum possible degree.

Pain is what tells us that something in our lives need to change. When you feel friction in your social life, question what is wrong and what you can alter to create the life that is best suited for you.

People will fight you because you are different. Your existence challenges them, forcing them to consider that reality might be different than they are comfortable dealing with. You disrupt the foundations of their identity, so they lash out. This is why they hate you on an existential level. Until they are ready, you cannot co-exist in the same space as they do.

If you just a little bit different than the norms of your environment, you may be celebrated for what makes you superior. If you are extremely different, you will be demonized and disadvantaged. People of IQ 120-140 find themselves as leaders among averagely intelligent people. People of IQ 150 or higher may find it impossible to interact at all.

If two normal people give birth to an exceptional person, they will struggle to raise and guide them effectively because the offspring will outgrow them much sooner than they or society are prepared to accept. A young child might quickly become smarter and more mature than his parents before he even becomes a teenager. These are the children who will suffer the most, resenting their own gifts and failing to apply them productively. They need guides and role models who can meet them where they are.

As normal society progresses in its acceptance of outliers, it will become easier for unconventional young people to follow their path and find their place in the world.  

Things mentioned:

Low Latent Inhibition group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/151833815112

Prison Break: Michael Scofield's Low Latent Inhibition (LLI) diagnosis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDliPQAJIsY 

UCWG 006: Does Knowledge without Power Lead to Idle Suffering? Matching Intellect with Boldness of Action: https://gregorydiehl.net/ucwg-006-knowledge-power-lead-idle-suffering-matching-intellect-boldness-action/

UCWG 027 - Are You Self-Aware Enough to Parent Your Own Offspring? Unschooling and Unconventional Child Rearing in Vilcabamba, Ecuador: https://gregorydiehl.net/ucwg-027-self-aware-parent-offspring-unschooling-unconventional-child-rearing-vilcabamba-ecuador/

Travel As Transformation by Gregory V. Diehl: http://amzn.to/2fDzgkM

IQ and the Problem of Social Adjustment by Grady Towers: http://www.triplenine.org/Portals/0/Docs/download/IQ_and_the_Problem_of_Social_Adjustment.pdf

The Naked Ape by Desmond Morris: http://amzn.to/2rQVque