Weary Wulf[P] I posit then that perhaps certain kinds of minds—such as autism—are more resilient to uncertainty, more able to accept concepts such as the greater unknowns of the Universe. In my case, I find unknowns comforting, I accept that uncertainty is a facet of life in a Universe chock-full of quantum absurdity. So I'm not drawn to social identity as I have no need of protection from uncertainty—so my identity is founded on values, not social groups.
Michele Sabatier@wearywulf Fascinating idea. I especially like the last sentence about social identity and not needing “protection from uncertainty.” Perhaps this explains religion, and why I was so comfortable with the idea of atheism from childhood
[P] @msabatier — The truth is is that I can't honestly speak to that as I don't know, there are a lot of things I do not know that I can only surmise. I find that my journey of being autistic has been having to accept that I simply don't know many things, and to accept that uncertainty is an aspect of life. For example, I'm fascinated by the belief that one might have a mind like a steel trap and that all memories are accurate. Objectively, I know mine are not.
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[P] I have run experiments measuring my memory and I've become aware that the mind likes to fill in gaps where it isn't sure and might even fabricate, so I've learned to see memories as subjective things. I think that the reason gaslighting works is because there's this absolute belief in the correctness of one's own memories, and questioning that absoluteness introduces uncertainty. Whereas I'd just shrug and look for the evidence.
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