about the manual

the manual is a book about the mind (and cognition); and constitutes a technical contribution to the increasingly-public ‘autist-led’ conversation about circumstances of neuro-diversity by the neuro-diverse; or, ‘Autism, in my own words’ – if you will 1

the manual invites a reader to reimagine familiar circumstances (of the mind and cognition), through an unfamiliar lens—a single, unifying perspective of all minds

The manual describes one autists’ attempt to make better sense of life (including the mind, and cognition), following a late (adult) dual-diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD); and as such, might be considered – “the act and consequence of directing ‘autistic special interest’ back upon itself” – albeit an act constrained by a specific set of life experiences, which together present an opportunity to do so in a ‘unique’ way 2.

see: a glimpse to begin

The core of the manual is a technical exposition (or conceptual examination, or exploration) of:

  1. Our species four predominant, philosophical and practical understandings of the mind and cognition (referred to as ’the quartet’):
    1. Mind sciences {incl. Psychology; neuroscience}
    2. Experiential practices {incl. Meditation practice; mindfulness; memory sport; hypnosis; alexander technique};
    3. Psychiatry
    4. Religions (religiosity specifically, religions only generally)
  2. A disciplined reverse-engineering of a set of phenomenal principals (and respective circumstances and mechanics) of direct-experience (of the mind, cognition, and other circumstances) behind each of the quartet
    1. A formal, ‘first-principles’ reconstruction of a definite and specific –general system of cognition, common to all minds, and sufficient to account for each of the quartet 3 4

To demonstrate the ‘general system of cognition’ broadly, the manual includes four field-guides (each written for a specific general audience), to reframe the same general system of cognition, to circumstances of:

  1. Atypical minds: circumstances of neurodiverse minds are reframed as – an extended cognitive ‘range of motion’ and configuration, of general human cognition
  2. Aspiring minds: circumstances of general human cognition are reframed as – an optimised implementation of evolved biological cognition
  3. Autonomous minds: circumstances of all evolved biological cognition are reframed as – biological-delta to a minimally-viable generalised system of cognition (specification, and partial implementation, of)
  4. Artificial minds: circumstances of artificial general intelligence are described in terms of – a non-biological, customisable implementation of the generalised system of cognition (including synthetic-delta; optimisations; extended ‘range of motion’ and configurations)

the manual—for all atypical, aspiring, autonomous, and artificial, minds—to help anyone better understand, navigate, relate and communicate, life

I believe, as a community of individuals whose circumstances are unaccounted and undermined by present societal norms, to achieve appropriate accommodation, and not ostracization, we must shift conversation to more relatable terms. The manual relates intangible circumstances (and consequences) of atypical cognition to cognition generally, and to common and familiar terms of other more tangible biological systems; to help anyone better understand, navigate, relate and communicate, life 5.

I’d love to hear from anyone happy to share thoughts, questions, or specific and constructive criticism.

next: a glimpse to begin

  1. for two introductory first-hand accounts of personal and professional life following late, adult diagnosis of Autism, see: Annie Kotowicz – ‘What I mean when I say I’m Autistic: Unpuzzling a life on the Autism spectrum’, and; Pete Wharmby – ‘Untypical: How the world isn’t built for Autistic people and what we should do about it’ (there are others, and I apologise to those authors for omission. I will maintain a separate list in time) ↩︎

  2. Including: 1) more than two decades of professional software systems engineering (with a focus here on the ‘abstract world modelling’ aspect of that role); 2) and simultaneously, more than two decades of professional (ab)use, of deep, dissociative, spontaneous ‘meditative states’ – which were doubly useful in this case – both for exploration and interrogation of the phenomena and circumstances of direct-experience – and to formally and technically, model the results ↩︎

  3. The general system of cognition is also consistent with approximately one hundred additional related circumstances of the mind, and cognition ↩︎

  4. The general system of cognition describes a presently unaccounted biological ‘system of cognition’; with structural and behavioural characteristics consistent with the biological implementation of both musculoskeletal and cardiovascular systems—a specific arrangement of multi-cellular structures, each of which exhibits a specific profile of conditional behaviours, which together with other material (and cellular) constituents, comprise a causally coherent multi-structural multi-cellular whole. Biological systems appear to follow a similar pattern which, for the mind and cognition, appears to have been overlooked, though which helpfully is still very much present, observable, measurable, and testable ↩︎

  5. #Tbc rephrase to discussion on perspectives ↩︎