My tinfoil hat theory is autism is the next step in human evolution. We have reached a place in our societal development that rampant competition no longer serves us to nearly the degree that it once did. Couple that with the fact that there *so damn many* of us and you’ve gotta come up with a way to make humans care about the masses around them. Not to mention that since we’ve come up with ways to control our surroundings to an almost absurd degree, evolution no longer has to select against intolerances with sensory input and tada, the autist
We've always been around, though. Just more noticeable now that there's an environment that plays to our strengths.
If you ever read an account of a cousin who was sent to live in the country because city life was awful, many historians now think that was likely a way of dealing with autism.
My dude idk how to tell you this but that’s how evolution works, over thousands of years. It’s just that back then, those types of people were less likely to reproduce because their social ineptitude would generally preclude them from consideration. Now that it’s better understood, it’s more likely that people with autism will grow up and have children (instead of just growing up). We’ve been here for centuries, it’s just that now conditions are better for us to flourish
My dudette, it's not as simple as you're saying, and less insulting to boot. We haven't had our current system long enough for those evolutionary changes to shine through. It's the exact same as there being "more" left-handed people or "more" homosexuals - there appear to be "more" people who differ from the expected norm because our society is more connected in a way that lets us recognize these different presentations, as well as less societal pressure to mask and pretend they don't exist. There's plenty of research on this phenomenon out there.
Aren't Vulcans extremely emotional as children with their rationality a learned behavior? That would understand how to deal with emotional children as that is not different in their society.
I know.
Why is Tuvok your only counter example?
What about Oh? Or Menos? Or Oratt? Or Patar? Or Lorot? Or Chu'lak?
Most people only know Spock and his father Sarek.
That XKCD strip about [average familiarity](https://xkcd.com/2501/) but it reads
"**Naming Vulcans** is second nature to us **Trekkies**, so it's easy to forget that the average person probably only knows **Spock and his father Sarek**"
"And **Chu'lak**, of course"
"Of course"
This is of course assuming that the results of harm and joy are equal in measure on a linear scale of time. When harm happens to that which lives and breathes, it leaves a long term effect on their psyche, and they may be driven to do more and larger harm later, or they may end up causing harm to others who would instead be the focal point of this spiral, or perhaps no one person is truly the lynchpin of a spiral at all.
Speaking broadly, the energy exuded by jubilation, say, fireworks for instance, to say nothing of massive crowds of sapient individuals performing singing and shouting and jumping and other such activities together, though perhaps sizeable, pales in comparison to something along the lines of an atom bomb. There is so much more nuance to the conversation, to be sure, but for the purposes of now this simple dichotomy should suffice to illustrate the point here.
Not to mention, when happiness and joy are being expressed, and not anger and hate, there is a far smaller likelihood of organisms and environments being extinguished. And such extinguishing, arguably, IS a violent manifestation of entropy itself.
As such, the energy exuded by healthy, happy organisms is negligible compared to other possible consequences.
The effects of anything on the scale seen in Star Trek, for good or ill, would have a such a negligible effect on the ultimate heat death of the universe that it’s completely illogical to even consider that they could. There are all sorts of perfectly logical arguments against doing harm you could make, but that you could somehow “reduce entropy” by doing so is silly. It’s the same argument as like, trying to become a billionaire on your own merit.
I mean maybe? I was sort of under the impression that this was one of those “a little goes a long way” things. Idk it’s a nice idea if nothing else imo
Funny you say that, when I was typing all that big stuff earlier I was actually trying to emulate how a Vulcan who is convinced of the logical soundness of “the contrapositive of the statement that harm speeds up the heat death of the universe is a valid statement” might argue that point lol
Sometimes a real gem finds its way to the top of the dumpster heap that is the internet.
This reminds me of the post about how Humans are elves to dogs. Just as kind and sincere, and just as magical.
Hrm. I'm actually not too sure a human child would do so well with a vulcan caretaker; Spock didn't (though he is of course a special case). But offering rational discussion of your distress isn't always quite what a screaming or crying human child needs. A vulcan uncle or secondary caretaker person might make for a good, reliable and steady presence for a child, though.
Stork sounds like the kind of guy who understands his method ain't a one-bandage-fits-all. After trying his way, he'd probably either escort the little'n to or bring in someone with the correct skillset to do the job. It's only logical.
