Good evening ladies and gentlemen, welcome to SDA Late Nite Radio. Tonight, for your delectation and pursuant to our Saturday night contemporary music show, here is Sade (also known as Helen Folasade Adu, OBE) performing Smooth Operator (1984, 3:35). Gosh she’s sweet.
Speaking of smooth operators, let’s talk about deception. It can be reasonably argued, and the following article does, that deception is one of the highest accomplishments of H. Sapiens Sapiens, because it allows us to work together collectively for the common good.
Meanwhile, it turns out that in practice there is a subset of us who aren’t so good at deception, and it’s not a matter of axiology: it’s a matter of brain structure. Strangely enough, perhaps, it also tends to turn out to be the case that such pathologically honest people are way better than average at systematizing and abstracting forms. (Disclaimer: I am what them there head-shrinkin’ folks call a high-functioning aspergian, don’cha know.)
The path to maximal utility is for our various subsets to recognize the strengths and weaknesses of each perspective, and to work together to synthesize both over-arching and under-girding solutions that mitigate the worst misbehaviours of each particular perspective.
Unfortunately, the focus of some humans, perhaps far too many humans, is on the fight or flight response. You notice how rare it is to hear (at least in the market served by those who are selling the fight or flight response) of the: “oh, calm down, hang around, we’ll work something out” response. Funny how that works. Which market are you in?
Sorry, where was I? Oh yes, here, for those who are interested in this sort of neurostructural dimension to our existence, is Simon Baron-Cohen’s essay I Cannot Tell a Lie – What People with Autism Can Tell us About Honesty at in character magazine. Here’s the money quote:
It is not that the neurotypical brain or the autistic brain is more evolved than the other: each has evolved differently, one to empathize and master the social climate, the other to systematize successfully so as to master the physical niche. The unique qualities of human intelligence are characterized not just by the capacity for mind-reading (and deception), which has enabled humans to work in coordinated activity unusually well, but also by the capacity to systematize, which has enabled humans to understand how things work, and to develop innovative technology par excellence. People with autism, who can perceive patterns better and concentrate better than their peers, are also more honest. Rather than regarding autism as a “disease,” we should recognize it as a difference that deserves our respect. Some features of it, like a learning or language disability, may benefit from treatment. But other features, like remarkable attention to detail and utmost honesty, are valuable human qualities.
Your Reader Tips are, as always, welcome in the comments.
