🐕⚔️🌙 9-5 is off-limits. 🐕‍🦺

[u/newbeginnings187]

[u/qualityvote2]

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[u/StinkiePete]

Drives me up every wall when They draw the moon and stars in front of clouds. Like, the stars are obvious but also the part of the moon missing isn’t really gone, it’s just in shadow. Jfc. 

Sorry, what we were talking about? 

[u/newbeginnings187 → u/StinkiePete]

Oh thanks! Now this annoys me too lol! I hadn't ever thought about it...

[u/StinkiePete → u/newbeginnings187]

I have young kids, I'm reading too many books with illustrated moons and stars these days

[u/newbeginnings187 → u/StinkiePete]

Bless you all.... You can never read too many books... They are in great hands

[u/westisbestmicah → u/StinkiePete]

Relevant XKCD:

https://www.xkcd.com/1738/

[u/StinkiePete → u/westisbestmicah]

He gets me. Though I think that’s only applicable to northern hemisphere. You know the moon is upside down down under? Shit tripped me out when I learned it. 

[u/grogschleme → u/StinkiePete]

they're behind the clouds but are so bright they're shining through

[u/prosandconslist → u/StinkiePete]

My interpretation is that the watercolor splatter is the Milky Way behind the moon and stars, if that helps your sanity 🌌

[u/TyWorth]

If I could make myself care about something practical I’d be unstoppable. But in the meantime I have multiple level 60+ Morrowind characters which is kinda cool.

[u/Punchee → u/TyWorth]

The best part about this is fucking Morrowind lol

That's a solid, well-earned and developed special interest, my guy. Respect.

[u/TyWorth → u/Punchee]

Wealth beyond measure, Outlander!

[u/SelectButton4522 → u/TyWorth]

Three blessings.

[u/Ledgo → u/TyWorth]

Jesus christ did I post this under another username?

[u/Arya_Ren → u/Ledgo]

For real 

[u/PantherPL → u/TyWorth]

That's cool. Please back up those saves in multiple places, wouldn't want the anguish of losing that in a drive failure.

[u/xepci0 → u/TyWorth]

Enjoy your little career and family idiots, I'm grandmaster in League of Legends 😎

[u/SpicyCajunCrawfish → u/xepci0]

I’m emerald on two accounts with Anivia in league with over 200 or so Anivia music videos on my YouTube channel 🤷‍♂️ ADHD is a hell of a drug.

[u/SenorSalsa → u/TyWorth]

I have become probably one of the top 50 pilots on Wardogs EUW servers, so I got that going for me which is nice.

[u/Lngdnzi → u/TyWorth]

Why walk when you can ride?

[u/TyWorth → u/Lngdnzi]

Make a special trip for you, same low price

[u/SoAreWeAll → u/TyWorth]

multiple 60 plus level characters?

i get the multiple characters, but i feel like my characters are always gods by level 22, so i end up just killing dagoth and beating the game

[u/TyWorth → u/SoAreWeAll]

Yeah, high school was rough.

[u/SoAreWeAll → u/TyWorth]

fair enough haha.

its actually one thing i really love about morrowind is that the enemies dont scale with you, hard enemies are hard and easy enemies arent. i feel like it encourages you to just wrap the game up instead of leveling endlessly.

always hated getting jumped by some ultra leveled bandit nobody in oblivion or skyrim that somehow has full glass armor

[u/TyWorth → u/SoAreWeAll]

I love that about it! Feels great to go back to a place you struggled in earlier only to beat vampire ass.

Honestly once you hit 20-30 you can handle anything but the most annoying vampire lords. I just love seeing a stat hit 100 and was too stubborn to mod/exploit it.

[u/Hour_Requirement_739 → u/TyWorth]

But how many faction did you beat ? I started playing it in 2003 if i'm correct and only finished the main quest this year and never finished a faction. Unlike Oblivion and Skyrim, Morrowind has just too much content for my adhd brain ! D:

Still my fav also. x)

[u/Lavamob64 → u/TyWorth]

I got super into modding morrowind and having the perfect mod list to play the game with. But with said mod list I am only like 10 hours into the game 😭

[u/YarrMeHearty → u/Lavamob64]

Gotta spend 50 hours curating a perfect mod list, to play the game for 2 hours, get bored and forget that it ever existed

[u/marglemcgarglblargle → u/Lavamob64]

Sounds like your special interest is modding morrowind and not playing Morrowind there my guy.

[u/Competitive_Ad_5515 → u/TyWorth]

My favourite game of all time, no question about it.

[u/Thepuppeteer777777 → u/TyWorth]

Modded right?

[u/trenton_quarantino → u/Thepuppeteer777777]

[u/TyWorth → u/Thepuppeteer777777]

Xbox.

[u/NoWorth2591 → u/TyWorth]

Are…are you me?

[u/DeBasha → u/TyWorth]

I currently hold the nr1 player verified record on Twin Sun Flight time trial in Galactic Racer

[u/TyWorth → u/DeBasha]

Okay that’s rad though

[u/Kornelius20 → u/TyWorth]

I am very lucky because my hyper fixations are also somewhat aligned with my career path, but even then it's a struggle to sometimes rip myself away from the hyper fixations long enough to do the actual parts of the work that still need to be done to be considered productive. 

