Most people live in a world very different world from myself in a way that is related to my autism but is not a first-degree symptom of it. That is recognizing my own cognitive biases and counteracting them. The way I ultimately managed to mask required that I be cognizant of my cognitive biases so I could better have executive control of myself and could more accurately see what was around me. It has been many years since I have last taken for granted what I know as true; I constantly think about what I don’t know and think of alternative narratives to my own.
While Dunning-Krugger and WYSIATI are the biases I most refer to in the above paragraph, I also regularly counter biases like reactance, negativity bias, confirmation bias, the halo effect, the tendency to believe a first account over subsequent accounts of an event, and more. I don’t live in a world where the metaphorical ground is solid but where any information is subject to change and I live in a state of general agnosticism. I am a Christian but I am even an agnostic regarding most matters theological.
Most people, even autistic, people live in a much more solid world where they take their personal epistimes for granted. To use an example, and there are countless, beauty peagants are constantly trashed by feminists for being misogynistic but I would question whether OnlyFans or PornHub are less misogynistic? The principal reason feminists take issue with beauty peagants is not their misogyny. The feminists themselves are unaware that is not the problem they have with beauty peagants because they’re unaware of their own cognitive biases.
The reason beauty peagants are trashed by feminists more than PornHub and OnlyFans is the same reason they trash Disney princesses while taking much less issue with things like Fifty Shades of Grey. Prince Charming is an objectively better husband in every possible way than Christian Grey and the only things sexist about him and his marriage is the historical era his story is set in but with that accounted for, he is a decent, non-abusive, loving, and caring partner for Cinderella any modern woman would be lucky to call their husband. No, the reason feminists hate beauty peagants and Disney princesses is a cognitive bias called “reactance”
To put it one way, one is a debutante ball and the other is a strip club. Both have issues with sexism but people on the left are more comfortable with the strip club because it feels less traditional and more edgy. I am not saying Miss USA is great but it is much better than OnlyFans because in feminism, dolls should be regarded as better than meat. When something like this is highlighted to them, they often crash. They get defensive and start rationalizing or they get on the offense and start engaging in character assassination before sometimes throwing red herrings that I am boudnary crossing and being inapproprate in some way. It is almost impossible to change their personal epistime when presented with logic from outside the world of cognitive biases. We can’t make progress without having a sense of reality.
Ultimately, the reality each of those feminists live in. That of Daniel Kahnemann’s “Thinking Fast & Slow”, in an eveloping ether of cognitive biases dictates a worldview they believe is real but is fundamentally irrational. I see rebellious reactance to beauty queens more than porn stars for the irrational dichotomy it is. Hallucinations feel as real as physical reality and so do cogntiive biases. The rage-induced dopamine they get from revolting against the traditional that is absent when they feel something is edgier creates a real-feeling reality where one is worse than the other in contravention of logic.
The Autistic Resistance 