this post was submitted on 26 Feb 2026
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Autism

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[–] melisdrawing@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 5 minutes ago* (last edited 4 minutes ago)

It feels anecdotal, but I felt like I had a voodoo doll for my last manager. He was a nice enough guy but just hyper and careless. So he would do stuff all the time without thinking about what came next. I would see him on my commute sometimes following close behind other cars, speeding to red lights and such. Said to my coworker, 'He is going to not be here one day because he got in a car accident.' A few weeks later and he is out because he totalled his car into the back of another car. Another time the company was cheaping out on hiring someone to replace lightbulbs and he was like, I'll just change them myself! I said, "you need insurance to do stuff like that in an office, thousands of people fall off ladders every year" A few weeks later he was out for days, found out he fell off a ladder at his house. I didn't cause these things to happen, but I stopped vocalizing what I was predicting. As the wise Michael Scott once said, "I'm not superstitious, but I am a little stitious."

[–] GreenBeanMachine@lemmy.world 5 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago) (2 children)

Everyone is taking as if pattern recognition gives you some kind of oracle powers of seeing the future.

Just to clarify, pattern recognition ≠ foretelling.

More often it just causes people to overthink and invent conspiracy theories.

[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 hour ago

That's also a thing, overthinking and obsessive interests.

And the talker types see the ability to see through their lies as "uncanny".

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

"I see where this is going"

Goes in a different direction

"Oh, so this is part of the pattern where everyone is trying to fuck with me"

[–] 0x0@lemmy.zip 11 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Pattern recognition is inherent to how the human brain works...

[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip -4 points 1 hour ago (1 children)
[–] 0x0@lemmy.zip 5 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

I don't need to, it's a fact, it's inherent for the cognitive process.

[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip -2 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago) (1 children)

Yes, but in autists it's ramped up 100% while in neurotypicals in this society (especially in company culture) it's rather repressed.

Edit: wording

[–] 0x0@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Some people with autism (isn't it a spectrum now?) do display those characteristics, yes.

[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 1 points 56 minutes ago* (last edited 53 minutes ago)

A syndrome has symptoms typical for it.

Edit: german link

[–] Vieric@lemmy.world 4 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Sadly this describes every day of my life and has led to some serious, serious depression problems. Being able to spot things from miles out sounds pretty amazing on paper, but it's really truly a special kind of hell when you can't actually do anything about all the horrible, horrible things you see in the horizon. To anyone else who is also like this, I truly hope you shoulder it well. It is not an easy thing to live with.

[–] WorldsDumbestMan@lemmy.today 1 points 2 hours ago

I spent so long being part of /r Collapse. It was a bit latter than expected, but it is finally here.

Spent too much useful time going for longshot jobs, and trying to be something I'm not, instead of settling for what little I can get, like other people.

In the short-term, I have co-workers questioning why I'm doing things "wrong" and "correcting" me, then I watch as my back gets strained, and we lose time, making the "mistake" I had seen coming.

[–] hungryphrog@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Pattern recognition with history autism has to be the worst version of this.

[–] plyth@feddit.org 2 points 34 minutes ago

Unless you like fascism.

[–] osanna@lemmy.vg 2 points 3 hours ago

I am so autistic that when I went for my adhd assessment recently, they had me do this computer test with letters and sounds, and the sounds one, I recognised the pattern within maybe 2-3 minutes of a 30 minute test. Which voided my adhd results

[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 3 points 6 hours ago

Yes, though its also the basis for all conspiracy theories

[–] JustAnotherKay@lemmy.world 19 points 10 hours ago (2 children)

I think the actual worst part about this is that pattern recognition isn’t supposed to be a neurodivergent thing. Pattern recognition is like a built in feature in humans, but most people have it beat out of them in school

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

Pattern recognition is like a built in feature in humans, but most people have it beat out of them in school

Like so much else, it's a trained skill. You don't have pattern recognition beaten out. You just aren't so heavily invested in a subject that you get it stamped in.

It's not as though we're born with the ability to hear Morse Code, for instance. You have to develop an ear for it.

It's also a double edged sword, especially when you queue in on a pattern without understanding the reason behind it. Plenty of patterns are purely coincidental.

Picking out a "message" in a series of sounds doesn't mean the dish washer is talking to you.

[–] orbitz@lemmy.ca 7 points 10 hours ago

I thought that's part of the reason we excelled as a species, seeing the patterns to eat or run from and knowing which is which. Plus getting curious about new ones and if they dont eat us figuring out what to do with them.

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