u/audhdefacto

How would you define your own polymathic process?

For example, around a year ago, I developed an interest in physics - something I haven't studied since I was in school almost 40 years ago. Now I'm building entire mathematical and mechanical frameworks from purely conceptual data (side effect of my aphantasia).

What I find is that the deeper I go into a subject, the more connections I discover to literally EVERY subject I have ever learned. In other words, I find it almost impossible to compartmentalize, and so everything I learn ends up as part of the same "continuum".

Does that make sense? And how does it compare to your own experience.

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u/audhdefacto — 2 days ago
▲ 3 r/autism

AuDHD and the "tug-of-war" [as well as either/or and additional comorbidities]

How many of you on here either have, or suspect you have, both ASD and ADHD - and how does this combination affect you specifically? For the record, I have both, and my brain often gets into literal conflict with itself on a regular basis. I constantly feel like I am being pulled in two directions at the same time.

Note that ALL community members are welcome, and so even if you only have one or the other, or if you have neither, or if you have any other combinations of related conditions, please share your experiences below.

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u/audhdefacto — 3 days ago

[Arcane] Powder is a traumatised adult living a mundane life, and Jinx is her coping strategy

Okay, here are the key details of the theory.

  1. Vi never returned to the alleyway in Act 1. Powder grew up in isolation and no longer sees her sister, they never spoke again after Vi walked away.

  2. The war, Hextech, and Jinx are all fabrications in Powder's mind. She is trying to create value and meaning to fill the emptiness.

  3. Isha is part of the fabrication. She is Powder's attempt at seeing herself as the heroic child she should have been, rather than the one who destroyed her family.

  4. The Jinx sacrifice is Powder's attempt at the same redemption but from an adult perspective. This way, she gets to be heroic as both versions of herself.

  5. The "vision" with Ekko is Powder's subconscious attempt at creating normality through a dream. But the guilt bleeds through, and this time she sees Vi as the one who died.

  6. It is easier for Powder to accept the idea that Vi was kept away because of war than if she chose to permanently abandon her.

  7. The ending is Powder finally closing her story arc in her head as she tries to move on (hence her leaving in the Airship)

  8. The fact that Jinx never seems to be completely grounded in reality suggests that she may not, in fact, be real.

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u/audhdefacto — 4 days ago

What if time and causality were REVERSED - and you only just found out...

This is intended as a fun, hypothetical question. The idea is to explore how different life would be (but keep it clean folks!) if the flow of time actually started running in reverse. As an outside observer seeing this for the first time, what would you notice first? and what would freak you out the most... (no, not that! clean - remember?)

Edit 1: fixed typo (for clarity)

Edit 2: Clarification - you are an outside observer so you are able to perceive everything as running backwards. So you exist in your original reference frame. Example, you see somebody break an egg in reverse, so the egg in now together again (This post is sponsored by Humpty Dumpty Inc)

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u/audhdefacto — 5 days ago

Aphantasia and PTSD

As a 54 year old adult with full sensory aphantasia (I still don't know the official classification-name yet, but I guess I will learn in due course), I have had my fair share of trauma, and this includes a formal diagnoses of Complex-PTSD dating back around 20 years or more.

But as much as this has been difficult to cope with over the years (it currently has minimal impact on daily life), I cannot imagine how different my life would have been if I had constantly "seen" all of the things that - even as conceptual data - caused me significant disruption and distress.

And so, what are your own thoughts and experiences in this regard?

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u/audhdefacto — 5 days ago

Theory: [The Equalizer Movies] Robert McCall has total sensory aphantasia

Here is the reasoning behind my proposal, (bearing in mind this is a theory, not a declaration or an actual character diagnosis). I am an autistic adult and I also have total sensory aphantasia. I cannot see, hear, smell, taste, or touch anything in my so-called "mind's eye" - instead, my brain relays all of these components as conceptual data. What my imagination actually experiences is closer to a highly detailed conceptual render with full sensory metadata, operating similar to a spatial-temporal-conceptual radar. For context, rather than seeing this as a hindrance, I now use this "feature-not-a-bug" to build complex mathematical and mechanical models from first principles directly within my cognitive architecture.

