EVOLUTION, AUTISM and SOCIAL CHANGE A New Feminine Theory of Evolution That Explains Autism Andrew Lehman EVOLUTION, AUTISM and SOCIAL CHANGE A New Feminine Theory of Evolution That Explains Autism Andrew Lehman 2010 Evolution, Autism, and Social Change Published by neoteny.org For Marcia 1213 Maple Avenue Evanston, IL, 60202 ...you made this project possible... [email protected] The author has made every effort to provide accurate internet addresses at the time of publication. Due to the changing environment of the internet, the au- thor cannot and does not assume responsibility for information on third-party websites that has been changed, moved, or deleted. CC 2010 Andrew Lehman Cover Illustration © KrieBel (flickr.com/photos/kriebel) Cover Design by Andrew Lehman & Dana Simpson This work is available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 license. You are free: to Share — to copy, distribute and transmit the work to Remix — to adapt the work Under the following conditions: Attribution — You must attribute the work to Andrew Lehman (but not in any way that suggests that he endorses you or your use of the work). Share Alike — If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same, similar or a compatible li- cense. First Edition : April 1, 2010 ISBN: 978-0-615-36133-8 6 | EVOLUTION, AUTISM AND SOCIAL CHANGE CONTENTS | 7 Contents V CURRENT SOCIETY: TRANSFORMATION FEATURES 120 An Introduction 12 18 The Sharing, Aesthetic Economy 122 19 Female Infanticide and Abortion 126 I GETTING STARTED 14 20 Youngest Children Immigrants 132 1 Tuning up 16 21 Testosterone-Pineal Gland Effect 134 2 Overture 21 22 Multigenerational Effect 138 3 Neoteny 24 23 Emergence of Dream 140 4 Short History of Heterochrony 28 24 Transformation of Academia 142 25 Social Networking 145 II BIOLOGY AND SOCIETY 38 26 Shared Identity 152 5 Social Structure and Human Origins 40 27 Puberty and Diet 161 6 Environment Compelling Societal Shifts 53 28 Neoteny Not Teleology 163 7 Societal Balance 57 8 Social Structure Paradigms 60 VI AUTISM 166 9 How Individuals and Societies Transform 68 29 Autism and Evolution 168 10 Chutes and Ladders 74 30 Cause 1: Social Structure 171 31 Cause 2: Forebear Features 174 III CURRENT SOCIETY: THE PLayerS 80 32 Cause 3: Environment 179 11 Orchestral Theory and Contemporary Times 82 33 Cause 4: Childhood Conditions 185 12 Female Choice and Societal Innovation 89 34 Brains and Testicles 190 13 Youth 93 35 Narcissism 193 14 Creativity and People of Color 96 36 Related Conditions 196 15 Artists 105 37 Primary Process and Aboriginal Society 199 16 Gays and Lesbians 110 38 Interventions 204 17 The Autistic 112 39 Autism Predictions 210 IV INTERLUDE: MISSISSIPPI AS METAPHOR 114 VII CONCLUSION 214 VIII BIBLIOGRAPHY 243 8 | EVOLUTION, AUTISM AND SOCIAL CHANGE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS | 9 Acknowledgements I realized that if my favorite author liked what I wrote, then maybe I could risk telling myself I can be a writer. The following people have all encouraged, supported and made it For someone as self-critical as I am, support from revered pro- easier for me to create this book, though most have been exposed to fessionals like autism luminary Simon Baron-Cohen and author Tom only small parts of the project. Only Roger Olson and Rosanna Schatz- Robbins has been deeply felt. Thank you. ki have read the whole thing, adjusting, revising and editing. I thank Other luminaries whose work I revere that have offered positive them deeply. All others have responded to essays posted at neoteny.org, responses and/or questions about my work include Riane Eisler, Elaine posting replys to work appearing in that blog format, or responding Morgan and William Irwin Thompson. I thank you, deeply. to mailed or emailed passages. I am an artist, businessman and social I co-publish the ShiftJournal.com with Mark Stairwalt. His trust of change activist. Though I have numerous academic allies in my political my ideas have been instrumental in my taking risks to make them more work, and I serve many in my business, I have no PhD, no academic widely known. Thank you, Mark. institution ties and no record of professors that cite my online work. Co-workers Dana Simpson, Bob Alanis, Beck Kramer and Dave Most acknowledgements I read in books put out by academics note Larson have all offered assistance, making integral contributions to my many colleagues making useful recommendations that resulted in ad- ability to get this project into a coherent whole. Thank you, all! justments. No doubt what you’re reading here would have been far Friends, colleagues and folks I’ve only communicated with by better and different if I had those academic allies. This would be the email have been instrumental to my putting these concepts into words. case not only because I would be benefiting from their knowledge, in- I