Simon Baron-Cohen: Autism, Systemizing, Empathy, and Sex Differences

The Dissenter | 20 February 2023 | 1h 00m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify

Interview with Simon Baron-Cohen about his book The Pattern Seekers: How Autism Drives Human Invention. Discusses what characterises autism; why it is classified as a mental disorder, and the idea of neurodiversity; its early signs; and the lower quality of life of autistic people; the systemizing mechanism, and the distinction between systemizing and empathizing; the role of testosterone in intra-uterine development, and differences in the brain development of autistic people; the distinction between cognitive and emotional empathy; sex differences, regions of the brain that might be sexually dimorphic, criticisms of the biological bases of sex differences, and whether it is possible to distinguish between male and female brains.