Drug-induced autism

[chemical brother]

http://io9.com/349956/one-pill-makes...anges-you-back
It says a new drug can turn you autistic and back again to block out any need for distraction, sounds a little bit intense to actually turn yourself retarded. Bonus points for the first person to try it.


Article:
Need to finish that work project, and wish you had the mental intensity to do it? Just take a synapse-regulating inhibitor, induce temporary autism, and you'll want to ignore your friends and do nothing but number-crunching for days. Autism-inducers could become as popular as Provigil among the geek set by 2020. Last night, in fact, a group German researchers announced they'd perfected the method for inducing autism. (They can also cure it.)

Over the past year, researchers have demonstrated several times that they can turn mice autistic by messing with brain chemistry -- and then "cure" them using the same techniques. The discoveries could lead to a scenario similar to the one in Vernor Vinge's novel A Deepness in the Sky, where people are given a brain treatment called "focusing" that essentially turns them autistic and makes them obsessive, detail-oriented workers.

It might also lead to recreational autism, where people who want to take a break from having messy emotions about other people decide to unplug and enter a state where human relationships are no more important than inanimate objects.

Reputation Comments on this post:

	Interesting, thanks. If you could copy the article and paste it here that would be good, as sometimes sites will take do...
	autism and retardation are completely unrelated. Being as I have Asperger's syndrome, but am certainly NOT a retard, i f...

[CrakkBakk]

haha

I would bet that parents would actaully force their children to take this.

[Matt The Funk]

I'd be willing to try anything once. I dunno how it would really be different than any other "drug".

[Metomni]

SWIM would rather just do a few lines of coke.

[bcubed]

Well, there's a whole spectrum of autism. Are we talking Asperger's-level autism (social ineptness, etc), rainman-level, or Tommy-level (can't interact with outside world except to play pinball)?

It might also lead to recreational autism, where people who want to take a break from having messy emotions about other people decide to unplug and enter a state where human relationships are no more important than inanimate objects.

That's just creepy...might inspire certain governments to give to troops, etc, to prevent annoying bouts of empathy or humanity from interfering with the mission.

[Matt The Funk]

Originally Posted by Metomni

SWIM would rather just do a few lines of coke.

SWIM doesn't see how that would be ANYTHING at ALL like autism...

[AntiAimer]

That'd be cool if the side effects are bearable.

Suddenly become great at math or a great artist.

[enquirewithin]

Originally Posted by AntiAimer

That'd be cool if the side effects are bearable.

Suddenly become great at math or a great artist.

I seriously doubt that anyone would find recreational autism the least bit cool. People who work with the autistic might find such an experience useful. It would likely be very distressing, if, indeed, possible.

[OiledMandible]

Originally Posted by enquirewithin

I seriously doubt that anyone would find recreational autism the least bit cool.

Depends on how drunk you are.

[Bajeda]

Please post the entire article when you make a thread for it, don't just give the link.

Originally Posted by bcubed

That's just creepy...might inspire certain governments to give to troops, etc, to prevent annoying bouts of empathy or humanity from interfering with the mission.

I don't know how the drug would work as the article isn't very descriptive, but I don't think soldiers would be very efficient at combat on it. The communication issues alone could render the whole plan ineffective, and if the drug mimics autism well there would be plenty of other logistical issues to get in the way. Maybe if a lose dose would just reduce emotional response it could be used, but most of the symptoms of autism wouldn't be conducive to a combat zone.

[ipomaniac]

maybe it would be useful for training the troops. i aint sure that this thing does work as we all think it does. that'd be an utopia. everyone could be a professional at everthing then.
the expectations might be far away from the truth. the same thing happened with lsd when they thought this will make the troops better for combats

[Metomni]

"SWIM doesn't see how that would be ANYTHING at ALL like autism..."

If you read the article they use the term "autism" but they don't discuss the actual symptoms this drug gives. We could assume they mean simply the most common form, but there's no way from that article that they conveyed what it actually does to you.

The only information it gave was that it might "help you be able to get things done" in the first paragraph.

SWIM was just saying that with that information, if that's all it does, coke would be just as good.

Honestly, SWIM is pretty pessimistic about the good qualities and possible applications of a drug like this, but he's willing to see how the process of it's production goes.

[old hippie 56]

swim got a cousin that has autism, why would anyone want to take a drug that would causes this?

Reputation Comments on this post:

Correct!

[enquirewithin]

Originally Posted by old hippie 56

swim got a cousin that has autism, why would anyone want to take a drug that would causes this?

Exactly! I have met quite a few kids with varying degrees of autism and its not an enviable state. They are not all smart like the Rain Man!

[old hippie 56]

Savant autism is a rarity in itself, the cousin is a gentle giant but has a mean streak when they change his meds around.

