Ask someone with Asperger's syndrome.

[Rev. Rye]

Do you think that the syndrome has given you any special abilities, if so, would you like to tell what they are?

Nothing beyond having really good rote memory and being good with maths and coding and stuff. If by your question, you mean I can do such things as calculate really large numbers in my head so easily or recite the first 1000 decimal digits of the Pi number off by heart, forwards and then backwards, then obviously no. The majority of people on the autism spectrum, contrary to popular belief, aren't anything like Rain Man. These people, referred to as savants, are rather really, really rare. I think you can even count them with your hands.

The closest thing to special ability is that I'm a voracious reader and I can remember a lot of things most people wouldn't even think about. That said, even that impresses a lot of people to the point I've called it my "mutant power." Also, one of the things I've learned is that there's no point in memorising 1000 digits of pi. The amount of decimal places stored in your calculator is more than sufficient for most earthly purposes. You only need about 11 digits to measure the earth's circumference to a precision of a millimeter. To calculate a circle the size of the known universe to the precision of a quark, how many digits would you think you need? 45. 39 if you're content to limit yourself to the precision of a hydrogen atom. And if you want the precision of a Planck Length? It's 62.


There is no point in memorising more digits. I only remember 3.14159265 and really, going beyond 3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510582097494459 is literally more than anyone will ever need. Someone managed to do it to 22 trillion digits in 2016, yet there has been no point whatsoever in going further since Abraham Sharp calculated it to 71 digits in 1699.

Honestly, I'm more a Fibonacci numbers sort of guy. I can recall once hearing someone bring up the Fibonacci sequence at work and just reciting the numbers up to 2584. Then again, that's only 18 numbers, and you just add up the last two you remember saying. That's the beauty of it.

[GrandizerII]

Do you find that you're able to control or predict those behaviors that earn you the diagnosis to any degree..or is it more an issue of realising that you engage in them without any impetus or recourse?

I don't know about predict, but I can control some of these behaviors I tend to exhibit by being conscious of them and adjusting accordingly for as long as I am conscious of them (such as maintaining eye contact and smiling). The problem is I'm not always aware of what it is I'm not doing. There are too many things to keep track of consciously in the social world for me to be in complete control of my behaviors. For example, someone at work may have wanted me to sit down next to them and have a one-on-one chat, and they made sure to let me know with their body language that they do, but I just wasn't conscious of the cues. I don't know. Reading books and articles - and watching people- have helped me out with this stuff, and as a result, have gotten better at this, but if there's one thing I've learned at the end, it's that it's ok to just let it go (forget trying to be a natural at socializing) and just keep doing what I can, regardless of my struggles. And to forgive myself and not continually be bogged down by the embarrassments of the past. I don't always get things right, but at least I try to be emotionally there for my partner whom I have nothing but deep gratitude and love for, and I'm always willing to improve myself further and further to advance in life.

---

Nothing beyond having really good rote memory and being good with maths and coding and stuff. If by your question, you mean I can do such things as calculate really large numbers in my head so easily or recite the first 1000 decimal digits of the Pi number off by heart, forwards and then backwards, then obviously no. The majority of people on the autism spectrum, contrary to popular belief, aren't anything like Rain Man. These people, referred to as savants, are rather really, really rare. I think you can even count them with your hands.

The closest thing to special ability is that I'm a voracious reader and I can remember a lot of things most people wouldn't even think about. That said, even that impresses a lot of people to the point I've called it my "mutant power." Also, one of the things I've learned is that there's no point in memorising 1000 digits of pi. The amount of decimal places stored in your calculator is more than sufficient for most earthly purposes. You only need about 11 digits to measure the earth's circumference to a precision of a millimeter. To calculate a circle the size of the known universe to the precision of a quark, how many digits would you think you need? 45. 39 if you're content to limit yourself to the precision of a hydrogen atom. And if you want the precision of a Planck Length? It's 62.


There is no point in memorising more digits. I only remember 3.14159265 and really, going beyond 3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510582097494459 is literally more than anyone will ever need. Someone managed to do it to 22 trillion digits in 2016, yet there has been no point whatsoever in going further since Abraham Sharp calculated it to 71 digits in 1699.

Honestly, I'm more a Fibonacci numbers sort of guy. I can recall once hearing someone bring up the Fibonacci sequence at work and just reciting the numbers up to 2584. Then again, that's only 18 numbers, and you just add up the last two you remember saying. That's the beauty of it.

You are an Aspie, alright. Info dumping.

22 trillion digits? Fucking hell. That would've been a looot of time. Obviously, that has to be by computer.

By the way, what do you think of Graham's number?

Thanks, Jack, for backing me up. But don't you worry. Considering the author of that silly post, it's nothing for me to be affected by.

[Edwardo Piet]

I'm not good with numbers and I hate maths but I get obsessed with certain numbers. I adore logic and I love philosophy especially phenomenology and I love to talk of things true but definition or false by contradiction.

I once spent 8 months reading the a huge dictionary/thesaurus combo every day.

