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If that was the case then you would expect to only find autism in populations descended from Europe and parts Western and central Asia.

You would also expect autism to be nearly completely absent in Africa, East Asia, and native Oceania and North and South American populations.

I’m not an expert, but I don’t believe any of that is true.

It’s a fun “theory” but it doesn’t survive even casual analysis.




I think you'd only expect to find a significant difference in the rates of autism between regions where interbreeding with Neanderthals occurred, and regions where it didn't.

(I don't know whether that's the case or not.)


I've heard claims that favourable genes get through the global human population rather quickly, 100s of years.

Neanderthal genes have had a long, long time to do so.

(Note the key "favourable")


That seems highly dubious. The global human population isn't that well connected, or at least wasn't until recently. And single genes aren't that easy to isolate, so if they could travel that quickly we would also see all kinds of more visible traits moving around, but instead for most people we can get a decent idea of their genetic heritage looking at their face.


All people on Earth are descended from Neanderthals, and East Asians have the highest ancestry. The idea that only Europeans are related to them is outdated.

(IIRC this is why Asians have straight hair.)




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