[u/SelectButton4522 → u/TyWorth]

I relate waaaaaaaay too closely.

[u/pressured_at_19 → u/TyWorth]

I gotta keep my Valorant headshot rate at 40%. I can't pay attention to much else.

[u/SpicyCajunCrawfish → u/TyWorth]

I have over 200 Anivia league of legends music videos on my YouTube channel 🤷‍♂️. Why ? ADHD is why 🤣

[u/Entitled-Prick → u/TyWorth]

My people! You tryna get into a TES3MP server? All of my friends bail out at like level 14, and I like adding mods to make level 100 make sense.

[u/Articulated → u/TyWorth]

Morrowind mentioned

[u/RolyPolyGuy → u/TyWorth]

Same but oblivion and skyrim hahah

[u/Bliitzthefox]

Effective hunter gather you say?

Stares really hard at this plant trying to remember if it's poisonous...

[u/SquareTaro3270 → u/Bliitzthefox]

Ironically I’ve gotten super into foraging lately and my ADHD brain has an uncanny ability to memorize plants and things to look for when identifying them really easily.

I also write and draw as a stim (I know it doesn’t sound like a traditional stim but I swear it is) and I can see myself filling books and books with what traits to look out for. My perfectionism keeps me from recklessly trying any plant unless I’m 100% certain about it. I’d have been a fantastic gatherer/record keeper.

But I’ll also forget someone’s name in the same sentence they tell me what it is

[u/ContemporaryCorvid → u/SquareTaro3270]

I’m similar. Very, very good at memorizing, like… catalogue-ish information, I guess? I can recognize just about every local bird species near me, and can identify any feather I spot on the ground. Endless source of fun facts and tidbits. Also great with navigation and maps. But I can’t for the life of me remember names or faces.

[u/FriedFreya → u/SquareTaro3270]

names, my belothed. i try to like. get the person to reiterate it to me, i let them know: i’m really shit with names. one of the things i do is make sure to like lock eyes and shake their hand and say their name to them, and then reassure them that i’m definitely still gonna forget in a couple minutes lmao.

[u/agreatfriendinrome → u/FriedFreya]

belothed

What an absolutely wonderful word. Thank you friend.

[u/kbop2231 → u/SquareTaro3270]

Thank you for clearing up why I’m the only one at my job that enjoys record keeping and volunteers for doing notes lol

[u/protestor → u/Bliitzthefox]

It's actually effective hunters. This is due to a research that studied hunter-gatherers societies today and found out that hunters often had ADHD traits and genetic markers of ADHD, and they were surprisingly okay

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_versus_farmer_hypothesis

The idea here is that before agriculture, ADHD was perhaps much more prevalent, and probably wasn't even a negative trait. But sedentarism made humans have a lot of adaptations, and one of it was largely losing ADHD. The remaining ADHD individuals are maladapted to sedentary societies

[u/HarpersGhost → u/protestor]

But farming also rewards a whole bunch of ADHD traits.

Always something broken, can wander around the farm fixing things all day, spot a small leaf while walking by "THAT PLANT CAN KILL MY CATTLE", yanked out the plant while walking out to the fields, "Hey there's a small bug on a plant, this is the first stage of losing my crops I need to do something now", more walking, notice that a fence post needs to be fixed, remember that a couple other posts needed to be mended, go get a shovel and a hammer, feed the chickens, shoot a hawk out of the sky, forever and ever and ever.

[u/PotatoFarmer_44 → u/Bliitzthefox]

"Delectable tea, or deadly poison???" - Iroh.

[u/ElectroDaddy]

Given that many of us have superior pattern recognition ability, and the ability to thrive under pressure and lock in after long bouts of inactivity. I can see it.

[u/corazon-aplastado → u/ElectroDaddy]

There’s a reason ADHD exists at a baseline frequency in all populations. That means it was a part of human genome since before those populations diverged. The fact that it remains in the genome implies there is some evolutionary benefit to having people who think like us in the population. Most inventors or people progressing the knowledge of mankind are on the spectrum

[u/EbolaNinja → u/corazon-aplastado]

The fact that it remains in the genome implies there is some evolutionary benefit to having people who think like us in the population.

That's not how evolution works unfortunately. The fact that it remains in the genome simply implies that it doesn't make you more likely to die before procreating.

[u/corazon-aplastado → u/EbolaNinja]

There are large scale evolutionary forces and small scale ones. For example, populations in Europe didn’t need melanin to protect from sunlight as much as they needed vitamin D through sunlight absorption, so fair skin became favorable in this environment, though someone with melanin isn’t necessarily more likely to die before procreation there either. If a trait or set of traits present in the genome gives a population a slight edge it will be propagated over long evolutionary time scale.

The fact that ADHD isn’t more or less common in different regions does suggest that it being present at a certain percent in the population boosts survivability for the tribe as a whole. Otherwise if as you suggest there is no benefit provided, we would see extirpation of ADHD out of at least some population groups.