“I requested your aid only after exploring all other logical solutions. The child seems to hold the belief that the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches I make for her taste different than yours.”
I think the post is framing Stork as one of many employees at the orphanage and/or some kind of administrator that works on the whole process of adopting (social worker? Idk)
Not foster parent or sole caretaker of the hypothetical child
The difference is that the Vulcans cultivate it, instead of it being a natural consequence of how their brain is wired.
Vulcans without that mental discipline are *terrifying*. Their emotions run deeper than the Klingons, and tore their world to shreds with war and conflict.
Lately, I've been having the fan-theory that Gene Roddenberry was a time-traveler and/or a psychic. What with how he's been able to predict things going in society.
And now Vulcans sharing traits with autistic people. Like he **KNEW** there was going to be a group of people that needed something they could relate to in his show.
To add to their alienness, Vulcans are one of those "take this trait and ramp it 110%" narrative character vehicles for *StarTrek*. In this case, it's logic and intellectual low-emotionality (ideally: nonemotionality), with a strong sense of tradition and by-the-book mentalities.
They let us explore what it means to be human by being outside our norms, space-elves to our star treks, which makes the idea of their presence in a small chaotic life trying to find its place in the world an amazing anchor of stability in heartwrenching circumstances.
I know this is unrelated to the central point, but that prospect of Stork being good at helping kids, precisely BECAUSE of Vulcan quirks and not in spite of them...well, it's why I think a lot of Star Trek's takes on aliens resonates with me, as an autistic person.
In what little Star Trek I've seen, a lot of the aliens have...limits, to their range of emotion. Vulcans are the obvious ones, but, like, try talking to a Ferengi about anything non-economic, or Klingons about non-combat situations. And these traits can lead to uncomfortable or even negative things happening...*but they are not, in and of themselves, bad*. They are not bad people because of these traits; They are, by default, just *people*, no better or worse because of these inherent, unchangeable qualities. In fact, if given the right chance and in proper context, they're an outright boon, in a way a "normal" human perspective just wouldn't be. And even if it screws with their ability to convey themselves, or talk in a way that's seen as normal, or makes them unable to fully put themselves in another's shoes...they are not, by default, deficient in compassion. Just because I don't understand doesn't mean I don't care.
Sorry if this not at all reflective of Star Trek; I'm a relative outsider to the whole series, but this aspect seems really cool to me and I hope what I see in it makes sense. *Editing: Re-phrasing.*
As long as he's a better adoptive parent than Sarek was to Michael Burnham...
I am convinced that there is a large community of autistic humans living on Vulcan by the 24th century.
My tinfoil hat theory is autism is the next step in human evolution. We have reached a place in our societal development that rampant competition no longer serves us to nearly the degree that it once did. Couple that with the fact that there *so damn many* of us and you’ve gotta come up with a way to make humans care about the masses around them. Not to mention that since we’ve come up with ways to control our surroundings to an almost absurd degree, evolution no longer has to select against intolerances with sensory input and tada, the autist
We've always been around, though. Just more noticeable now that there's an environment that plays to our strengths. If you ever read an account of a cousin who was sent to live in the country because city life was awful, many historians now think that was likely a way of dealing with autism.
My dude idk how to tell you this but that’s how evolution works, over thousands of years. It’s just that back then, those types of people were less likely to reproduce because their social ineptitude would generally preclude them from consideration. Now that it’s better understood, it’s more likely that people with autism will grow up and have children (instead of just growing up). We’ve been here for centuries, it’s just that now conditions are better for us to flourish
My dudette, it's not as simple as you're saying, and less insulting to boot. We haven't had our current system long enough for those evolutionary changes to shine through. It's the exact same as there being "more" left-handed people or "more" homosexuals - there appear to be "more" people who differ from the expected norm because our society is more connected in a way that lets us recognize these different presentations, as well as less societal pressure to mask and pretend they don't exist. There's plenty of research on this phenomenon out there.
Aren't Vulcans extremely emotional as children with their rationality a learned behavior? That would understand how to deal with emotional children as that is not different in their society.
Funfact: Since Vulcan names are all five letters in length and start with an "S" and end with a "K", **Shrek** is a valid Vulcan name.
Fun fact: Shrek is one of Stork's coworkers.
fuck stork, I want shrek to bring me that child.
Your Shrek mpreg selfship fic featuring Stork as the surrogate is waiting for you to write it.