thank Ali Akbari, Alice Andrews, Arnold Aprill, Sarah Boardman, sight, accuracy checks and citation overviews, but because I’d be better Leo Burke, Mary Day-Petrano, Sue Doherty, Matt Ewing, Bob Fa- informed on how to follow academic writing conventions. So, though gen, Martin Fisher, John Gluckman, Lee Goodman, Nancy Goodman, I thank the folks below, I’m not suggesting that they condone some, Craig Heinke, Heresiarch, Rod Homor, Anna Horvath, Joi Ito, Bob all or most of the ideas in this book. It’s that they have all responded Katzman, Dev Kennedy, Jane Kuelbs, Dale Lehman, Amber Medra- to particular passages or sections in ways that have given me the con- no, Serena Montaldo, Bill Montgomery, Martha Niles, Craig Pirrong, fidence to complete this project. (Anyone reading this book wanting Rosalie Riegle, Tetsuya Sellers, Tony Shafton, Norman Simms, Tanya to make suggestions, additions, corrections or criticisms, email me at Smith, Stephanie Sneff, Jullian Sullivan, Larry Stephens, Diana Warren, [email protected]) Paul Whittaker and Michael Zost. First, my wife Marcia Bernsten, son Elia Lehman, and Jane Jacobs Thank you KrieBeL for donating use of the image for the cover. have been instrumental in the creation of these words. I share. They There are many others not noted above. It’s hard to remember listen. I feel heard. Thank you. all the wonderful people who’ve responded to my work. Many, who Simon Baron-Cohen emailed me encouraging words in 2008 and respond by email, have only provided me their first names. has followed that with several emails that have resulted in my feeling Thank you, all. confident, at least some of the time, that I have something useful to contribute. Simon’s shared reflections on my work have been instru- mental to my taking risks to expose myself in this book form. Andrew Lehman Novelist Tom Robbins wrote me four years ago, responding to a April 1st, 2010 nine page piece. I was stunned by what he wrote. He told me it was the most interesting and compelling thing that he had read in several years. 10 | EVOLUTION, AUTISM AND SOCIAL CHANGE AN INTRODUCTION | 11 An Introduction described in this work focuses on maturation (life between conception and procreation) and how both the environment and social structure impact individuals to produce progeny influenced by events in their When natural selection established itself as the most efficient and parents’ lives. powerful way to explain evolution, several other theory pathways closed up shop, not because they were proven wrong, but because they By fleshing out a complementary, hidden partner to the theory of seemed less useful and were inelegant in their explanations. Recent dis- natural selection, this Orchestral Theory of Evolution offers an etiology coveries in neuropsychology, evolutionary biology, endocrinology and of autism and other conditions informed by a maturation paradigm. other sciences more than just suggest how useful those closed-up shops There is a strong feminine component to this theory. This is a theory might be. There may be cities hidden in how those shops conduct their based upon a presupposition of interconnection, not the random rela- business. A deep elegance has emerged that one hundred years ago was tions proposed by the theory of natural selection. Not unlike a physi- not clear. cist who has the ability to understand light as both particle and wave, I propose that Darwin’s theory of natural selection and this Orchestral I am an amateur evolutionary theorist. I have walked an uncon- Theory of Evolution are both true. A larger whole informs constituent ventional path to arrive at this avocation. My professional training was parts while at the same time chance is engaged. in fine art. I own and run a web development firm that has over 400 clients. I founded and co-direct a nonprofit organization, PJEP, which As an amateur theorist with an artist’s training, it is important that politically empowers 1,500 small, local peace, justice and environment my work be evaluated both as a product of science, and appreciated organizations in 50 states. PJEP provides them with free online orga- or approached as a work of art and play. Each idea posited requires nizing and communications tools and sometimes guides them to par- strict evaluation by academic standards. At the same time, approach ticipate in nationwide protests and projects. Fascinated by structure this work as a thing produced by inspiration. An individual becomes a and interconnection, drawn toward several disciplines that connect to scientist by committing time and intelligence to a discipline to such a how humans evolve, I’ve ended up developing a theory of biological deep degree that the individual has something significant to lose if he evolution that is complementary to, but wholly different from, Dar- or she doesn’t behave in an exemplary fashion.