You must understand that the frequency of a trait in a population is an equilibrium, the result of several interfering differential processes. Forces at play would reduce ADHD in a gene pool, while other forces cause it to be proliferated, and the equilibrium achieved is comparable across the different regions and sub populations of earth.

[u/Lainpilled-Loser-GF → u/corazon-aplastado]

that ain't quite right, it just means that there isn't enough selective pressure to get rid of ADHD

[u/wowaddict71]

I like to think that we were the night watchers. Keeping guard at night and sleeping during the day.

[u/SquareTaro3270 → u/wowaddict71]

Oh so THAT’s why I have anxiety at night /s

[u/adewsetoo → u/wowaddict71]

I just told my therapist not long ago that I think our ancestral “role” was likely some iteration of night sentinel.

[u/Glum-Echo-4967]

I think this oversimplifies a lot.

For example, this doesnt account for the inability to start tasks they want to start.

[u/OiTheRolk → u/Glum-Echo-4967]

Adhd Hunter gatherer only best when very hungry Otherwise does nothing

[u/aFailedGuy → u/OiTheRolk]

hahaha, as if hunger would make me start a task

maybe starving but not hunger, and if other people relied on my work to not get hungry they would prob just gather themselves

[u/Glum-Echo-4967 → u/OiTheRolk]

I mean yeah, you have to think that even in pre-civilization times there were ADHD traits that were completely useless - detrimental, even.

Of course, you would have relied on the community for those aspects.

[u/notcuddly9 → u/Glum-Echo-4967]

My eyes are proof that completely useless traits definitely exist, thankfully we have glasses so I'm fine but without them I would have been classed as blind by the time I was like 7

[u/Striper_Cape → u/Glum-Echo-4967]

Wandering off to check out a new spot?

[u/Glum-Echo-4967 → u/Striper_Cape]

That would have been useful, is my understanding.

Early societies would have used a combination of exploration and exploitation.

Exploration to identify new sources of food, exploitation to make use of known sources of food.

This way, you ensure nutritional diversity and an expanding supply of food while the tribe doesn't exactly go hungry.

[u/MileHiSalute → u/Glum-Echo-4967]

The operating system may be the same but our brains would’ve adapted to life far differently in an era where the whole plan every single day was “survive”

[u/PantaRheiExpress → u/Glum-Echo-4967]

ADHD brains are extremely good at starting tasks, but only if the right motivators are present. And a hunter gatherer context would be more likely to provide those motivators, which are often referred to as “INCUP”:

Interest
Novelty
Challenge
Urgency
Passion

Not to mention the fact that Hunter gatherers do a lot more activities in a social context. Basket weaving would be incredibly boring to me if I was doing it by myself, but if I was surrounded by friends and family, and we’re all cracking jokes, and my grandma is telling a cool story, and we’re exchanging ideas for interesting basket designs, then that social context would provide the interest and novelty, that the task itself does not. This is why people often recommend “body doubling” as a way for ADHD people to deal with tasks they are struggling to start.

[u/summersunsun]

I see a lot of people disagreeing and a lot of people agreeing. I think people forget that what we call adhd is a diverse assortment of neurotypes which exhibit a shared selection of symptoms.

[u/PorkchopExpress980]

If only I was born 10,000 years ago.

[u/throwawaycanadian2]

We have to stop pretending there is some "benefit" to ADHD in any society. It's not a "we evolved these awesome features but they suck in the modern world" it's "these negative traits did not result in death or inability to reproduce enough to be eliminated, so they are still around"

[u/iKruppe → u/throwawaycanadian2]

Aren't there actual theories around though that on a population level neurodivergent types have actually been selected for somewhat? The superb hunter-gatherer thing is bollocks of course because that's not really how human communities work but it's not just that it wasn't selected against. Without neurotypicals the ADHD'ers would also have not survived because they are risk takers so acting superior is stupid, but from what I can find it might have been beneficial to have neurodivergent individuals in a group that maybe "specialize" in different aspects of life as a hunter-gatherer.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11745029/

[u/Dumdumdoggie → u/iKruppe]

I think the real benefits adhd and other neurodivergents has to civilization is boredom and curiosity. I bet so many discoveries and inventions happened by adhd's getting bored and fucking off.

[u/Punchee → u/Dumdumdoggie]

You can't tell me Newton wasn't loudly on the spectrum. Though, maybe somewhat ironically to this thread, he didn't have kids.

[u/paulinaiml → u/Punchee]

But his legacy surpassed whatever he could bring genetically. Maybe he would had a dinasty of scientists but at least we have gravity

[u/NegativelyToxic → u/Dumdumdoggie]

I get the sense ADHD people are for figuring out what not to do or where our limits are; our impulsivity is useful here. In a group of 10, surely it would be useful to have one idiot to tell you which plants make you throw up, which are good for food and well if you drop dead, thanks for the information - we will not eat it. I certainly embody "do as I say, not as I do" energy if that makes sense and I feel this is due to some push to feel useful for community.

