“The fundamental weakness is empathy,” Musk recently told radio podcast host Joe Rogan. “There is a bug, which is the empathy response.”
As Musk has established himself as at least the second most powerful person in an administration seeking a wholesale remaking of institutions, rules and norms, what he said matters, because it encapsulates a political plan. What the Project 2025 report set out in over 900 turgid pages, Musk’s remark captures in a simple pithy mantra for the social media age.
I guess it closes the debate about Musk being autistic. Autistics are more likely to be hyper empathetic.
Narcissists can display similar traits similar to autistic people. You’re right, he’s not autistic, just a narcissist.
Narcissistic Personality Disorder, perhaps?
Speaking as someone who is autistic, autism is rarely a one-size fits all diagnosis.
While Hyper Empathy can be a side-effect of Autism, another is the exact opposite where your sense of empathy is limited to “So what have you done for me lately?”, in this case the person has absolutely no understanding of interaction outside of it being transactional.
Musk is definitely this kind
First, I didn’t write all of them.
Now on the subject of autism and empathy, empathy is widely misinterpreted and misunderstood in autistics. The lack of empathy stereotype is based on the deficit model of autism and therefore on the lack of theory of mind. This model has roots in eugenic and neocolonialism (also known as neurocolonialism) and is deeply ableist.
We have great research with good methodology and ethics (the opposite is true for the deficit model) about autistics not lacking theory of mind and being empathetic (often hyper empathetic). They just show empathy differently than the neurotypical. This is in fact true for many stereotypes about autism. Autism is a different cognitive style to process information, communicate (including emotions) and learn.
It’s where the Double Empathy Problem of Dr. Damian Milton comes in. It’s the difference and not the lack between two or more individuals/group of individuals that makes the understanding issue.
We are plenty of autistics on Lemmy.
Wasn’t the opinion of my psychologist about me. She told me I’m mildly autistic and that I show little empathy.
For example I saw a dead pigeon on the bike lane and my concern was: my wife behind me might ride over it and be distressed.
And it’s not that I care about her being distressed if I’m saying the truth. It’s that her distress would be a pain to handle. That the bike would be dirty which would cause further distress to my wife.
Her response to seeing the dead pigeon was that she thought it was sad.
Empathy is tricky 🤷🏻♂️ the only thing I feel about this truly, is guilt. But that’s all.
I’m not doing diagnosis. But, a psychologist that use “mildly autistic” should not be taken seriously on the topic. There is no level. The DSM 5 TR has level of support. It’s very different and these levels can vary from one moment to an other (even in the same day).
More about this in this journal article by Steven Kapp which is an autistic researcher.
Profound Concerns about “Profound Autism”: Dangers of Severity Scales and Functioning Labels for Support Needs
You show “little empathy” in comparaison with what? The neuronormativity? This is already an issue. We don’t have to compare to neurotypical. We have to validate how autistics shows empathy, emotions, etc. Often, it’s by resolving problems. E.g.: This is making you sad so we resolve the problem and you will be better. Advocating for someone is another. Sounds similar to what you wrote about your wife. It’s often called “cognitive empathy”. This is entirely valid!
I mean, that seems empathic to me - you are relating to her (potential) feelings.
And adds another chapter to the debate about him being a psychopath.
Yes.