By John Counsel
Whenever I hear or see someone asking what use Aspies are to the human race, or what should be done about us, my response is simple: “What do YOU think today’s world would be like without Aspies?”
Out of idle curiosity, let’s consider just a few key features of everyday life in the 20th and 21st centuries that we would NOT have if it hadn’t been for visionary Aspies, shall we?
(And yes, NTs might have given the world these life-changing technologies, etc, etc, etc, yada, yada, yada… but they didn’t. Okay?)
As for any naysayers… click here for more answers.
Meanwhile, here are some important benefits of modern living we’d be without…
Electric Power and Light
Aspies made electric power generation and distribution possible, practical and affordable in both of the two most commonly-used forms:
Direct Current (DC) — Thomas Edison
Alternating Current (AC) — Nikola Tesla
Both Edison and Tesla also invented forms of electric lighting still in use.
Radio and Telephone Communications
Radio — Nikola Tesla (not Guglielmo Marconi). More…
Fixed Line Telephones — Antonio Meucci — not Alexander Graham Bell
Smart Phones — Steve Jobs
GPS Satellite Navigation
Satellite navigation — Albert Einstein. More…
Laser Devices
Laser technology — Albert Einstein. More…
Solar Energy
Photoelectric cells — Albert Einstein. More…
Atomic Energy
The physics used in atomic energy generation — Albert Einstein. More…
Financial Markets
The physics used to operate global financial markets — Albert Einstein
Motor Vehicles
Affordable, mass-produced automobiles — Henry Ford. More…
Electric Vehicles
All-electric, optional autonomous driving — Elon Musk. More…
Personal Computers
Windows OS — Bill Gates (Microsoft)
Macintosh OS — Steve Jobs (Apple)
The Internet
Without personal computers and mobile devices, it wouldn’t be needed.
Sound Recording and Digital Distribution
Sound recording — Thomas Edison
Digital music distribution — Steve Jobs (iPod, iTunes)
Democratic government and personal freedom
Modern democracy — Thomas Jefferson, et al
Personal liberty and freedom of belief, conscience, expression, etc — Thomas Jefferson, et al
Christian scriptures
Amost half of the books of the New Testament — The Apostle Paul of Tarsus
Clarification: Several readers have expressed concern that I’m suggesting that Saul/Paul was the “inventor” of Christianity. I’m doing nothing of the sort. Paul was simply one of the most prolific communicators of the Mediterranean region and the original Christian era following the death of Jesus Christ. He articulated and/or recorded many aspects of Christian life and doctrine, practices and organisation, at both the micro and macro levels, and his writings have endured.
Are you beginning to get the picture here?
I could go on and on in the fields of literature, art, music, science, technology, medicine, research, space exploration, etc etc etc but I suspect the impact of the work and ideas of Aspies is beginning to make itself clear enough to understand just how dim, primitive and oppressive life on Earth in the 20th and 21st centuries would be without Aspies.
And as I said earlier… yes, maybe Neurotypical people could have come up with this kind of record of achievement in time to make modern daily life so much better, healthier, safer and enjoyable… but the inescapable fact is that they didn’t.
• List of famous Aspies and their contributions to humankind…
PS: Be sure to scroll down to the Comments section (below) for more…
©2018-2019 John Counsel. All rights reserved.
My Aspie World 
There’s absolutely no evidence that Paul of Tarsus was an Aspergers. How many of the others you mention were actually diagnosed? Keep to the facts otherwise you make the whole thing look ridiculous.
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How does one go about drawing conclusions about people who are no longer alive?
In much the same way as we do with people who ARE alive! By considering WHAT they say and do, HOW they say and do them — and making an educated assessment as to WHY they said and did them, including their writings.
Except that we need to assess what they said and did WHILE THEY WERE STILL ALIVE.
Fortunately, these were all FAMOUS people, so their achievements and ideas, etc — and the observations and opinions of others who lived at the same time — tend to create a reasonable record upon which we can draw still.
Contrary to your claim, there is plenty of evidence from Paul’s life and writings to suggest he was an Aspie. I’ve referred many people to clinical psychologists (my own qualifications are in educational psychology) based on less evidence than Paul has left us, all of them positively diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome. (One of them is the adult son of a mother who is a clinical psychologist, who initially ridiculed the diagnosis… until it was confirmed by several trusted colleagues. (Her former husband is a very obvious Aspie.)
As for the others on the list, many are in fact diagnosed, and several have publicly acknowledged their conditions. Others have been assessed based on their work, writings and lives — much like living Aspies.
Ridiculous?
I guess that’s in the eye of the beholder, because there are few assessment tests available that do not require an educated assumption to conclude a diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome, even now. (I underwent a series of assessments over a number of years, from 1995, ALL of which resulted in misdiagnoses. The diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome in December 2002 finally got it right.
In a field where specialist, professional opinion is often needed to establish the veracity and credibility of FACTS, keeping to the facts, as you suggest, would be preferable — but effectively impossible to do, even with the living.
Thanks for your opinion. 🙂
PS: Did you read the list of famous Aspies? (See main menu for the link.)
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