I love the number 11 because my 11th birthday was amazing, "11" is the laugh taunt from Age of Empires 2 (my favorite game ever. I still play it today. I first played it when I was 12. I am now 29).... and there was many other reasons but I forgot them.

Oh yeah, one is it's like 10/10 + 1

EDIT: Oh yeah my 11th birthday was the birthday I got the first game of Age of Empires, the original, AoE1 + Rise of Rome expansion I've been beta testing the closed beta for the definitive edition. It releases on Feb 20th for Windows 10 store

But as a rule I don't like odd numbers because I hate how you can't divide them in half evenly. Decimals piss me off.

I love the number 127 and 130 because they're my favorite BPMs. I'm also lately fond of 116 for chillout stuff. Not 114 or 115 or 117 but 116.

Also 127 sounds way better to me than 128 or 126. When I hear a song that is 126 BPM is sounds a little slow and at 128 it sounds a little fast. 127 is perfect because every 8 bars/measures is pretty much exactly 15 seconds and every 16 bars is pretty much exactly 30 seconds. It's beautiful.

130? Well that's just a nice BPM for dancey trancey stuff. I like to start at 127 or 130 and then go up and down by 3. so 124 is fine but 125 is annoying. 133 is fine but 134 or 132 is annoying.

[Rev. Rye]

22 trillion digits? Fucking hell. That would've been a looot of time. Obviously, that has to be by computer.

By the way, what do you think of Graham's number?

It took 105 days with four of these, and twenty six-terabyte drives. Verified in 28 hours.

As for Graham's number... Jebus. How does such a monstrosity even exist?

[GrandizerII]

I once spent 8 months reading the a huge dictionary/thesaurus combo every day.

That is crazy, but this is not surprising if you're an Aspie.

By the way, this reminds me.

Earlier, I mentioned I had a special interest as a little kid in Greek mythology.

Back then, when I hadn't yet gotten comprehensive books on Greek mythology, I used to get all my cravings on Greek mythology from two huge dictionaries we used to own. I would sit at the table and go through every single word (by skimming, not fully reading, of course), keeping an eye on every word related to Greek mythology and noting down the relevant definitions on paper.

After I was done with all that (it took me a week or two), I then reconstructed the Greek myths based on just the definitions alone. So I had stories of war and love noted down, the list of all the monsters and their descriptions, the gods and goddesses, the heroes, etc. All based on just the definitions alone. And I would go over them every single day.

Until my uncle got me a set of books all related to Greek mythology. And I was the happiest kid alive then.

Oh, and just to get it off my mind and onto this screen, the Hecatoncheires still baffle me to this day. How the hell did they have all these heads and arms connected to what otherwise was just one normal giant-sized body. Even as giants, there is something inconceivable about having all the heads properly connected to the body along with the arms. And I've yet to see an image of them portrayed exactly as depicted in the mythology (50 heads and 100 hands). If anyone has an aesthetically satisfying and accurate picture of the depiction, link me to it.

[Rev. Rye]

Here's one. It might not exactly be what you had in mind, but it's probably the best anyone has done without turning it into a complete eyesore.

And speaking of mythological eyesores, here's what happens when Cuchulainn of Irish Mythology goes into battle:

The first warp-spasm seized Cúchulainn, and made him into a monstrous thing, hideous and shapeless, unheard of. His shanks and his joints, every knuckle and angle and organ from head to foot, shook like a tree in the flood or a reed in the stream. His body made a furious twist inside his skin, so that his feet and shins switched to the rear and his heels and calves switched to the front... On his head the temple-sinews stretched to the nape of his neck, each mighty, immense, measureless knob as big as the head of a month-old child... he sucked one eye so deep into his head that a wild crane couldn't probe it onto his cheek out of the depths of his skull; the other eye fell out along his cheek. His mouth weirdly distorted: his cheek peeled back from his jaws until the gullet appeared, his lungs and his liver flapped in his mouth and throat, his lower jaw struck the upper a lion-killing blow, and fiery flakes large as a ram's fleece reached his mouth from his throat... The hair of his head twisted like the tangle of a red thornbush stuck in a gap; if a royal apple tree with all its kingly fruit were shaken above him, scarce an apple would reach the ground but each would be spiked on a bristle of his hair as it stood up on his scalp with rage.

And even outside the warp-spasms, he still has multi-coloured hair, seven pupils in each eye, and seven clawed fingers and toes on each hand and foot. I like to picture his default form as looking like Dean Venture, except for, well, that.

[GrandizerII]

Here's one. It might not exactly be what you had in mind, but it's probably the best anyone has done without turning it into a complete eyesore.

