Autistic thinking is a good example of the scope and variety of this ‘software’, rising to the level of complete emulations...

From the Firesign Theatre comedy album “I Think We’re All Bozos On This Bus”:

“That is an illegal program.”
“Tough grid, Mac, that’s who I am!”

The differences must be seen as minor variants, since major differences are pathologized. But is every major difference pathological, and should it be?

This sits far more comfortably with me than does the preceding quote. “Cognitive universalism” can rise to the level of quasi-religious dogma. A number of years ago, a computer-animation piece showed a factory full of identical hammers operating in complete synchronization - except for one which had somehow transfigured into sticks to play the marimba. The factory came to a halt. All the hammers turned to face the one deviant, the one non-universal “alien”. It went back into conformity with visible reluctance. That vents my spleen (for now...) regarding autistic nonuniversality.

But what about neurotypical nonnuniversality? The implication seems to be that variances in software will still yield “in the ballpark” results. I would suggest that they can, but they don’t have to. (Yet) another external reference would be the 1970s book by Harry Browne titled “How I Found Freedom In An Unfree World”...

Last revised: June 23, 2007
(c)2007 Dave Spicer
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