Is Aspergers the next evolutionary step for humans?

I think that AS is a dead end in evolution like pterosaurs were. Modern day birds and bats are not related to or descended from pterosaurs. It is a clade that became completely extinct with no descendants. That tiny firecrest in the hedgerow is descended from theropod dinosaurs and is genetically closer to a T Rex than any pterosaur.

It's not looking likely that AS is an evolutionary dead end. First of all, because it seems to be pretty intrinsic genetically. Second, because it has no bearing on survival to sexual maturity. Last, it doesn't hinder the ability to find / consume food or other resources necessary for life.   

It makes it harder to find a partner though, doesn't it?!

I like that ~ a world that’s already overpopulated with largely identical humans! I don’t think the world is overpopulated. Overpopulated for what?

Overpopulated for the other lifeforms we share the planet with and overpopulated for sustainable quality of human life.The vast majority of vertebrate biomass is now either human beings or their domesticated animals, and we're pushing both hunter-gatherer humans and our great ape cousins to the brink of extinction. The more humans, the more pollution and the less space, food and clean water and air for each. Check our Earth Overshoot Day, planetary boundaries and Population Matters. Why do you think the world might not have a chance?

And I say 'largely identical' on the basis that there have been bottlenecks in humans' recent evolutionary past and all Europeans are descended from a few thousand settlers during the glacials. By having children, we shouldn't get the idea that we're preserving any rare genetic heritage, autistic or not, and of all the reasons for human extinction, not having children is one of the least likely. But yes, cultural homogenisation, mass media and globalised Macdonalds also contribute to human uniformity at expense of biodiversity. So I have reasons to prefer being childless and to wish it were more common.

In return I was tickled by your 'hard work' sounds too much like hard work. In an ideal world work should be pleasurable, or not exist at all. On how Universal Basic Income (or Citizens' Income) might provide freedom and reduce discrimination for autistic people, see this essay by Dinah Murray.

I like that ~ a world that’s already overpopulated with largely identical humans! I don’t think the world is overpopulated. Overpopulated for what? But yes, each country or society etc has its own identity, let’s say, and because most people don’t think for themselves, they go along with what socity tells them to do, so yeah, you get a world full of identical people. I have never thought of it like that before and it proper tickled me, thanks for that and  thank god for autistics, the world might have a chance after all! 

As I say elsewhere on this thread, in so far as there are autistic genes, they may be advantageous (particularly if heterozygous), but not necessarily to the autistic person. Most autistic people are labelled as such because the disadvantages outweigh the advantages at that point.

Good to hear you've not had problems with finding adult relationships. Of the autistic people I've met who are parents, most seem to have come to call themselves autistic or get a diagnosis because one or more of their children have been diagnosed and they recognise the same traits in themselves - I also see more women in that group than men. But well over half of autistic people (inc Aspies) I know have been single for a very long time and maybe never dated, or some have married without offspring. Not being able to tolerate living with someone, being hypersensitive to touch, not having the social skills or confidence to meet someone (that mostly refers to under-confident straight men), being terrified of sex or just being asexual or trans or non-binary, being too obsessed in special interests to care about either relationships or practical matters... these would all seem to diminish the possibility of reproducing. It's seems to be generally recognised that Aspies tend to start having relationships later, maybe by about 10 years, so that also reduces average number of offspring. I'm probably too old now, and despite liking and getting on with kids, I don't think it's responsible to bring my own into a world that's already overpopulated with largely identical humans.

I don't know. Not in my experience but I don't know what everyone else's experience is.

I did't want serial partners during most of the years my contemporaries were pairing off repeatedly / hooking-up / whatever it's called now, but my un-diagnosed AS didn't seem to stop there being just as many opportunities as other people around me. 

I've had three long-term (4 - 18 years) relationships as an adult, which is quite enough for me, so I'd have to say that finding a partner hasn't been difficult despite AS.    

I don't know. Not in my experience but I don't know what everyone else's experience is.

I did't want serial partners during most of the years my contemporaries were pairing off repeatedly / hooking-up / whatever it's called now, but my un-diagnosed AS didn't seem to stop there being just as many opportunities as other people around me. 

I've had three long-term (4 - 18 years) relationships as an adult, which is quite enough for me, so I'd have to say that finding a partner hasn't been difficult despite AS.    

I like that ~ a world that’s already overpopulated with largely identical humans! I don’t think the world is overpopulated. Overpopulated for what?

Overpopulated for the other lifeforms we share the planet with and overpopulated for sustainable quality of human life.The vast majority of vertebrate biomass is now either human beings or their domesticated animals, and we're pushing both hunter-gatherer humans and our great ape cousins to the brink of extinction. The more humans, the more pollution and the less space, food and clean water and air for each. Check our Earth Overshoot Day, planetary boundaries and Population Matters. Why do you think the world might not have a chance?

And I say 'largely identical' on the basis that there have been bottlenecks in humans' recent evolutionary past and all Europeans are descended from a few thousand settlers during the glacials. By having children, we shouldn't get the idea that we're preserving any rare genetic heritage, autistic or not, and of all the reasons for human extinction, not having children is one of the least likely. But yes, cultural homogenisation, mass media and globalised Macdonalds also contribute to human uniformity at expense of biodiversity. So I have reasons to prefer being childless and to wish it were more common.

In return I was tickled by your 'hard work' sounds too much like hard work. In an ideal world work should be pleasurable, or not exist at all. On how Universal Basic Income (or Citizens' Income) might provide freedom and reduce discrimination for autistic people, see this essay by Dinah Murray.

I like that ~ a world that’s already overpopulated with largely identical humans! I don’t think the world is overpopulated. Overpopulated for what? But yes, each country or society etc has its own identity, let’s say, and because most people don’t think for themselves, they go along with what socity tells them to do, so yeah, you get a world full of identical people. I have never thought of it like that before and it proper tickled me, thanks for that and  thank god for autistics, the world might have a chance after all! 

As I say elsewhere on this thread, in so far as there are autistic genes, they may be advantageous (particularly if heterozygous), but not necessarily to the autistic person. Most autistic people are labelled as such because the disadvantages outweigh the advantages at that point.

Good to hear you've not had problems with finding adult relationships. Of the autistic people I've met who are parents, most seem to have come to call themselves autistic or get a diagnosis because one or more of their children have been diagnosed and they recognise the same traits in themselves - I also see more women in that group than men. But well over half of autistic people (inc Aspies) I know have been single for a very long time and maybe never dated, or some have married without offspring. Not being able to tolerate living with someone, being hypersensitive to touch, not having the social skills or confidence to meet someone (that mostly refers to under-confident straight men), being terrified of sex or just being asexual or trans or non-binary, being too obsessed in special interests to care about either relationships or practical matters... these would all seem to diminish the possibility of reproducing. It's seems to be generally recognised that Aspies tend to start having relationships later, maybe by about 10 years, so that also reduces average number of offspring. I'm probably too old now, and despite liking and getting on with kids, I don't think it's responsible to bring my own into a world that's already overpopulated with largely identical humans.