The counterpoint here is that many neurodivergents managed to fit in way more and that they are actually a natural evolved important subgroup of a human society.
What you are saying is not wrong but at some point we did evolve mass production and consumerism catered to majorities making everyone else stand out more and eventually be considered disabled as modern society no longer needed their strengths and the misaligned creating new challenges,
This creates a feedback loop where people also avoid being seen doing non-typical behaviour and called others out for it.
The more our general knowledge grew the more unnecessary it appeared for anyone to specialise in subjects where books where already available and if they want to eat they ought to be working in the factory rather then have their head up in the clouds.
This is a good point, but the point still stands that not everyone in science is neurodivergent. There are plenty neurotypical people currently doing similar work to this because they developed an interest and an area of expertise.
EO Wilson didn’t have autism, and dude wrote a massive book IDing every known ant genus based on morphology. Some people just go hard
The social niche thing makes the most sense IMO. The autistic guy who prefers being alone was probably Jim the game warden who was more than happy to murder any trespassers and even the Lord listened to when it came to matters of the land. Rather than bob who knows a lot about nature and is about two steps away from having a meltdown at his job at McDonalds.
The counterpoint here is that many neurodivergents managed to fit in way more and that they are actually a natural evolved important subgroup of a human society.
What you are saying is not wrong but at some point we did evolve mass production and consumerism catered to majorities making everyone else stand out more and eventually be considered disabled as modern society no longer needed their strengths and the misaligned creating new challenges,
This creates a feedback loop where people also avoid being seen doing non-typical behaviour and called others out for it.
The more our general knowledge grew the more unnecessary it appeared for anyone to specialise in subjects where books where already available and if they want to eat they ought to be working in the factory rather then have their head up in the clouds.
This is a good point, but the point still stands that not everyone in science is neurodivergent. There are plenty neurotypical people currently doing similar work to this because they developed an interest and an area of expertise.
EO Wilson didn’t have autism, and dude wrote a massive book IDing every known ant genus based on morphology. Some people just go hard
The social niche thing makes the most sense IMO. The autistic guy who prefers being alone was probably Jim the game warden who was more than happy to murder any trespassers and even the Lord listened to when it came to matters of the land. Rather than bob who knows a lot about nature and is about two steps away from having a meltdown at his job at McDonalds.