Atlas’s change in identity didn’t happen because of any particular incident. It was a battle of attrition, as the real world picked away at their sense of self over the course of decades. But once Atlas hit rock bottom, it’s like there was a moment of realization, when the self hit a singularity and then expanded into one totality.
After reaching the point of singularity, the supernova, Atlas flooded the old version of who they were with who they are. They came to an understanding of their place in society as a neuro divergent individual—they sat with their pain and associated their ability to recognize others like themselves. Part of their ability to recognize neuro-divergence has expanded to the realm of archeology.
Atlas recently sent me links to articles about human self-domestication. For some context, according to an article published for Universidad de Barcelona:
“Human 'self-domestication' is a hypothesis that states that among the driving forces of human evolution, humans selected their companions depending on who had a more pro-social behavior.” (1)
This is interesting for a few reasons: the idea that being “social” ingrains itself either biologically (i.e, an inheritable trait) or socially (reinforced so heavily that there’s little difference between social coercion and genetic inheritance). Ultimately, the theory suggests that the social-ness of neuro-typical people eradicates alternative survival or structural machinations which might naturally suit the animal from which we evolved. The study describes the differences between feral and domesticated animals primarily in phenological terms, such as “...craniofacial differences that invariably lead to a more ‘gracile’, ‘juvenile’ profile in AMH (anatomically modern humans) relative to Neanderthals…Brow ridges and nasal projections are smaller in AMH than in our most closely related (extinct) relatives, as are our teeth and our cranial capacity. This profile is sometimes called ‘feminized’, and is associated with an overall reduction of sexual dimorphism, which is also associated with domestication.” (1)
The process that brought humans to anatomical modernity equates to an antithetical lack of self sufficiency, or at least a psychological and biological process that re oriented humans towards social behaviors. But he idea of self domestication seems tenuous with the neuro-typically convenient narrative that reinforces neuro-diversity as some kind of genetic disease. In an article from Harvard Medical School about autism and neuro evolution begins with a potentially helpful statement:
“Small regions of the genome where humans have diverged from chimpanzees contain a variety of mutations implicated in autism and other neuro-developmental disorders, report Harvard Medical School researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital.” (2)
Since the section of the human genome that diverges from other primates is also responsible for the development of the AMH neurological development, wouldn’t it be vital to imply that neuro-diversity developed hand in hand with the evolution of communities? Which should suggest the necessity or importance of these traits and these behaviors.
This should reinforce the importance and the esteem held by Elijah even in a country of Solomons.
But instead, the article continues to refer to autism spectrum disorder and other neurological differences (such as obsessive compulsive disorder) as: “defective human social and/or cognitive behavior.” (2)
It’s fascinating to me how brazenly researchers can dismiss the vitality of entire human subgroups with such a broad and devastating stroke while their research fundamentally validates the people they dismiss…
Regardless, it seems as though neuro-diversity emerged from a similar domestication process, refining the behaviors present in a given member of the group to create occupational specifications within the neurological chemistry itself. Regardless, we’re coming to understand that the Elijahs, the Druids, and those like my dear friend Atlas, have a rich history and vital place in the pre-historical schematic of human evolution.
This week is shorter than usual, as I've been rather preoccupied with the holidays. I'm going to post more very soon.
XO
-C
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