Autism is quickly overtaking the human race. Not slowly. Quickly.
Yes, I know, that sounds like an exaggeration. But here are the facts: 50 years ago autism only affected 1 out of every 100,000 people. 30 years ago it affected 1 in 10, 000 people. 20 years ago it affected 1 in 160 people. Last month the Center for Disease Control (CDC) announced that it now affects 1 in 88 people.
That means that in just two generations the numbers went from 1 in 100,000 to 1 in 88.
Many scream and yell (or simply whine) about the numbers being skewed by the new diagnostic routines. They will point out that 50 years ago we didn't have a very good understanding of autism and so only the most sever and obvious cases were diagnosed. That argument only holds a thimble full of water. Why? Because the number of severe and obvious cases have increased by about 5,000%.
Have we gotten better at detecting all levels of autism? Yes, we have. But, even if you remove the higher functioning forms from consideration the number of sever cases has exploded, not by folds but by magnitudes.
Most people in my generation in the US learned about a phenomenon called Super Evolution in basic high school biology (now being called 'rapid evolution' because creationist have co-opted the first term to their own illogical ends). The phenomenon was explained to students using the 'chimney moth model', which was a real super evolution that happened in Europe. An entire sub-species of white, nocturnal moths changed into black daytime moths in less than 5 generations. For the Chimney Sweeper Moth, this was a good thing. It saved the sub-species from being wiped out by birds that preyed on them... namely pigeons.
But, not every super evolution turned out so well. Scientific history is riddled with incidence of super evolutions that resulted in the end of a species. Countless cases where a species took a genetic left where they should have taken a right.
How does this relate to autism? Anytime a species develops a significant change in it's biology that marks it as having a major and distinct difference from its predecessors in less than 200 generations it's a super evolution. Autism is a major and distinct difference, and it's overtaking the human race in so quickly that within another few generations those without some form or level of autism will be in the minority. Mathematical models say that it will only take one generation... the one that is being conceived now. The children born today are in the vanguard of a new human race. A human race in which the average person displays a significant number of autistic traits.
But, how does a super evolution happen? The one thing that is consistent in every case of super evolution is that the species in question was influenced by an extraordinary outside force. It was a matter of "adapt or die". In the case of the chimney moths it was the presence of human beings, specifically human cities. They only got the name after their super evolution, because of their super evolution. Before that they were simply regular old run-of-the-mill coastal moths. What happened was people built cities in the moth's native habitat, which at first was no big deal. In fact the moths thrived on the cities and bounty of food the high concentration of humans brought with them.
As this concentration became denser and denser the moths found homes on the rooftops, specifically on and around the warm chimneys of human fireplaces. But chimneys produce soot, which is black. White moths stand out against that black and are easily noticeable. This became a major liability to the moths when something else began a boom population living off the human cities... pigeons. Pigeons, and other birds, love human cities for all the tasty discards we leave behind. Pigeons also like to eat bugs, which human cities attract en mass. To a pigeon moths are juicy and tasty treats that prove an immense amount of protein. Moths are to a pigeon as a t-bone is to a redneck.
So, the moths had to deal with this boom population of flying predators. Actually, the flying predators dealt with them. The birds ate all of the white moths, which were easy pickings on those black chimneys. But, mutations happen. A few grey and black offspring had been born to the white moths. Normally this wouldn't have made a difference in the overall genetic condition of the moths as a race. The black moths may or may not have mated and passed on their genetic profile, but the moth population was overwhelmingly white... until the birds ate all of the white ones. All that were left were the black ones, that hid well against the black chimneys. Birds hunt by sight, and the black moths were essentially invisible to them so long as they didn't move. The ones that did got eaten, and their genetic stupidity was removed from the moth gene pool along with the white winged moths that had just perished before them.
I don't remember specifically why they turned into daytime moths, but I seem to remember that it had something to do with the Viceroy Effect, which is where one species begins to mimic the look or behavior of another to avoid becoming dinner for a common predator. Typically the first species mimics a similar species that is poisonous to the predator. In this case, it would be a colored nocturnal moth mimicking a daytime butterfly, many of which are poisonous to birds in the affected regions where the chimney moth super evolved.
Again, what does all of this have to do with autism? Look at how much the world has changed in the last hundred years. Look at how much, we, the human race, have changed the world ourselves. And it isn't any one thing, as some people would have you believe. It isn't just one thing or another. It isn't just mercury or genetics. It isn't just sociological changes or pollution or diets. You cannot change a living environment as drastically as we have in the last century and not expect a significant change in the population that dwells in that environment. Especially when you are removing or suppressing the biological nature of the population's regular breeding habits by changing the conditions for survival.
A hundred years ago the strongest and healthiest mates were still preferable. Men who could work the hardest and longest and women who could bare the most children and had the most endurance for mundane tasks. Now we look for mates, on both sides of the coin, who work the smartest, and the amount of physical labor involved in earning a living has been reduced dramatically. It's not like the need for strength is gone, but now we live in w world where thinkers are king. Our societies have developed so that we emphasize and reward specialized thinking.
If there is one thing that autistics excel at it's specialized thinking. We have created a world in which people with autistic traits are the ideal mates. This spreads the genetics far and wide which creates a massive pre-disposition to problems arising from environmental factors that trigger further mutations. Add in the fact that these genes are being reprocessed and magnified by several hundred percent with every passing generation as the global society changes to include more and more technology, thus more and more specialized thinkers, and you no longer have a snowball or what some people are calling an pandemic. You have an unstoppable landslide.
You have a human super evolution.
Can it be stopped? Maybe it could have once upon a time, but that time is long gone. Short of an apocalyptic event destroying modern society as we know it, it's too late. The genetic baby has already become the genetic bathwater.