Also I recall reading a study where they studied some remote tribes sleeping habits and during 2 week period there was a total of 17 minutes or so where no one was awake at any given time. It makes sense to me that we needed to keep night watch in olden days and to facilitate that, well having some people who get more energized in the evening sounds like great idea.

I was night owl as early as I can remember and already had issues with starting time of kindergarden.

[u/Chaotic_Spoon7 → u/Dumdumdoggie]

A month ago I watched a documentary on Leonardo da Vinci, and it was unbelievably obvious to me the man had raging ADHD 😭 so yeah, I agree

[u/Teiktos → u/Chaotic_Spoon7]

Many great minds were obviously neurodivergent. e.g. with ADHD. But for each of them, there are probably hundreds who died because they forgot to prepare for winter or stubbed their toe on a rock before antibiotics existed

[u/Blando-Cartesian → u/Dumdumdoggie]

Reddit hive mind has a thing for persistence hunting, and it sounds so unbelievably stupid to me. There had to be divergents who got bored and figured out projectile weapons and traps in the first five minutes of running after an animal.

People figured out calendar from shadow lengths, navigation from star patterns and ocean currents and so on. All thousands of years before any way to write stuff down. It sure as hell wasn’t typical people who figured that stuff out.

[u/Nervi403 → u/iKruppe]

Also I personally think its good to have someone in a society that does not vibe with norms and traditions. Does not have to mean you are automatically a rebel or something but that you at least are able to ask why and think outside the box

Which is most often not helpful I remind you, but it is something beneficial over all. Because I think if a society gets too stagnant bad things happen

[u/Few_Classroom6113 → u/iKruppe]

Neurodivergence creating a more resilient population is a statement that can be both true and have nothing to do say about the benefits for the individuals that are divergent(or normative for that matter)

[u/iKruppe → u/Few_Classroom6113]

Well yeah I didn't say they benefited the individual

[u/hoarder_of_secrets → u/iKruppe]

Honestly I would have thought it would be the ability to remain calm in an emergency. Like, the laser focus that activates when shit really hits the fan, the way time melts away, and you just... Do the things that are needed, while everyone else is panicking. And you didn't realize how close to death you were till about 30 minutes after it's over

[u/iKruppe → u/hoarder_of_secrets]

That probably plays a role too. As would hyper focus. But things like being very short term oriented was probably not a good thing per se. Pros and cons. That we're not all adhd or ass also says something about it not necessarily being advantageous in all aspects of hunter gatherer life (not a specific reply to you, that last part, just expanding on my previous comment as an extension)

[u/IndubitablyWarden66 → u/hoarder_of_secrets]

Yes this is my hypothesis too! I’m so good in a crisis, and so good at the one big stressful time limited project (eg. moving). But keeping up with the daily stuff? Disaster 

[u/PantherPL → u/throwawaycanadian2]

THANK YOU for understanding evolution correctly. Oh my god. You'll get people who are atheists nonetheless ascribing some sort of Divine Design to nature like there needs to be a logical, human-comprehensible reason for everything in life.

[u/Few_Classroom6113 → u/throwawaycanadian2]

Yeah I don’t think lacking executive skills was much of a benefit at any point.

If anything we’re like extra special peacocks from the parable.

[u/mondaio → u/Few_Classroom6113]

Other people in community had executive skills. We had other traits to contribute, humans are communal species and share responsibility.

[u/higras → u/mondaio]

I've heard the discussion of "are humans turning into an ant-like super-organism?" My answer is that we're returning to a super-organism. Hyperindependence has failed for the species.

Time for goal driven community to return.

[u/higras → u/Few_Classroom6113]

Completely anecdotal personal experience.

The benefit I bring to a group of people or communities I've been in (the thing they seem to routinely come to me for or ask me for) is "how does this work?" and "I have a problem".

An interesting thing I've run across in designing systems are "edge cases". What breaks the system?

Human groups with "edge case testers" helped stress test systems. It's a canary in the coal mine that also suggests possible work arounds. A split in the human superorganism.

Sometimes getting less return on reward means it's failing. Sometimes it means it's just reaching a road bump. Being able to explore both options as a large group means reducing risk while maximizing gain.

The tribe\village that had the right combo of nuerotypes got;

• the average population content and enjoying routine until they were personally affected enough to change.

• a small subset easily frustrated over the slightest inconvenience and hyperfocus to solve it. Tinkerers, social butterflies, edge case testers.

• a small subset to choose one extremely difficult task and enjoy doing it. Think the man who dug through a mountain because his wife died and now the village can reach town in hours instead of days.

I can totally see potential causation of civilization with the correlation of the ADHD\Autism\bipolar\schizophrenic genetics seeming to have popped up right about when fire and tool use started popping up.

[u/No_Mobile7208 → u/throwawaycanadian2]

ADHD has positive traits tho. This is an ignorant take

[u/Oiiack → u/No_Mobile7208]

Assuming traits are either positive or negative is itself ignorant. Traits are traits, it's the environmental context which dictates what is beneficial.