[Mint boi]

My little brother is autistic and, I find it slightly of, scratch that, extremely fucked up, that anyone would want to inflict the condition on themselves temporarily as a "recreational High". He's not that bad, but i've seen the way some of those kids suffer from their condition, and this shit is just stupid.

Originally Posted by chemical brother

sounds a little bit intense to actually turn yourself retarded

I think we're slightly above using degrading terminology like that...

[KyleR22]

Originally Posted by mint boi

I think we're slightly above using degrading terminology like that...

Saying retarded or retardation isn't insulting IMO. Calling somebody a "retard" might be these days, but mental retardation is a real disability and I'm not sure why using the words in a correct context would be seen as insulting.

[Mint boi]

The person who wrote that article has no idea what autism is it seems, to claim that being autistic means not caring about inter human relationships any more than inanimate objects is at best negligently uneducated. There is just so much wrong with the article, I don't even know where to begin

[Mint boi]

Well in that case, if we are to use it in its correct context, a "retard" is someone with an iq of 70 or under, which is incorrect in alot/most of cases of autism anyway. I still think, due to common usage "retard" is a derogatory term. I've never once heard a medical professional, or anyone in the field of mental illness use the term retard, or any other grammatical variation of it for that matter

[enquirewithin]

"Retarded," 'retard" and 'tard' all sound derogatory. However:

Autism symptoms reversed in lab
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6245742.stm

Symptoms of mental retardation and autism have been reversed for the first time in laboratory mice. US scientists created mice that showed symptoms of Fragile X Syndrome - a leading cause of mental retardation and autism in humans.

They then reversed symptoms of the condition by inhibiting the action of an enzyme in the brain. The study, by Massachusetts Institute of Technology, appears in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Fragile X Syndrome is linked to mutation in a gene carried on the X chromosome called FMR1. It can cause symptoms ranging from mild learning disabilities to severe autism.

The researchers, based at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, targeted an enzyme called PAK which affects the number, size and shape of connection between brain cells.

They found that inhibiting the enzyme stopped mice with Fragile X Syndrome behaving in erratic ways.

Prior to treatment they showed signs of hyperactivity, purposeless and repetitive movements.

Abnormalities corrected

Further analysis showed that not only were structural abnormalities in connections between brain cells righted, proper electrical communication was restored between the cells. In the brain small protrusions called dendritic spines are responsible for communication between cells.
People with Fragile X Syndrome have more dendritic spines than usual, but each is longer and thinner, and transmits weaker electric signals.
Blocking PAK activity in the lab mice corrected these abnormalities.
Researcher Dr Susumu Tonegawa stressed that the mice were not treated until a few weeks after symptoms of disease first appeared.
"This implies that future treatment may still be effective even after symptoms are already pronounced," he said.

Professor Eric Klann, of New York University's Center for Neural Science, agreed that the research was potentially significant.
He said: "This is very exciting because it suggests that PAK inhibitors could be used for therapeutic purposes to reverse already established mental impairments in fragile X children."

[Matt The Funk]

SWIM doesn't see how it would be THAT unbearable... it would be interesting for someone like SWIM who likes different states of mind...of course he may not find it useful for learning or recreational, but it's the experience itself as well.

[AquafinaOrbit]

Crazy what they have these days. Swim however really does not think it would be to insane to try. Say someone is having panic attack or an emotional break down, just pop one of these bad boys and they will no longer give a crap.

[Metomni]

That's interesting to think of it through a sort of medicinal purpose. SWIM had not thought of that application of a drug such as this. While it seems like a good idea, SWIM wonders if the symptoms the drug brought on would not be even more intense than the proposed panic attack it should be curing.

[razorwiredildo]

Originally Posted by AquafinaOrbit

Crazy what they have these days. Swim however really does not think it would be to insane to try. Say someone is having panic attack or an emotional break down, just pop one of these bad boys and they will no longer give a crap.

That could backfire. Autistic people have most of the same brain functions as normal people. I would think it very possible that one could have emotional problems or a panc attack while autistic and then have the problem of not being able to communicate their problem to anyone to get help.

[nyx]

Am I the only person who noticed that this article is sourced from a website primarily about science-fiction and that, while it links to articles of interest with regard to autism research, there is no mention of any actual substance?

It would seem to me that the "substance" in question is being regarded as a wholly theoretical entity.

Also, as a person with an Autism Spectrum Disorder and a very high IQ, I feel compelled to say that I am greatly offended by the comparison of Autism to Mental Retardation. (a note to chemical brother: I'm not at all angry at you; it is a commonly held misconception that they are the same. I am angry at the general idea of the comparison, not any one person)

While Mental Retardation may be frequently seen as a condition comorbid to Autism and rarely to other ASDs, it is not universally so.


...it's nearly 7am, I've been up all night, I'm tired, and I don't think I can string more than two or three more intelligible sentences together so I think I'll leave it at that.