What if we ran the world?

[Zoom Dude]

When I wrote my signature line (below) I was trying to illustrate that those of us with ADHD aren't inherently worse than the NTs (Neuro-Typical, or "normal"), we're just different. But since we are a small minority, we're the ones who need to adjust.

Recently a forum member challenged my viewpoint:

Originally Posted by JOHNCG

I just read the blue-colured text at the bottom of your post.

I think you got it wrong about what would happen if ADHD was the norm. The way I see it chaos and destruction would reign and before long what was ordered society would be nothing more than smouldering ruins. The state would swiftly evaporate and communities would unravel universally. There would be a bloody apocalypse = a "warr of every man against every man" as Thomas Hobbs the political philosopher famously predicted. Put briefly, it -i.e. an ADHD-dominated /controlled world-would be a very ugly and violent,though mercifully short-lived (i.e; self-destructive) cataclysm.

While I disagree, I realized this might be a very interesting concept to explore. What if all of us with ADHD lived in a world where we were the majority? Where our brains worked just as they do now, but since we were the majority, we wouldn't be the ones labeled with a "condition" - those poor saps with an unhealthy need for order, predictability and staying on schedule would need therapy and medication to cope with our world.

So, what would that world look like? Let me set the stage. I believe that humans, with or without ADHD, are a phenominally adaptable species. I don't think chaos would reign. I think we would continue to advance, but in different ways. Don't forget, some of the world's greatest minds had ADHD. People like Einstein, Churchill, Mozart, Franklin and Edison did great things in part because they did them differently from those around them. (OK, having towering intellects may have helped too. ) Imagine if all of us - with what we currently consider to be ADHD - were able to develop in a way that suited us, without having to conform to a way of being that is not our own.

I think the world would do fine. I just don't know what life would be like. What do you think? Tell me your thoughts, from the big picture down to the mundane little interactions of life.

ZD

[Conman]

days would change from 24 hours to 30

perhaps some form of the arts section would advance somehow

the tables have turned

comedy movies would reign

[avjgirsijdhtjhs]

Originally Posted by Conman

days would change from 24 hours to 30

Yes!

There's too much inefficiency with 24 hour days. To much time spent getting ready for work, and the commute and the evening commute and the kids' school stuff, etc relative to the time spent working and relaxing.

30 hour days, 10 hour workdays, 5 day work weeks, 3 day weekends, and metric time would be an improvement IMO. Or at least "on paper" to me...

[Conman]

i wouldnt go so far as to say 10 hour work days...you know what, **** it. wouldnt apply to me anyway considering the job profession im going into my days will be 30 hour days. ill have to buy special clocks that go to 15 o'clock

[avjgirsijdhtjhs]

Originally Posted by Conman

the job profession im going into my days will be 30 hour days

What would that be?

[JOHNCG]

[quote=Zoom Dude;1326543]When I wrote my signature line (below) I was trying to illustrate that those of us with ADHD aren't inherently worse than the NTs (Neuro-Typical, or "normal"), we're just different. But since we are a small minority, we're the ones who need to adjust.

Recently a forum member challenged my viewpoint:



While I disagree, I realized this might be a very interesting concept to explore. What if all of us with ADHD lived in a world where we were the majority? Where our brains worked just as they do now, but since we were the majority, we wouldn't be the ones labeled with a "condition" - those poor saps with an unhealthy need for order, predictability and staying on schedule would need therapy and medication to cope with our world.







You ask what would happen if "we ran the world"- if the majority of human beings had ADHD?

I think what would happen is that civilization as we now know it would fall apart, and the world would revert to a very chaotic, primitive and savage state.

The reason is as follows...

The scientific research to date suggests that WORKING MEMORY is particularly impaired in ADHD. A number of current theorists hypothesise that it may, in fact, be the core or primary deficit associated with the disorder.

Working Memory is an Executive Function that permits: hindsight, foresight and time management, and underlies the preference for delayed over immediate rewards. This preference is a prerequisite for self-control, and the ultimate function of self-control is the maximization of future over immediate consequences. The ability to exercise self-control is critical for human beings if their lives and their societies are not to devolve into meaningless chaos.

In short, individuals afflicted with ADHD are , as Russlee Barkley puts it in his unified theory of ADHD (2006) "blind to the future" - unable to see the future consequences of their actions as well as normal (i.e; neurotypical) individuals.

They cannot think about, anticipate and prepare for future exigencies in the way that neurotypical persons do. Nor do they value delayed over merely immediate consequences. The crucial upshot of this is that they will not be as willing to share, cooperate, and reciprocate the sharing of others (reciprocal altruism). Because if you have no real sense of the future sharing what you have with others makes no sense, all you can appreciate at the moment is the( egocentric) loss of your own hard-earned resources.

In summary, the Working Memory system in humans has evolved to permit us to have the capacity to share and cooperate with others; to be able to engage in reciprocal altruism(selfish cooperation) and social exchange and to have the capacity to join together to accomplish common goals that individuals alone could not achieve, i.e; "non-zero-sum" interactions. The later is the root of all social cooperation.


