Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2001 12:36:12 -0000
From: Leigh Dodds 
To: Cameron Barrett
Subject: Perspectives

Hi Cameron,

I read the stories on camworld today with interest as they echoed
something I've been thinking about over the last couple of days,
prompted by a recent TV programme on autism. In this programme
a researcher (Snyder) suggested that autistic people demonstrate
a mind with an entirely different perspective of the world.

Snyder went as far as to suggest that the 'savant' abilities demonstrated
by some autistic people are innate in all of us, its just that we're
restricted from using them due to our mental baggage (i.e. our
perceptions, etc).

I followed up on the programme and looked at some of his research.
Take a look at [1], and follow the links to Vol 13, Issue 1, "Breaking
Mindset" by A. Snyder.

Here's the abstract:

"A fundamental question facing the cognitive sciences is why it is so
difficult for us to look at the world in new ways. Experts, in 
particular, appear to have extreme difficulty in questioning the 
foundations for their belief. This I argue is because we can only 
view our world through mental paradigms.

Such paradigms, our mindsets, have evolved so that we can respond
automatically to things of importance but, by having mindsets, we are
intrinsically prejudiced. I suggest that infantile autism provides 
valuable insight into what a mind would be like if it were not to have 
paradigms. Because we are constrained to look at the world through 
our mindsets, the only way to see more is to acquire more mindsets. 
But, to actually be original, it is also necessary to subvert
conventional wisdom and this would appear to be culturally dependent. 
Accordingly, understanding creativity necessitates examining the 
collective perspectives of diverse disciplines, encompassing abnormal 
minds as well as the historical transformations of different cultures."

In the conclusion Snyder notes that:

"I believe it is necessary to take on more mindsets; develop more mental
paradigms by working in completely different fields".

Interesting stuff. I've always been a believer in cross-disclipinary
approaches to problems, and this suggests that there is actually some 
scientific basis for this.

[1] http://www.ingenta.com/journals/browse/bpl/mila?mode=direct

--
Leigh Dodds, Systems Architect       | "Pluralitas non est ponenda
http://weblogs.userland.com/eclectic |    sine necessitate"
http://www.xml.com/pub/xmldeviant    |     -- William of Ockham