And speaking of mythological eyesores, here's what happens when Cuchulainn of Irish Mythology goes into battle:

The first warp-spasm seized Cúchulainn, and made him into a monstrous thing, hideous and shapeless, unheard of. His shanks and his joints, every knuckle and angle and organ from head to foot, shook like a tree in the flood or a reed in the stream. His body made a furious twist inside his skin, so that his feet and shins switched to the rear and his heels and calves switched to the front... On his head the temple-sinews stretched to the nape of his neck, each mighty, immense, measureless knob as big as the head of a month-old child... he sucked one eye so deep into his head that a wild crane couldn't probe it onto his cheek out of the depths of his skull; the other eye fell out along his cheek. His mouth weirdly distorted: his cheek peeled back from his jaws until the gullet appeared, his lungs and his liver flapped in his mouth and throat, his lower jaw struck the upper a lion-killing blow, and fiery flakes large as a ram's fleece reached his mouth from his throat... The hair of his head twisted like the tangle of a red thornbush stuck in a gap; if a royal apple tree with all its kingly fruit were shaken above him, scarce an apple would reach the ground but each would be spiked on a bristle of his hair as it stood up on his scalp with rage.

And even outside the warp-spasms, he still has multi-coloured hair, seven pupils in each eye, and seven clawed fingers and toes on each hand and foot. I like to picture his default form as looking like Dean Venture, except for, well, that.

Ok, that is really hard to read and absorb. So I'm not even going to try imagining what such a thing would look like.

As for the image you link to of Hecatoncheires, thanks for giving it a try at least, lol.

[Rev. Rye]

Here's one. It might not exactly be what you had in mind, but it's probably the best anyone has done without turning it into a complete eyesore.

And speaking of mythological eyesores, here's what happens when Cuchulainn of Irish Mythology goes into battle:


And even outside the warp-spasms, he still has multi-coloured hair, seven pupils in each eye, and seven clawed fingers and toes on each hand and foot. I like to picture his default form as looking like Dean Venture, except for, well, that.

Ok, that is really hard to read and absorb. So I'm not even going to try imagining what such a thing would look like.

As for the image you link to of Hecatoncheires, thanks for giving it a try at least, lol.

Kinsella's translation also included illustrations by Louis le Brocquy, and he tried to take that one on. Of course, his style is far more Rorschach than one might expect for an Irish folk epic so he does this:



And, of course, the Warp-Spasm isn't anywhere near the most brain-bleach-inducing scene in The Tain.

Also, the hecatoncheires pic is not by me.

[Edwardo Piet]

I once spent 8 months reading the a huge dictionary/thesaurus combo every day.

That is crazy, but this is not surprising if you're an Aspie.

By the way, this reminds me.

Earlier, I mentioned I had a special interest as a little kid in Greek mythology.

Back then, when I hadn't yet gotten comprehensive books on Greek mythology, I used to get all my cravings on Greek mythology from two huge dictionaries we used to own. I would sit at the table and go through every single word (by skimming, not fully reading, of course), keeping an eye on every word related to Greek mythology and noting down the relevant definitions on paper.

After I was done with all that (it took me a week or two), I then reconstructed the Greek myths based on just the definitions alone. So I had stories of war and love noted down, the list of all the monsters and their descriptions, the gods and goddesses, the heroes, etc. All based on just the definitions alone. And I would go over them every single day.

Until my uncle got me a set of books all related to Greek mythology. And I was the happiest kid alive then.

Oh, and just to get it off my mind and onto this screen, the Hecatoncheires still baffle me to this day. How the hell did they have all these heads and arms connected to what otherwise was just one normal giant-sized body. Even as giants, there is something inconceivable about having all the heads properly connected to the body along with the arms. And I've yet to see an image of them portrayed exactly as depicted in the mythology (50 heads and 100 hands). If anyone has an aesthetically satisfying and accurate picture of the depiction, link me to it.

I love mythology.

My mom loves Greek Mythology. She wrote a 14,000 line poem that is basically The Odyssey from Athena's perspective and every single one of those lines rhyhmes.

I always liked Egyptian though. I don't know anything about it but I just think it all looks very cool. The paintings and everything. And the sun god Ra is the best God ever. It's short and 2 letters and even fun to say. Ra! Best God ever.

Who are you?

"I'm Ra! Bow before Ra!"

So fucking fun to say.

I play Age of Mythology too, of course

[brewer]

I don't doubt what you are saying, that you might have mild symptoms, and I base that assumption on the way in which you communicate. Which tells me you are definitely not a serious aspy.

Criminal profiling has given me some experience in assessing disorders, and you'd be happy to know that aspies are rarely persistently violent criminals, almost non- existant.
And they are not sarcastic and malicious, and they are not likely to follow a gang leader or a group, they don't have the mob mentality.
So if someone is put down, they are not likely to join in and add derogatory comments.

You'd be interested to know that 49% of criminals in QLD Australian jails have some mental and or personality disorder.

And I am pretty aware of the nature of the majority of regular contributors to this forum, which has made me wonder whether this forum is part of the limited net access for certain jails or rehab programs.

First of all, the audacity of people on the internet lol
I mean... people really think they can figure out if a person is wrong about their own symptoms just by a few posts. Ha! That’s funny. Because the OP must not know himself/herself better than the rest of us just by reading a few lines. And “not a serious aspy...”? Ayyyyyy! I don’t even know what part of that is worse lol

Banned certainly likes to judge. Notice the last sentence? Apparently we're either incarcerated or in rehab.