A society in which the majority of human being were afflicted with ADHD would be a society where the capacity of people to engage in: sharing and cooperation; promise-keeping; the exchange of goods services; conscious reciprocal altruism and non-zero-sum interactions, would be substantially (and perhaps fatally) flawed.

In short people would not be able to get along with each other and engage in positive, productive and meaningful relationships. Increasingly civilized, rational, society would fall apart. The world would become a violent, antisocial, "dog-eat-dog" , "every man for himself" struggle; similar, perhaps, to the world of neanderthal man.

I think that normal, healthy, (neurotypical) human beings are, from birth, genetically pre-programmed to be- first and foremost - social creatures ; to have to capacity to get along with each other in meaningful relationships. EVERYTHING depends on this- human life is, quintessentially, a context of interpersonal relationships. The sayings: "no man is an island"; "Ask not for whom the bell tolls", etc; are very true.

A society dominated by ADHD - because it seriously limits the ability of those afflicted with the disorder to engage in meaningful interpersonal relationships - would be a violent, primitive place, incompatible with civilized human life as we now know it. Personally, I would not like to live in it.

[Conman]

Originally Posted by avjgirsijdhtjhs

What would that be?

Neurosurgeon (in essence a doctor). i wont have much time off since people are always getting sick or getting into accidents...selfish jerks

[isabelle]

The world would be a funny place to live.

[sarek]

I think the world just might be made to work if the pace of it slowed down a lot. We are not so suited for a world in which everyone is nothing but a combined production/comsumption unit.
Perhaps our world would have more room for individual values and less emphasis on ever increasing production.

[Drewbacca]

Banks would fail, houses would foreclose, politicians wouldn't have a clue!

Wait a second...

[Retromancer]

As someone with a disabling comorbid disorder I would still be a second-class citizen.

[ADDinHDefgHi?!]

Hypothetically it could work out well if everyone on the planet were to find their individual niche' and live forever in the now. I always imagined an enlightened society would be something like that.

But there are so many variables, ADHD in and of itself doesn't define a person, and while it would influence every part of the world greatly there is still quite a bit of diversity in individuals with ADHD.

I think it could go either way, assuming it was sometime in the hypothetical future and all the ADHD people were aware of their strengths and weaknesses and their relationship to the universe it would be great.

However ADHD as a diagnosis would probably be in the history books and we'd only brush up on the disorder if it somehow sparked an interest in us.

This is an interesting question and I'm overwhelmed by all the potential ways to look at it so I'll just shut up now!

[Zoom Dude]

Originally Posted by JOHNCG

In short people would not be able to get along with each other and engage in positive, productive and meaningful relationships. Increasingly civilized, rational, society would fall apart. The world would become a violent, antisocial, "dog-eat-dog" , "every man for himself" struggle; similar, perhaps, to the world of neanderthal man.

I think that normal, healthy, (neurotypical) human beings are, from birth, genetically pre-programmed to be- first and foremost - social creatures ; to have to capacity to get along with each other in meaningful relationships. EVERYTHING depends on this- human life is, quintessentially, a context of interpersonal relationships. The sayings: "no man is an island"; "Ask not for whom the bell tolls", etc; are very true.

A society dominated by ADHD - because it seriously limits the ability of those afflicted with the disorder to engage in meaningful interpersonal relationships - would be a violent, primitive place, incompatible with civilized human life as we now know it. Personally, I would not like to live in it.

I have a lot of respect for Barkley, but I think this is an example of a very logical theory taken to an illogical extreme. One powerful rebuttal to your assertion is this forum. There are a lot of compassionate people here, probably a good many who genuinely live to help others. Of course there are probably some self-centered jerks too, just like in the NT-dominated world.

I'm guessing a lot of the "anti-social" behavior you allude to is a response to the fact that we are a small proportion of society and are therefore isolated from the people we can relate to best. Think about it - how great would it be to go to a party where everyone had ADHD? It certainly wouldn't be boring.

So many of our problems today come from the fact that we aren't the majority. For example, many of us have issues with depression and/or self esteem, because we aren't like everyone else. If we were the everyone else, those issues disappear.

ZD

[Zoom Dude]

Originally Posted by sarek

I think the world just might be made to work if the pace of it slowed down a lot. We are not so suited for a world in which everyone is nothing but a combined production/comsumption unit.
Perhaps our world would have more room for individual values and less emphasis on ever increasing production.

Yes!

As I get older I realize more that the frenetic pace of society is mostly a huge waste. And sometimes detrimental. There is so much that is new, so little that is actually better. It takes a lot of time in this life to gain a real appreciation for the difference between "new" and "good".

So here's a counter-intuitive thought - If we ran the world, the pace would slow down, and the advancement of society might actually become more efficient.

ZD

[Zoom Dude]

Originally Posted by Drewbacca

Banks would fail, houses would foreclose, politicians wouldn't have a clue!

Wait a second...

Hmmm - You're a subversive. I like that. I think you'd go far in an ADHD-dominated world.

ZD