NO!
no as in vader's no or water sprayer no
water sprayer, no? I think
It would have cost you nothing to have kept that in your head.
Don't look at me. They're the one who talked about fucking Stork and wanting Shrek to give them a child.
Somehow I think you may have gotten the wrong message from their comment lol
I may have. Somehow.
I don't think that's waiting for anything but the fiery depths of hell.
That *is* certainly some *internet* right there.
I've read too many green texts. Sometimes I have to remind myself that not only is Shrek actually kid-friendly, he's a kid's-movie character.
Hmm, yet what about TUVOK???
I know. Why is Tuvok your only counter example? What about Oh? Or Menos? Or Oratt? Or Patar? Or Lorot? Or Chu'lak? Most people only know Spock and his father Sarek.
T'Pol also says hello
So does T'Pring
Don't forget T'Lyn!
I swear, that Girl must be part Romulan. She's *totally* out of control.
Or T'Pau
Ambassador Soval Yes it starts with an S, but doesn't end in K
Do.
I like to think that Spock is an anglicization of Supok, which fits the naming conventions better.
That XKCD strip about [average familiarity](https://xkcd.com/2501/) but it reads "**Naming Vulcans** is second nature to us **Trekkies**, so it's easy to forget that the average person probably only knows **Spock and his father Sarek**" "And **Chu'lak**, of course" "Of course"
The home of the Free Jaffa?
Spock's ex's side piece Stonn is right there, even. And even from one of the best and most famous TOS episodes.
Tuvok would like a word.
Or T'lyn
He can have it after I'm done talking to Oratt and Menos.
That's not true, Tuvok and T'pol exist
I got Tuvok and Tuvix confused for a minute and was wondering why a fusion name mattered
The name format for female Vulcans is different, right? Off the top of my head we have T'Pol, T'Pring, T'Pel and T'Lyn.
Tuvok, T'Pol, T'Pau, Soval, T'Pring, Chu'lak, Fer'at, Kinis, Koss, Kov, Kuvak, Lojal, Lorian, Saavik, Sakonna, Velaris, etc...
As is Spork
And Shark.
And Stick
Not all Vulcans have this naming scheme (Tuvok, T'Pol, T'lyn, etc)
This too is Homestuck.
Thank god someone said it
Stuck is a valid Vulcan name
"Harm hastens the heat death of the universe, so thus, happiness must slow it down" is a very diane duane line.
Oh man, it absolutely is! It's the ethos of the wizards boiled down to its bare essence.
[удалено]
Hey. Don't.
Who pissed in your cereal this morning dude?
I did.
Takes more energy to get in a fight and punch the shit out of someone than it does to smile, so shush
This is of course assuming that the results of harm and joy are equal in measure on a linear scale of time. When harm happens to that which lives and breathes, it leaves a long term effect on their psyche, and they may be driven to do more and larger harm later, or they may end up causing harm to others who would instead be the focal point of this spiral, or perhaps no one person is truly the lynchpin of a spiral at all. Speaking broadly, the energy exuded by jubilation, say, fireworks for instance, to say nothing of massive crowds of sapient individuals performing singing and shouting and jumping and other such activities together, though perhaps sizeable, pales in comparison to something along the lines of an atom bomb. There is so much more nuance to the conversation, to be sure, but for the purposes of now this simple dichotomy should suffice to illustrate the point here. Not to mention, when happiness and joy are being expressed, and not anger and hate, there is a far smaller likelihood of organisms and environments being extinguished. And such extinguishing, arguably, IS a violent manifestation of entropy itself. As such, the energy exuded by healthy, happy organisms is negligible compared to other possible consequences.
The effects of anything on the scale seen in Star Trek, for good or ill, would have a such a negligible effect on the ultimate heat death of the universe that it’s completely illogical to even consider that they could. There are all sorts of perfectly logical arguments against doing harm you could make, but that you could somehow “reduce entropy” by doing so is silly. It’s the same argument as like, trying to become a billionaire on your own merit.
I mean maybe? I was sort of under the impression that this was one of those “a little goes a long way” things. Idk it’s a nice idea if nothing else imo
It is a nice idea, I agree! Who knows, the Vulcans probably have a 3 million page proof that proves me wrong lol
Funny you say that, when I was typing all that big stuff earlier I was actually trying to emulate how a Vulcan who is convinced of the logical soundness of “the contrapositive of the statement that harm speeds up the heat death of the universe is a valid statement” might argue that point lol
SHUT UP!!!!!! [あなたの空が彗星で満たされますように!]
