Could Autism Be an Evolutionary Step Forward?

[haele]

34. Either an individual benefit trait or a community survival component.

The standard "survival of the fittest" doesn't always mean the genetically strongest, fastest, or smartest.
It means the individual carrying genetic traits most likely to survive, either on their own or helping their community survive.
Autism might be a function of curiosity, of experimentation; to noticing seasonal changes and the patterns of weather and the night sky being able to foretell abundance and scarcity of plants and animals. Autism may be part of the gene that promotes concentration - working out how to make a tool or device, such as a pot or rope, to make up for lack of some other skill so as to make it easier and quicker to get food and shelter, to work out how tinder burns high, while hardwood smolders so as to keep the tribe warm over the winter.