dont even try the 'we only use 10% of our brain' thing
did that go the way of "left/right hemisphere controlling different faculties" thing? i'm prolly behind on the neurology
dont even try the 'we only use 10% of our brain' thing
did that go the way of "left/right hemisphere controlling different faculties" thing? i'm prolly behind on the neurology
the actual 'rainman' - the guy who the movie is based off, has a very different brain. no corpus callosum, malformed cerebellum. not sure about savants in general.
dont even try the 'we only use 10% of our brain' thing
ok kidding aside... what i'm more interested in are the more abstract, philosophical, and wider implications and meanings of Autism. sorry if any of this sounds naive or dumb:
1. is it true that there are no physical differences between the brains of aspergers patients who can do rain-man stuff and "normal" brains? if this is true (and i seem to remember that it is), then might aspergers have a profound long term positive effects, in that it might inspire advances in neurological research which might lead us to eventually be able to use more of the "other 95%" of our brains?
is it at all useful or intersting to talk about Autism as a social/cultural phenomena with wider and deeper significance than only clinical?
I don't think it's very helpful to confuse the actual impairments of autism with a philosophical generalisation of what autism might mean, and it's sometimes contradictory that philosophers attempted to do this with schizophrenia in the past, as schizophrenia can be debilitating and tragic sometimes. Sometimes philosophy gets buzz words and theory mixed up with what their ideas actually mean, someone gave a good account of continental philosophy's potential to be hypocritical and elitist when it comes to mental health in another thread.
no this is mre nonsense like the left right thing, that people still actually use and believe to sell shit.
...people who take a hardline Lacanian anti-medication stance who have absolutely zero medical knowledge or training. This, of course, irritates me to no end.
Well, you don't have to convince me that it's stupid, irresponsible, and downright dangerous to glamorize mental illness. But I'm not quite sure which "continental philosophers" you're talking about here, since the only ones who talked a lot about schizophrenia did so in a very particular context, i.e., a clinical setting and in view of an anti-Oedipal post-Freudian shift in treatment strategy. D&G thought Freud overemphasized the centrality of neurotics in the realm of mental illness, and they thought schizophrenics actually had more to teach clinicians about new treatment modalities and even politics. That doesn't mean they "glamorized" mental illness--Guattari was a fully paid and practicing mental health professional. So "elitism" really had nothing to do with his interest in schizophrenia, he was more than willing to dirty his hands with it.
That said, I can think of a lot of people who do exhibit a more detached interest in these things, as if it's a cloak you wear, and people who take a hardline Lacanian anti-medication stance who have absolutely zero medical knowledge or training. This, of course, irritates me to no end.
The pattern can be explained by assuming that spontaneous germ-line mutation is a significant cause of the disorder. Parents, especially women, who acquire the mutation – but do not exhibit severe symptoms of the disorder – have a 50% chance of passing the mutation on to their children. Sons often show the most severe symptoms.
I couldn't speak for Lacan, but this sounds a lot like standard Sc*****logist doctrine to me.
.i.e. spending the rest of your life being stared at blankly for a couple hours a week, getting billed at $350/hr, insurance not accepted.
Fuck, did I do the wrong degree or what?
D&G thought Freud overemphasized the centrality of neurotics in the realm of mental illness, and they thought schizophrenics actually had more to teach clinicians about new treatment modalities and even politics. That doesn't mean they "glamorized" mental illness--Guattari was a fully paid and practicing mental health professional. So "elitism" really had nothing to do with his interest in schizophrenia, he was more than willing to dirty his hands with it.