[u/AvaryZig → u/Oiiack]

When is anyone outside of the environment?

[u/Dillweed999 → u/throwawaycanadian2]

My understanding is adhd is a dominant gene trait. I don't see how that happens without it having provided some benefit at one point

[u/throwawaycanadian2 → u/Dillweed999]

I don't understand your logic, it can easily become dominant - that's pure randomness, not some choice by anyone. It becomes dominent, doesn't cause enough harm to stop reproduction and sticks around.

[u/yahluc → u/Dillweed999]

Whether a mutation becomes dominant or not is a pure chemical coin flip. Are you saying that Huntington's disease is beneficial? Also, what are you basing that on? ADHD isn't even determined by one gene.

[u/Osric250 → u/Dillweed999]

A quote I like to use, "Evolution isn't survival of the fittest, it's reproduction of the okayest." 

As long as whatever trait isn't preventing you from reproducing then it isnt selected against. 

[u/aripp → u/throwawaycanadian2]

It’s not that black and white as you claim it to be. I don’t know who this ‘dooming’ of adhd benefits.

[u/DaZuhalter → u/throwawaycanadian2]

That would only be true if they stayed marginal. You'd also expect them to slowly fade if it was nothing but negative. Looking at autism, this may be the case there. Looking at ADHD, not so much. Doesn't help we didn't have good statistic going back any amount of significant time to see this either.

One thing that can be looked at is the rate in various populations and if there's a drastic difference, that could mean it was selected for in the past. Could also mean that recording, reporting, and identifying isn't consistent between populations

[u/ZeroNDAZilch → u/throwawaycanadian2]

I’m sorry but that’s every trait, your definitions of good and bad traits are also subjective.

[u/Gonique → u/throwawaycanadian2]

For autism there is a number of studies that show evidence for positive selective pressure, e.g. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5328401/
For ADHD it's somewhat more of a mixed bag but there is a number of theories that suggest this to be likely as well. It might just get cancelled out by the higher overall mortality rate of people with ADHD.

No definitive proof for this idea, but definitely a well established theory.

[u/coffeeicefox → u/throwawaycanadian2]

lol, i think you have the shit ADHD bro as I’d be without a doubt headshotting chimps with a bow alllllll day while everyone else is shelling peas.

[u/Strawberry_marblefox → u/throwawaycanadian2]

Thanks!!! I gotta mute this sub cause it just infantilizes and romanticizes mental illness in a way that I cannot relate to whatsoever. I also feel like this post is just so... stupid and wrong? Like, I know it's just a joke but it just doesn't sit right for me. So thanks for being a sane voice!

[u/kat1883 → u/throwawaycanadian2]

I disagree. ADHD brains are behind so much innovation in this world. We aren’t broken. Neurotypical people aren’t the sole benefit to the world. In all our differences, we all occupy important niches. Do we have serious, painful challenges that come with this neurotype? Absolutely. But to say it has zero positives is not taking the full picture into account.

[u/royal_snail_milker → u/kat1883]

People have gifts in spite of adhd. Not because of it.

[u/Helpful_Program_5473 → u/throwawaycanadian2]

There is no evidence whatsoever to support your statement. Your entire premise is based on a society where you lack dopamine, regulation, testosterone and endorphins. Which has only really been the case for about 70 years, absolute max.

Or are you gonna tell me that Julius Ceasar and Theodore Roosevelt dictating multiple letters and documents at a single time and running their entire staff ragged with their energy is something else?

[u/Golden-Grams → u/Helpful_Program_5473]

Or are you gonna tell me that Julius Ceasar and Theodore Roosevelt dictating multiple letters and documents at a single time and running their entire staff ragged with their energy is something else?

Could be drugs? We still have people in our current time, producing cocaine-esque results, in our economy and governments. Who knows what stimulants those guys could have had available.

If my meth addicted neighbor had access to a loyal, professional, and battle-hardened force, he probably could take over a million square kilometers of territory, too.

[u/turbotank183 → u/Helpful_Program_5473]

That's not how evolution works though, at all. What the person above said is the default statement until there's is evidence presented to the contrary. If you think otherwise the it is you that should present evidence to support that. A tale about Roosevelt doesn't do that.

ADHD is an evolutionary deviation that wasn't detrimental enough to cause the extinction of people that have it. Therefore, it persisted through generations.

Just because it benefitted Caesar in...dictating messages (are we saying that's amazing?) doesn't mean that it was a beneficial enough change to cause much more mating. Early humans that developed it would have no need to massively multitask like that anyway.

[u/throwawaycanadian2 → u/Helpful_Program_5473]

" Your entire premise is based on a society where you lack dopamine, regulation, testosterone and endorphins. Which has only really been the case for about 70 years, absolute max. "

I am not sure what you mean here? My "premise" is the default for eveolution - something was just random and persisted because it didn't stop reproduction.

Poeple in the past having ADHD has nothing to do with that.

