NT's and conversations

Hi miaxx. The linguistic terminology for this redundant phrase is a phatic phrase. The phenomenon is referred to as phatic communion. It is speech (or writing) intended to create and maintain social relationships, rather than to exchange useful information.

How are you?  = I know you. You know me. Our previous interactions have been friendly. I am about to interact with you again and require reassurance from you that you still willing to interact with me in a friendly manner. 

I don't get it! Why don't we all just tell each other what we want to tell each other without the formalities? Would be much easier haha

The theory is that this was the result of a genetic mutation which caused the emergence in humans of new cognitive abilities, abstract thought, imagination and a more complex language system than before. We began to interpret grunts in different ways because we could think about them representing more intricate meanings. The downside is that when humans haven't been able to evolve further as yet and are still stuck in thought, which is the primary cause of mental illness.

JuniperFromGallifrey said:

There's some argument that NT brains are just a little less aware and heightened than Autistic brains and so they need fantasies and role playing and symbols!

That's definitely one explanation!

Richard Klein (paleoanthropologist) at Stanford University first put forward the theory of the Cognitive Revolution. 

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/when-did-the-human-mind-evolve-to-what-it-is-today-140507905/

Klein dates it to between 70,000 to 30,000 years ago and theorises that it was as a result of an evolutionary genetic mutation that the emergence of abstract thought and imagination in human brains allowed Homo sapiens to use language to communicate at a level never seen before.  

There is also a more accessible work by language Historian Yuval Noah Harari in his book 'Sapiens'. It's a fascinating read. Harari is a public historian, and a professor in the Department of History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Ohhh kay. WHERE did you read this! Haha

There is also some theory that the brain focuses resources on the 'room' or compartment it's using by subtracting resources from other parts. Analogy: If I'm in the math room of a library, the lights in linguistics and languages are low. According to this theory, I might have trouble navigating that part of the "library".

Most Autists hate small talk because they see it for what it is: A facade. There's some argument that NT brains are just a little less aware and heightened than Autistic brains and so they need fantasies and role playing and symbols! LOL 

Ohhh kay. WHERE did you read this! Haha

There is also some theory that the brain focuses resources on the 'room' or compartment it's using by subtracting resources from other parts. Analogy: If I'm in the math room of a library, the lights in linguistics and languages are low. According to this theory, I might have trouble navigating that part of the "library".

Most Autists hate small talk because they see it for what it is: A facade. There's some argument that NT brains are just a little less aware and heightened than Autistic brains and so they need fantasies and role playing and symbols! LOL 

JuniperFromGallifrey said:

There's some argument that NT brains are just a little less aware and heightened than Autistic brains and so they need fantasies and role playing and symbols!

That's definitely one explanation!

Richard Klein (paleoanthropologist) at Stanford University first put forward the theory of the Cognitive Revolution. 

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/when-did-the-human-mind-evolve-to-what-it-is-today-140507905/

Klein dates it to between 70,000 to 30,000 years ago and theorises that it was as a result of an evolutionary genetic mutation that the emergence of abstract thought and imagination in human brains allowed Homo sapiens to use language to communicate at a level never seen before.  

There is also a more accessible work by language Historian Yuval Noah Harari in his book 'Sapiens'. It's a fascinating read. Harari is a public historian, and a professor in the Department of History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.