http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piracetam

Many users report autistic-like symptoms (such as increased introverted interests - spending more time with intellectual pursuits than socialising etc).

Discuss.

A cognitive enhancer? Heck, that would do good for anyone, not just NTs.

Of course the whole problem of putting stress on the kidneys isn't exactly a Good Thing.

All drugs put stress on the kidneys, the racetams are no different. I've been taking piracetam for a while now by the way - the effects are quite subtle after the first dose (the first time I took it in a high dose my IQ shot up 30 points overnight on standardised tests). I also found some of my old obsessions much much more interesting again.

There's a whole range of substances which have similar effects, but piracetam (and other racetams) very specifically seem to induce more autistic-type symptoms.

Not that I am going to run out and get this immediately, since I am already on medication and would have to research possible interactions first, but I would like to find some way to make better use of my mind.  I test well, I talk well, but that is about all.  I am a terribly undisciplined reader, have "skipped around" ever since grade school instead of reading thoroughly as one must in order to be any kind of scholar.  A friend of mine, fondly recalling the ditzy long-haired cats she has known, jokes that they are dumb because all their brain cells are used to grow hair. I keep wondering what mine are being used for.  I would love to have enough mental focus to excel in something...  

If you are on any medications do not take anything without talking to your doctor, the other thing with the racetams in particular is to make sure you take choline with it (unless you like headaches and naseua).

couldbecousin--Have you considered ADHD? If you're "unfocused" that could be the problem. There are a lot of books out there that teach you how to train your mind to overcome attention-deficits; and of course there are also drugs to assist (though I really think they ought only to be taken if it would be much harder to learn those anti-distraction skills if you didn't take them). After all, ADHD shares so much with mild AS... I really think it's an offshoot from the Spectrum... So it's pretty common for those sorts of things to occur along with AS.

Why do monastic society encourage their members to develop concentration, avoid unnecesarry conversation and observe silence?  Some even encourage hermitism.  -All for the cause of higher conscienceness.  

Today's society is missing out.

I find this interesting; as I been in to improving my IQ lately (mostly though mental exercise and eating things with omega-3s). It could make NTs that use it more like us, but, of course, it would take alot of NTs for it to have any impact on us.

It's amazing how a lot of NTs are actively trying to think in a more autistic manner while trying to cure autism at the same time. Really amazing.

Yeah, and lots of times I wish I could carry a portable cone of silence. No doubt plenty of other people would think much the same.

It was this cousin I talked to the other day that thought autism = savantism.

From the few people I've spoken to about autism this seems to be a really common perception.  I blame the media and its tendency to publicise only the more sensational aspects of autism.

Another *really* odd one was a friend who recently met someone who works in residential childcare.  This guy told my friend that autistic children are often obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engine, and my friend's response was, "That's awful - why isn't Thomas banned!"  

I have ADHD or at least a severe focusing problem.  However, I don't have the discipline or the focus needed to learn the anti-distraction skills in the first place!!

Don't call me lazy--you are not me.  My attention problem is much worse than even some people I know with ADHD!

And why do people think it is so easy to "overcome" these attention deficits? It's not just a matter of popping a few pills and reading a few self-help books.

A book I am currently reading, Last Child in the Woods, discusses many studies that all indicate the same thing regarding attentional issues -- time spent in nature lessens the symptoms. The greener, the better. Get thee to a forest!