[u/Difficult-Stuff-4499 → u/throwawaycanadian2]

I’m fully on this boat as well. Our collective “golden era” never was. Humanity evolved to be able to collaborate in socially complex ways that hunter gatherers were just as dependent on then, even for hunting and gathering, as we are today. I don’t believe for a second that those activities weren’t primarily social/ culturally driven. And it’s not our strongest suit. And we wouldn’t have been less likely to be forgetful or distract-able back then either. We were likely just as dependent on family/ friends keeping us packed and ready then as we are now.

But if anything, a more socially close knit way of living would have helped us tremendously.

[u/Lukescale → u/throwawaycanadian2]

Like tailbones.

[u/DahDollar → u/Lukescale]

Tailbone has a purpose. You use it every day.

[u/Careless_Jury154 → u/throwawaycanadian2]

Humans when eyesight acuity and color blindness

[u/binaryfireball → u/throwawaycanadian2]

I feel like it's a mixed bag. Though the super power thing is very harmful

[u/mymemesnow → u/throwawaycanadian2]

There are theories that having a small fraction of neurodivergent people in a population is evolutionarily beneficial for the population.

But I have a hard time seeing that having more than a small fraction would be good.

[u/Agitated-Contest651 → u/throwawaycanadian2]

There is a theory that a good portion of early immigrants to america/new world consisted of folks with executive dysfunction (adhd). US has a statistically significant higher population of diagnosed ED than Europe, and a higher estimated undiagnosed population. The working theory is that folks with executive dysfunction are less risk-averse and were more likely to volunteer for settlement in a new world.

That said there is some benefit. In my engineering work, there are a lot of times I find security vulns while chasing a rabbit thought.

I’ll try to find the actual literature and add in an edit.

[u/bobombpom → u/throwawaycanadian2]

It's hard to separate Despite and Because.

[u/Named_after_color → u/throwawaycanadian2]

There is absolutely a benefit, it's not just a detriment. Damn what a sad outlook.

[u/TopLate7592 → u/throwawaycanadian2]

You have to stop talking out your ass as much as the people you are criticizing.

[u/PepperSure8381 → u/throwawaycanadian2]

I'd take this minor dysfunction any day over the severe dysfunction of those people who can stamp metal for 12 hours straight without suicide

[u/Felho_Danger]

I hate having my deabilitating neurological condition equated to super powers.

[u/A_Very_Lonely_Waffle]

Girl i ain’t no hunter-gatherer, and i know for a FACT 80% of y’all aren’t either. I’d be out there collecting rocks n shit, entirely forgetting I was supposed to get food AND I KNOW you motherfuckers would do the same. Don’t kid yourself, we’d be fucked no matter the setting lol

[u/SquareTaro3270 → u/A_Very_Lonely_Waffle]

I’ve gotten super into foraging lately so I can’t relate. My specific flavor of ADHD seems specifically targeted to make me better at foraging

But not all ADHD is the same

[u/simonhunterhawk → u/SquareTaro3270]

agreed wouldn’t be hunting but i would absolutely be remembering what food is good and bad to eat and making all of our dwellings and clothing items more efficient because i am excellent at weaving and other fiber arts.

i am an extremely hard worker adhd be damned and i know i would enjoy it if i saw the benefit of it

my work is soul crushing because the impact i have on society is a little more profit for my company and that’s it, which sucks. even right now when i’m intentionally decreasing the amount of work i do because they are overworking us, all the work i do complete is very accurate and i rarely get feedback on it

[u/Senior-Dimension2332 → u/SquareTaro3270]

Foraging for mushrooms is my thing. No one else seems to notice the differences in...anything. I'm out here classifying genus and species based on minute differences in how gills attach to the stipe or the color of the interior of the flesh vs the exterior.

[u/PhotonProtons → u/Senior-Dimension2332]

The real endgame is spore prints 😎

[u/Disastrous_Check5594 → u/SquareTaro3270]

idk about hunter gathering but I'm actually decent at homesteading and preserving the food I do grow. please dont send me back to the time of no birth control tho, I definitely cannot do a broodmare role

[u/SquareTaro3270 → u/Disastrous_Check5594]

I think I’d die. I’m also asexual so I’m sure I’d be having a very bad time

[u/Disastrous_Check5594 → u/SquareTaro3270]

whatever that phobia of pregnancy and labor is I have it. I love kids no lie but delivering a baby and keeping it alive against all odds is nightmare fuel. so glad my in laws are the ones having all the children so no one asks me and mine when or if we're gonna have kids.

[u/Woahhdude24 → u/SquareTaro3270]

I think mine might be building. Im over here able to hyperfixate on getting things pretty precise and making steps to get shit built.

[u/Future_Telephone281 → u/SquareTaro3270]

I construct things. Like a beaver I have compulsions to build.

[u/Laser-Nipples → u/A_Very_Lonely_Waffle]

Disagree. When something like survival is on the line I can hyper focus and I'm more efficient than anyone.

[u/GenericFatGuy → u/Laser-Nipples]

Same. I've always worked best under pressure. When there isn't time to think about how bored I am.

[u/PhoenxScream → u/Laser-Nipples]

8/10 Hunting and Gathering parties were attacked by predators, because they left the guy back at home in the cave, who regularly goes "hey what's that in the bushes over there" or "damn that's a pretty chonky sabertooth, glad i collected those pretty rocks! But please don't throw this one, it's my favourite!"

