Infants, Monkeys, Love, And AI

[Odin2005]

1. This part caught my attention:

They would rock back and forth to soothe themselves, stare into space, and compulsively suck their thumbs. Worse still, the appearance of other monkeys would startle them and cause them to stare at the floor of the cage.

This sounds like an stereotypical autistic child. Hell, I'm an autistic grown-up and I still do the rocking thing when I'm nervous or overstimulated. Ditto with the staring at the floor.

This makes me wonder of the social deficits of autism stem from our sensory issues getting in the way of fully "linking" with our parents psychologically. That would turn the old "refrigerator mother" nonsense on it's head.