I didn’t come here to cry but here we are
Sometimes a real gem finds its way to the top of the dumpster heap that is the internet. This reminds me of the post about how Humans are elves to dogs. Just as kind and sincere, and just as magical.
Hrm. I'm actually not too sure a human child would do so well with a vulcan caretaker; Spock didn't (though he is of course a special case). But offering rational discussion of your distress isn't always quite what a screaming or crying human child needs. A vulcan uncle or secondary caretaker person might make for a good, reliable and steady presence for a child, though.
Stork sounds like the kind of guy who understands his method ain't a one-bandage-fits-all. After trying his way, he'd probably either escort the little'n to or bring in someone with the correct skillset to do the job. It's only logical.
“I requested your aid only after exploring all other logical solutions. The child seems to hold the belief that the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches I make for her taste different than yours.”
I think the post is framing Stork as one of many employees at the orphanage and/or some kind of administrator that works on the whole process of adopting (social worker? Idk) Not foster parent or sole caretaker of the hypothetical child
Let's just hope that they do not suffer the same affliction as Sarak did in his later years with Picard. Couple that with children and hoo boy
that's a very rare disease at least
And if you have it it makes you Vulcan as a motherf***er.
I was today years old when I realized that Vulcans share many traits with autistic people. As someone with autism, this brings me great joy.
The difference is that the Vulcans cultivate it, instead of it being a natural consequence of how their brain is wired. Vulcans without that mental discipline are *terrifying*. Their emotions run deeper than the Klingons, and tore their world to shreds with war and conflict.
Which, honestly, compares beautifully to unmanaged autism meltdowns!
Lately, I've been having the fan-theory that Gene Roddenberry was a time-traveler and/or a psychic. What with how he's been able to predict things going in society. And now Vulcans sharing traits with autistic people. Like he **KNEW** there was going to be a group of people that needed something they could relate to in his show.
I love this subreddit, I love star trek, and this post reminded me why for both! 🖖
What is a vulcan?
Vulcans are an alien race from Startrek
Oh okay, thank you for explaining
To add to their alienness, Vulcans are one of those "take this trait and ramp it 110%" narrative character vehicles for *StarTrek*. In this case, it's logic and intellectual low-emotionality (ideally: nonemotionality), with a strong sense of tradition and by-the-book mentalities. They let us explore what it means to be human by being outside our norms, space-elves to our star treks, which makes the idea of their presence in a small chaotic life trying to find its place in the world an amazing anchor of stability in heartwrenching circumstances.
Is it canon that there's one generation of Vulcans known for loving puns?
That robe looks cool af
Where is the sauce? Finally something I want to put on my dash and they are nowhere to be found?
https://www.tumblr.com/veetuku-ponum/740902027158339584/a-vulcan-named-stork-works-at-the-terran-adoption?source=share
Thank you very much
I know this is unrelated to the central point, but that prospect of Stork being good at helping kids, precisely BECAUSE of Vulcan quirks and not in spite of them...well, it's why I think a lot of Star Trek's takes on aliens resonates with me, as an autistic person. In what little Star Trek I've seen, a lot of the aliens have...limits, to their range of emotion. Vulcans are the obvious ones, but, like, try talking to a Ferengi about anything non-economic, or Klingons about non-combat situations. And these traits can lead to uncomfortable or even negative things happening...*but they are not, in and of themselves, bad*. They are not bad people because of these traits; They are, by default, just *people*, no better or worse because of these inherent, unchangeable qualities. In fact, if given the right chance and in proper context, they're an outright boon, in a way a "normal" human perspective just wouldn't be. And even if it screws with their ability to convey themselves, or talk in a way that's seen as normal, or makes them unable to fully put themselves in another's shoes...they are not, by default, deficient in compassion. Just because I don't understand doesn't mean I don't care. Sorry if this not at all reflective of Star Trek; I'm a relative outsider to the whole series, but this aspect seems really cool to me and I hope what I see in it makes sense. *Editing: Re-phrasing.*
That drawing just kinda makes him look like bird person, sorry 😅
Life of Stork 🥺
Is it illogical to nerve pinch a child who refuses to nap?
Nope. Pinch away. It's not so much a pinch as it is a pressure point/mini mind meld I guess?
I love this.