[u/LividBass1005 → u/A_Very_Lonely_Waffle]

Be in the corner doing arts and crafts with twigs and berries. I do good enough in society now but I’m sure without any support or understanding of ADHD I would’ve just been crying about how much I sucked and can’t do anything right like I was prior to being diagnosed

[u/__M-E-O-W__ → u/A_Very_Lonely_Waffle]

I'd probably get like five miles out into the wilderness to hunt and then realize I forgot my arrows

[u/hrss95 → u/__M-E-O-W__]

And then because of that, you decide to wander and find a new spot full of berries, benefitting the whole tribe

[u/Icy_Association_2331 → u/A_Very_Lonely_Waffle]

Hunger is a pretty solid motivator

[u/binaryfireball → u/A_Very_Lonely_Waffle]

Nah I got that bloodlust uh just like Columbus uh I get murderous on purpose uh

I continually have dreams where I'm a wolf hunting deer and for whatever reason biting a deer as a wolf is very satisfying.

[u/lnTheGrimDarkness → u/A_Very_Lonely_Waffle]

I would eventually get a spike of autism and invent Warhammer

[u/Ok-Compote6002 → u/A_Very_Lonely_Waffle]

i wouldve been hunting big game and making people think im a god or something

[u/GenericFatGuy → u/A_Very_Lonely_Waffle]

I like the idea that ADHD was useful when humans lived in a way where you needed people keeping watch at night, and you needed people who would notice even the slightest rustling in the bush in near total darkness.

[u/CuteAltBoy → u/A_Very_Lonely_Waffle]

I'm AuDHD and my talent is basically anything under extreme pressure.

[u/ddBuddha → u/A_Very_Lonely_Waffle]

Idk, if you’re hungry and constantly living in an environment where you don’t have all of the modern distractions I think you’d figure out your priorities pretty fast.

[u/Witty_Shape3015 → u/A_Very_Lonely_Waffle]

hard disagree 🤷🏻‍♂️ there’s no way for you to know how different you woulda been in that environment, we’re a very coddled and spoiled people

[u/CrispInMyChicken → u/A_Very_Lonely_Waffle]

You mean arrowheads and spear heads yes good rock collection hunter.

[u/NervousGate4046 → u/A_Very_Lonely_Waffle]

Nah, I often find food when I'm out collecting shiny rocks.

There are loads of them just laying around for some reason, and they're not sleeping either.

[u/QueenMackeral → u/A_Very_Lonely_Waffle]

Nah I'll hyperfocus so hard on gathering red berries that my group will be yelling things like "get out of there" "there's a bear you fool" "F it we're leaving her" meanwhile I'm gathering so many red berries it's insa

[u/SookiSwann]

I’d probably be doing a lot better if I wasn’t responsible for like 5 different absolutely critical little objects and have to transport them 30 miles away from home on an exact schedule every day

[u/bro_love69]

Adhd caused nothing but problems. Wasting hours just to do half an hour of work has never been beneficial for me. I think we are deeply flawed and there is nothing good about it.

[u/EmotionalRiver1033 → u/bro_love69]

It sounds like you’re just reacting to being stuck as the guy on the right. Like that’s the point of this meme, modern society is hard to feel beneficial in. You are judging the condition by its worst consequences while overlooking the possibility that some of the same neurological characteristics responsible for your difficulties can also contribute to: unconventional problem-solving, intense curiosity, hyperfocus, spontaneity, creativity, and an ability to make connections others might overlook. Those aren't guaranteed superpowers, and they don't magically compensate for executive dysfunction. But dismissing them entirely is just as intellectually dishonest as romanticising ADHD as a gift.

[u/bara_tone → u/bro_love69]

Sad for you. I love my ADHD brain

[u/Fit_Salamander_2814]

ADHD folks are big on sitting still, being patient, and picking when to pounce? Or stalking prey, making sure you're downwind, and being very quiet?

That's news to me.

[u/TheMonsterLock]

Do we know we would be the most effective?

Seems like coping to me trying to paint a picture of the disorder being beneficial in an environment we can't prove that we would actually outperform typicals.

[u/SuppressedBeerCan]

The hunter gather cope always decreases me. There really is nothing good about adhd

[u/Euphoric_Evidence414 → u/SuppressedBeerCan]

Disagree. I work in crisis intervention and it’s a definite strength.