Okay, back to the theory. When Denzel Washington's character effortlessly reads a room with literal computational and engineering precision, and then executes a perfectly synchronized action plan, this is not simply an "autistic superpower" as has often been suggested (speaking from lived experience here). This level of precision and subsequent synchronization could only come from a mind that thinks purely conceptually rather than through replayed sensory imagery. His action sequences aren't just him taking pause - he is applying the laws of physics to his environment in realtime as a natural side-effect of his unique cognitive process.

Edit: Hey everyone, thank you for engaging with the post. I am not new to reddit, but this is a relatively new account. I have, out of neccesity, broken my own rule of never editing a post or a comment in order to address the elephant in the room: AI generated content. We have become so sceptical as a society that ANYTHING that carries the signature cadence of including a comparative in a sentence and using the word "just" is AI generated. The one thing we forget is that these patterns were trained into AI from human generated content. I was reading only yesterday from a fellow autistic redditor how THEY also get accused of being AI on a regular basis. For me, it's not so often, but it does happen. As such, in spite of my previous suggestion that I would take the post down, I have decided to leave it up. The reason is simple - your comments are still valid, because we all have an opinion, and it's important to recognise BOTH sides of the equation - even for hot button topics like this.

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u/audhdefacto — 7 days ago

The whole MIT framing, use of an Xbox as containment, and just the general vibe make this one my absolute favourite fictional expression, as well as the most plausible (in my opinion)

But there are a ton of other time-travel related movies, TV shows, and books to choose from. So what is YOUR favourite, and why?

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u/audhdefacto — 7 days ago

Christopher Lloyd makes use of this phrase as his "signature move" throughout the series, employing it any time he is shocked or surprised - which happens to be fairly often.

So, who exactly IS "Great Scott"? Many believe that it could be "Old fuss and feathers" (aka General Winfield Scott), but what do YOU believe?

And have we already had this conversation. Because... you know, time travel.

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u/audhdefacto — 8 days ago

Does the following feel familiar within this community?

I am an AuDHD adult and an independent researcher with total sensory aphantasia. I am currently working on a series of white papers that include a mechanical and mathematical framework with possible application for deep-space navigation. And yet every time I type, I feel like I am starting a fight with my keyboard. I have created unique field and particle curvature equations that align with both Special and General Relativity to floating-point accuracy, and yet my basic, mental math is a consistent embarrassment. What kind of cosmic tomfoolery IS this? Is it common to have this kind of "Top-Down" cognitive style, where I frequently find myself tripping over the basics whilst performing such computational feats, and if so can any of you actually relate to any of this. Your feedback on this matter would be most welcome.

Case in point: as always, it took me far longer than I care to admit to get the words to play nicely together before I hit POST.

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u/audhdefacto — 8 days ago
▲ 86 r/autism

At 54, I've finally realised this is less of a metaphor, and more of a literal social filter. I can usually spot a fellow spectrum-dweller in the middle of a crowd, but it often leaves me feeling awkward until I pluck up the courage to actually speak up.

It now feels closer to being a "quiet superpower" - a way of finding my people whilst avoiding social friction. What is your own experience of this: are you also "tuned into the tribe", and if you are, do you find it a help or a hindrance?

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u/audhdefacto — 8 days ago

For perspective, I'm 54. I didn't realise I had aphantasia until I was 53. I am still stunned by this fact every time I think about it.

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u/audhdefacto — 8 days ago

For example, mine affects ALL of my internal sensory processing, and I don't know how common or rare this actually is because I don't actually know anyone else with the same expression.

I literally can't see, hear, smell, taste, or "touch" anything through my so-called "mind's eye". I get literally nothing. What I do get is what I would describe as a complete conceptual model (like if you were to build an image from sonar data or something like that).

What are the different ways that your own aphantasia expresses itself, and what do you do to accommodate this.

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u/audhdefacto — 13 days ago
▲ 0 r/matrix

Here is my theory that reframes the Matrix's energy mechanism through biology: The Matrix operates like chlorophyll. Chlorophyll absorbs red and blue wavelengths from sunlight and reflects green, which is why plants appear green (the leaves are less able to absorb green photons).

It is possible that the Matrix is doing something structurally similar with the photons humans emit through body heat (Stefan-Boltzmann Law).

The system absorbs the red and blue components of human thermal emission and what we have left is the green screen - the visual code that defines the Matrix's signature aesthetic. This means that the blue pill and the red pill are literalisations of the wavelengths the system is actually consuming.

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u/audhdefacto — 14 days ago