Traits autistic people share with hunter-gatherers

Thom Hartmann established a connection between ADHD and “hunter minds” in the 1980s. His idea of a vigilant hunter-gatherer “radar” mind vs a long-term work-focused farmer mind makes intuitive sense. I have argued that also the majority of ASD and gifted people are part of this hunter-gatherer neurotribe, as they often have “comorbidities” and commonalities like social awkwardness and hyperfocus on special interests.

At first, the idea of autistic people having hunter-gatherer minds does not seem as intuitive as the ADHD radar mind: autistic people would seem even less able to survive in the wilderness than in our civilized world, handicapped by dyspraxia, clumsiness and anxiety.  

However, more and more researchers believe that ASD people have ancient hunter-gatherer traits that helped our ancestors survive in the past. Hunter-gatherers need deep knowledge of hundreds of plant and animal species to survive - farmers don’t and they rely on much fewer nutritional resources. An autistic child that has learned to differentiate between hundreds of insect species wouldn’t, therefore, be an oddity among hunter-gatherers. On the contrary, knowing which insect species are harmful and which are edible would be of enormous advantage.

As ASD people live in a completely different environment from hunter-gatherers it is hard to compare them, though. However, I have been able to find some highly interesting similarities in social interaction:

1. Politeness and etiquette are puzzling concepts

Politeness and even more so etiquette is very puzzling to people with ASD. They are very straightforward and don’t understand why normies have such strange rituals when meeting. What comes seemingly naturally to NTs is often highly confusing to apsies. They would feel instantly at ease with the Pirahã hunter-gatherers of the Amazonian jungle. Daniel Everett writes about them:

Expressions like hello, goodbye, how are you?, I’m sorry, you’re welcome, and thank you don’t express or elicit new information about the world so much as they maintain goodwill and mutual respect. The Pirahã culture does not require this kind of communication. Pirahã sentences are either requests for information (questions), assertions of new information (declarations), or commands, by and large. There are no words for thanks, I’m sorry, and so on. I have become used to this over the years and forget most of the time how surprising this can be to outsiders. Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes

Hunter-gatherers share all the time and never say “thank you”. How rude does that seem to us? Horribly. Just like people with ASD come across as rude to us. However, to hunter-gatherers it isn’t rude at all, they take sharing for granted and instead of expressing their gratitude verbally they are more likely to show it with deeds later on. Etiquette is a farmer invention with various functions, like showing non-aggression, affiliation with  a certain class or just conformism. For egalitarian hunter-gatherers none of them would be functional.

2. Small talk is superfluous

There are many people who struggle with small-talk apart from autistic and gifted people. Small talk, like linguistic rituals, are part of the so-called “phatic function” of language, which is very reduced in Pirahã communication, as Daniel Everett found out to his surprise. The informational content is next to zero. Of course, all people connect with each other via language, but semantically empty chit-chat deters autistic people, even when they happily engage in talk about trivial matters when they are among themselves.

3. Avoiding eye contact with strangers

Apart from my aversion to small talk, I have always found maintaining eye contact hard, even though I am not on the spectrum. So do my boys. Hunter-gatherers display a very interesting pattern regarding eye-contact:

(source)

The Aka (hunter-gatherers) avoid eye contact with the Bantu (farmers) and show signs of social anxiety. This is exactly the same behaviour my boys and many people on the spectrum display. They avoid eye contact in public and are just like neurotypicals when among themselves.

4. Less (display of) sexual dimorphism

People with ASD are often described as more “androgynous”. I have come to avoid this term as it may convey unintended meanings. However, people with ASD definitely often dress in  a more unisex way, avoiding things like make-up and display of status (e.g. an expensive watch). Hunter-gatherers are often like that too, treating women in an egalitarian way. Men and women do dress differently, but to a far lesser extent than in traditional farmer or even pastoralist societies, which typically have the greatest display of sexual dimorphism. Hadza Hunter-Gatherer men do not even have more masculine digit ratios (2D:4D - indicative of testosterone in the womb) than women.

5. No mating games

Dating is one of the most puzzling aspects of social life for people with ASD. To them it's like a game to which they don’t know the rules. Girls play hard to get, guys show off their status, wealth and achievements. Among the Hadza hunter-gatherers dating and mating are much more straightforward and it’s mostly about female mate choice. Males do fight and sometimes even kill over a girl, but in general the choice of a female is respected. Polygamy is rarely found and (serial) monogamy is the norm. The same is true for people with ASD. Once they are interested in a partner they tend to remain faithful. This is perhaps one of the reasons why ASD girls are often at risk for abuse and sexual predation. They tend to be too trusting when someone shows interest in them.