An injection to treat autism spectrum disorder might be within reach after a scientific trial on mice shows positive results.
Sounds bullshit
This kind of thing is really interesting for what it might teach us about autism and the human brain more generally, but when it comes to the practical applications I just don’t see a future where it doesn’t present a ton of problems. Even when you make it ‘voluntary’, eugenics is dangerous and closely allied with exterminationist sentiment, thinking, and practice.
And it seriously risks, at a minimum, deeply undermining struggles to accommodate rather than erase disabilities. Admittedly this is a step beyond the technical capability, but if a society develops an expectation that some major human variation (be that autism, deafness, blindness, or whatever) be cured rather than accommodated wherever it is a ‘problem’, where does that leave people (or parents) who refuse the cure for themselves (or for their children)? I can easily imagine arguments like ‘if you don’t want problems, just administer the cure! you’re being selfish’, ‘this creates an unnecessary burden’, etc.
For milder forms of autism, treatment should be left up to the person and definitely isn’t necessary.
However, I also know people who have extremely severe forms of autism, which are debilitating and require 24/7 care, for which such a treatment would be a godsend.
I’d appreciate some kind of cure for ADHD or have the option to be neurotypical
Being able to read body language would be nice, but I doubt it will work on adults.
Gene therapies for other genetic conditions often do, but then those aren’t neurodevelopmental.
I’m kinda fascinated by the question of how something like this would affect me. Like the way a psychedelic experience can teach us lessons we still retain (and want to hold onto), like the way formative experiences leave deep traces in us even when when we grow and change, what features of autism would always ‘stay with me’ on some level? If things changed perceptually for me, what old habits of mind would I retain? What would I miss most? What would I not miss?
In a lot of ways I think temporary windows into different neurotypes would be much more interesting than purported ‘cures’. People don’t usually want to undo their own personalities, including mental dimensions like neurotypes. But who wouldn’t want to play with that a bit, if they knew it were safe?
We don’t even know if it will work in humans yet. They’ve only done tests on mice so far, but the gist of it is that they identified a particular protein and a gene responsible for its production. The gene therapy causes more of the protein to be produced which resulted in behavioral changes in the mice. How that plays out with humans is an open question.
It might do something in humans, but the idea that autism is reducible to genes— and a single gene, at that— strikes me as laughable on its face.
How our whole body grows is a product of the genes ultimately, so the way brain connections form, balances of different proteins, and so on are also governed by our genetic makeup. I agree that it’s obviously a much more complex picture than a single gene. However, if modifying a particular gene does increase production of this protein and that improves the way people are feeling then it’s a tangible benefit. Ultimately that’s the goal here.
I have a feeling I know how it is going to play out with western liberals, though (especially right-wing chuds and anti-vaxx groups): “Ebil CCPP spreading autism via vaccination confirmed!!!”
