Aliens Among Us: Learning Disability as an Analog for Extraterrestrial Intelligence

摘要

SETI scientists can learn a great deal about possible ET communications styles and motivations by studying social outcasts and mental misfits within the human population. Citing two examples: Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), which involves a seemingly chaotic learning style at odds with linear information processing, is considered a pathology which our society treats with medication. Asperger's Syndrome, a form of autism found among the highly intelligent, manifests itself as an apparent lack of social skills and inability to communicate meaningfully with "normals." Perhaps such forms of cognitive and emotional dysfunction are the norm among highly intelligent extraterrestrials? If so, then persons with ADHD, Asperger's, or other supposed disabilities may prove useful surrogates in the study of ET intelligence.