From that short story I'd say the guy was maliciously telling the woman about the computer system to show how she wasn't needed anymore anyway..

Am I the only one who saw it that way?

Only on Allegro.cc can a discussion about underwear mutate into a discussion about Asperger's Syndrome.

[takes tests]

1st test: 13
2nd test: 94, 121

In my case, I was brought up in a foreign country. Me and my family are English, but we lived in the Netherlands, and everyone around us spoke Dutch. Until I was 6, I was sent to various Dutch nurseries/schools. It is said that many of the social skills are learned in the Kindergarten sandpit. However, if you speak a different language to everyone else, this becomes much harder as you cannot share worldviews with your peers, so I made up my own worldview. I did manage to become bilingual by the time my parents had the sense to move me to an English school. I'm good at figuring things out, so with reduced personal interaction, my intellectual-level had time to become more developped. I did pick up the missed social-skills over the years, but have (initially) relied heavily on my intellectual level when interacting with others.

Is this an effect of AS, or is this something else unrelated. Do you see these patterns or just immagine them?

I think that as well as taking hallucionogens, it is possible to get to this state of mind purely by meditation. I once met a girl who claimed she had done such a thing (but then again, she also claimed she could dry a wet towel with nothing but her naked body in temperatures of -25c).

I've tried Yoga on several occasions. While I find it deeply physically relaxing, I've never managed to alter my mental state of mind. You're meant to clear your mind. There's just too much going on in my mind at once, and clearing it is impossible. The best I've managed to do in that respect is to think about clearing my mind.

I've never taken any hallucinogens (and have no intention of doing so), but one thing I do like to do is to read someone's account of an experience with magic-mushrooms/LSD/etc. and try to reverse-engineer the experience - that is, I try and immagine what it's like and what's going on inside the head (it helps if you are truly aware that different people percieve the world differently and you have experience at knowing just how other people's thought-processes are organised and imagining how things go on inside their heads). Also, on my Compter-science course, I learned a bit about Neural Networks, which are similar to how the brain works, and suspect that taking LSD is a bit like randomly rewiring the connections between the neurons.

If by that, you mean recall music that you've remembered, I can do that as well, although I prefer to listen to actual music instead of immaging it. Just out of curiosity, can most people 'listen' to music they remember? I always thought they could. Something else I like to do is to try and immagine what a Techno/Rave remix of an 80's song would sound like.

AE.

So does that mean that LSD in small doses can temporarily induce AS in someone that doesn't have it? Does that also mean that Autism can be induced with greater doses of LSD? I personally think the former is possible, but doubt the latter, as the two states of mind seem completely different.

AE.

The way I mean it, is it actually FEELS like its playing, I can actually HEAR it as if it is playing. And clearer than if it were playing from my computers. My mind creates the instruments and vocals, and lets me hear them. Most times I can't remember more than a few lines of a song at any one point normally. But once I get the music, the entire music is there, every note, voice, instrument, and sometimes effects like being in hall's etc.

Now, it could very well seem like a halucination, but people with AS (which it isn't confirmed I have...) have a brain that works differently from the norm. Things are wired up differently. Someone with severe Autism will have very severe issues with sensory input, most times all the senses are multiplied 1000 times, causing a huge overload. People with AS, its the same, but way less severe, and tends to focus on a single sense (I think).

Very possibly, I've not talked to "most people" I would assume its much like you can "listen" to your own thoughts. However my "music" is much more than that, times I can controll, and mix symphonies, and it all sounds as clear and vibrant as if I was standing in the middle of a Concert hall. Infact, it sounds more vibrant... Its a very nice experience to say the least. For me, audio and sound are a huge part of things, a good movie with bad music/sound to me, is an "ok" movie, a "ok" movie with GREAT music and sound is better than Good movie, I just enjoy them much more if the music and sound are top notch. A Great movie with Great sound/music can't be beat.

Its one reason I like anime so much, often times the plot or animation of a show won't be the best, but the sound track is great, and I'll end up liking the show quite a bit.

Ever get that goose bump like shiver from excitement, head to toe? I do, and good music can trigger it Its like getting a little shot of adrenalin or some other nice drug. If only it happened more often

Um, its more like someone is screaming in your ears, shining a halogen into your eyes, and rubbing your skin with sandpaper, 24/7. Not much "halucinating" going on for a Autistic person.

A halucination implies that there was something there you were halucinating, like a voice, or your dead grandma, or whatever.

In that case, giving an autistic person a halucinogenic drug would be a complete disaster.

AE.