Neurodiversity, Autism, Awe, and Religious Experience (with Jonathan Machnee)
Jonathan Machnee, an autistic researcher, discusses his ethnographic study on autistic Christians and ex-Christians, exploring how autism influences religious belief, practice, communication, and social dynamics, including its impact on Silicon Valley culture.
Deep Dive Analysis
12 Topic Outline
Defining Neurodivergent and its Problems
Autism Spectrum Disorder Categorization
Multi-Axis Nature of Autism Spectrum
Core Features of Autism Diagnosis
Jonathan Machnee's Autism and Religion Research
Cognitive Dissonance and Autistic Deconversion
Autistic Religious Practice and High Church Drift
Autistic Communication Patterns Online
Broader Autism Phenotype and Trait Clustering
Adaptive and Maladaptive Autistic Traits
Misconceptions About Autism and Empathy
Autism's Influence on Silicon Valley Culture
8 Key Concepts
Neurodivergent
A broad umbrella term for people whose brains differ from the norm or majority, often implying some form of disability. Its broadness can lead to issues in addressing diverse needs and competing interests, making it difficult for specific policy or social changes.
Autism Spectrum Disorder
A diagnostic category that encompasses a wide range of behavioral clusters, from profound autism with severe intellectual disabilities to low support needs (formerly Asperger's). It is not a single linear spectrum but rather a multi-axis collection of various sliding traits and types.
Cognitive Dissonance Pressure Cooker
A model describing how autistic individuals tend to have lower tolerance for cognitive dissonance, leading to increased internal pressure within religious contexts. When traditional religious coping mechanisms fail to alleviate this pressure, it can result in rapid deconversion.
High Church Drift
A phenomenon observed in autistic Christians where, as they age, they tend to migrate from emotionally-driven, low-church evangelical settings towards more formulaic, ritualistic forms of Christianity. These traditions often do not require emotional or relational buy-in, which many autistic people struggle with.
Broader Autism Phenotype
A concept referring to subclinical autistic traits observed in individuals who do not meet the diagnostic criteria for autism but share some characteristics. These traits can predispose individuals to certain fields like engineering and influence partner selection, increasing the likelihood of autistic children.
Affective Empathy
The ability to feel emotions in response to another person's emotions, such as feeling sad when someone else is sad. Autistic people generally struggle only slightly less with this type of empathy compared to neurotypical individuals.
Cognitive Empathy
Also known as theory of mind, this is the ability to model another person's internal state, understanding what they are feeling and why. Autistic people tend to have less cognitive empathy, though this ability can be systematically learned and developed over time.
Double Empathy Problem
A conceptual model suggesting that communication difficulties between autistic and non-autistic people are a two-way street, where both groups struggle to understand the other, rather than solely an autistic empathy deficit. While a useful framework, the data supporting it is still debated due to methodological issues.
8 Questions Answered
Neurodivergent generally refers to a person whose brain is different from the norm, often implying disability. The problem is its excessive breadth, leading to unclear definitions, competing interests among diverse groups, and difficulty in creating effective, one-size-fits-all solutions.
Autism is not a single linear spectrum but rather a multi-axis collection of various behavioral clusters. Researchers sometimes refer to "autisms" to acknowledge the distinct genetic and behavioral types within the broader diagnosis.
Autistic individuals tend to have a lower tolerance for cognitive dissonance, and many traditional religious coping mechanisms for dissonance are ineffective for them. This can lead to deconversion, especially in more secular environments where social pressure to be religious is lower.
Autistic individuals often struggle with emotional, spontaneous religious experiences like personal relationships with Jesus or collective effervescence. They tend to prefer formulaic, ritualistic, or intellectualized forms of religion, such as liturgical prayer or studying religious texts.
Autistic people often exhibit an over-preoccupation with specificity, hyper-caveating their statements, and struggling with reading tone through text. They also tend to morally escalate issues, viewing mistakes as violations of deep moral principles due to cognitive rigidity.
This refers to subclinical autistic traits found in individuals who don't meet full diagnostic criteria for autism but share some characteristics. These traits can predispose individuals to certain fields like engineering and influence partner selection, increasing the likelihood of autistic children.
No, many autistic traits can be highly adaptive in specific environments, such as cybersecurity or engineering, where thorough analytical thinking, persistence, pattern recognition, and systematic analysis are valued. However, these same traits can be maladaptive in other social contexts.
Autistic people tend to have less cognitive empathy (difficulty modeling another's internal state) but only slightly less affective empathy (feeling emotions with others). The "double empathy problem" suggests communication difficulties are mutual, but data doesn't fully support it as a sole explanation.
13 Actionable Insights
1. Be Precise in Terminology
When discussing neurodivergence or autism, use specific terms rather than broad umbrellas to accurately address needs and avoid conflicting interests, as the broad term “neurodivergent” can be unhelpful for specific policy or social changes.
2. Recognize Diverse Neurotypes
Understand that human minds are incredibly diverse, and avoid projecting your own internal experience onto others. This applies to understanding neurodivergent individuals and their varied needs, which can differ significantly.
3. Tailor Support to Specific Needs
Acknowledge that “neurodivergent people” are not a monolithic group with coherent goals. Solutions and accommodations should be tailored to specific slices of neurodivergence, as one-size-fits-all approaches can be ineffective or even harmful due to competing interests.
4. Manage Cognitive Dissonance
Be aware that autistic individuals often have a lower tolerance for cognitive dissonance. If you are autistic, recognize this tendency and seek or develop coping mechanisms that work for you, as traditional ones may be insufficient and lead to rapid unraveling of beliefs.
5. Seek Ritualistic Religious Practice
If you are autistic and religious, consider highly ritualistic, formulaic religious traditions that emphasize liturgy over emotional or relational buy-in. These often align better with autistic modes of experience, which may struggle with ecstatic or personal relationship-focused practices.
6. Practice Written or Liturgical Prayer
Autistic individuals often struggle with spontaneous verbal prayer. Instead, engage with written or liturgical prayers, where the words are provided, as these can be more accessible and meaningful forms of religious expression.
7. Cultivate Self-Awareness of Traits
If you have autistic traits (even subclinical ones), understand how they influence your communication, social interactions, and thinking patterns. This self-awareness can help you navigate social situations and choose environments where your traits are adaptive.
8. Beware of Online Mimicry
Be cautious that prolonged exposure to online communities with a critical mass of autistic individuals can lead non-autistic people to adopt autistic communication norms. This can result in false positives in detection algorithms and potential misunderstandings of actual autism.
9. Identify Super Weaknesses
If you view your autistic traits as “superpowers,” also identify your “super weaknesses” that come with them. Being cognizant of these weaknesses is crucial for mitigating potential dysfunctions and challenges that can arise.
10. Differentiate Empathy Types
When discussing empathy, distinguish between affective empathy (feeling with others) and cognitive empathy (understanding others’ internal states). Autistic people may struggle more with cognitive empathy, which can be learned systematically, rather than lacking compassion entirely.
11. Avoid Conflating Autism with Other Disorders
Do not confuse autism symptoms with those of other conditions like ADHD, OCD, BPD, anxiety, or antisocial personality disorder. Many symptoms are not unique to autism and can belong to various groups, requiring precise diagnosis.
12. Leverage Adaptive Traits
If you possess traits common in autistic individuals (e.g., thorough analytical thinking, persistence, pattern recognition, systematic analysis), seek environments like cybersecurity or engineering where these traits are highly adaptive and valued.
13. Challenge Status-Driven Mimicry
Be aware that certain autistic traits (e.g., abruptness, lack of social conformity, hyper-focus) can become associated with high status in environments like Silicon Valley. Distinguish between genuinely adaptive traits and the mere mimicry of aesthetics for status.
6 Key Quotes
Neurodivergent is sort of like the term European, right? So, you know, when you say, well, Europeans want this, like, well, are you talking about Russians or the Spanish?
John
The human mind is much more different than people realize going person to person. That people kind of project whatever their own internal experience is on everyone else.
Spencer Greenberg
Autism is a really unstable diagnosis. So how we think about autism and what autism is changes over time.
John
Autistic people tend to have less tolerance for cognitive dissonance. The things that cause cognitive dissonance and most people tend to cause autistic people more cognitive dissonance.
John
I often said the, the thing that differentiates a really good red team analyst from an okay red team analyst is your ability to just smash your head against keyboard over and over and over and over and over.
John
I think what 10X engineer just means is the guy has autism.
John