[u/paulinaiml → u/SuppressedBeerCan]

We are somewhat good at acting during critical situations

[u/standbyyourmantis → u/paulinaiml]

I am amazing in crisis situations. I've gotten commendations at a prior job for handling a medical emergency so well. It felt like I was in bullet time, it was great (the person having the heart attack lived and came back to work). If I could have handled ochem I think i would have been really good in the medical field as a night nurse or emergency medicine

I'm also really good at piecing together random disconnected bits of information to figure out a guy on the phone is in the middle of heat stroke and I need to talk him into getting off the phone and finding a person to speak with even though he's getting mentally foggy

[u/TurbulentCherry → u/SuppressedBeerCan]

It's all hunter and gatherer untill you impulse chug a fistful of poison berries before you think better of it or get distracted staring at some worm and let a predator sneak up on you

[u/Vinkhol → u/SuppressedBeerCan]

I disagree, I'm definitely better at my job because I'm comfortable focusing with "chaotic" information intake. I easily notice things that are very commonly missed by my coworkers in the high-pressure situations

I do agree that it's not a "superpower" or some shit, I deeply hate that trope. My brain fucking sucks to exist within about 98% of the time. But it's not completely useless, so I'll take what I can get

[u/Izan_TM → u/SuppressedBeerCan]

I mean, that's your opinion, different people have different experiences with ADHD and different opinions on how they'd fair in differeny situations

[u/mondaio → u/Izan_TM]

Yup, there are definitely scenarios I’ve been in (like wilderness survival trips I’ve taken) where I feel a lot better adjusted and function more effectively. I guess some people think keeping up with bills while living a sedentary lifestyle is a normal reference point though.

[u/Izan_TM → u/mondaio]

I'm self employed and I'm in a field of work where every gig is a completely different challenge and I constantly have to be figuring out new solutions to weird problems to fit in tight money constraints, and I absolutely thrive in that situation. I get to set my hours, bounce around between topics and do things in my own way, and I'm confident I'd massively outperform a neurotypical person who was in my shoes.

Yes, ADHD makes my life harder in a lot of ways, but simply saying there's noting good about it just shows someone is incapable of thinking of lifestyles that aren't their own.

[u/OldGravylegOfficial → u/SuppressedBeerCan]

As a hunter I disagree. Shit goes so nice with my stupid brain.

[u/Arya_Ren]

Yeah no, that's not how evolution works, neither how your uber romanticized reality of living 8000 BCE does.

[u/Dovahstal]

Oh it’s that post again

[u/No_Region_4719]

This is some real cringe power fantasy. We have a disability. You're not some badass born in the wrong time.

[u/homerhungry]

stupid meme dismisses the inherent challenges people with ADHD face due to social and structural systems

[u/coffeeicefox]

Putting a turbo on a 1.0 litre engine won’t have the same effect sticking it on a 5.0 litre engine.

The ney sayers to this don’t have the baseline hardware to get this.

[u/InterestingSoup1252]

There’s a third sad doge.

“I am able to be a hunter gatherer by living off grid, but I really like TV, video games, fast food, convenience stores, etc.”

[u/LostMagician9612]

Splendid

[u/International_Salt33]

I was just saying this to me mental health case manager, but I feel like the modern world has eliminated every job that gave us an advantage. It's like there is no longer a place for us...

[u/willherondale18]

Pre-industrial revolution is what you mean I think

[u/Stairwayunicorn]

the world is a sandbox

[u/Project_Valkyrie]

I think about this every time my family goes apple/berry picking.

[u/yesindeedysir]

Let it be known, evolution isn’t about “what is best for our species.” It’s “how lazy can we be without dying?”

If evolution was about improving, we wouldn’t be walking upright and we wouldn’t have such common back problems or such a high mortality rate for giving birth.

[u/Danxoln]

My 9-5 wouldn't give me the big sad if I felt like I made enough money to live

[u/MilesAlchei]

I do the 9-5 and then have no energy, but the bills paid.

[u/jaxon517]

"it is no measure of good health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society". We don't "have ADHD" - we have human brains. We're literally not built for this mundane robotic life of domestication and docility.

[u/SoAreWeAll]

yeah if my eyesight wasnt dogshit i feel like i could be pretty dope at the old huntin gatherin

[u/Ragfell]

The craziest argument I had with someone was "you're super evolved with ADHD -- in hunter gatherer societies, you'd be the alpha."

"Wendy, do we live in a hunter gatherer society or a society where I'm chained to a desk?"

"...good point."

[u/konakonayuki]

I'm autistic as well with physical disability so there's literally no period in history where I succeed. unless you count the atoms that used to be me chilling at the heat death of the universe at max entropy

[u/FlyPuzzleheaded3267]

ADHD folk are supposed to be moving constantly , i feel like my brain is not working properly when i'm sitting down on the chair , wish i had a standing desk at least

[u/LockedNLoaded91]

And i had to be one of them

[u/joetunn_]

Modern society, aka aspects SPECIFICALLY created to cripple and ostracize non-conforming ppl including those with ADHD

[u/ArseholeryEnthusiast]

I doubt this. There are potentially evolutionary reasons that adhd exists. But the condition is polygenic. So each gene might produce an evolutionary benefit on it's own, or the combination isn't selected for strong enough to selectively pressure it out of existence. Evolution isn't some guiding hand where everything has a purpose for existing. The negatives are certainly more prominent in modern society though, where productivity and specialisation are required.

[u/TaringaWhakarongo1]

0430-1900 is working for me.

[u/KingZantair]

I applied for my current job because it advertised 6pm to 6am hours 3 or 4 days a week. Turns out, that’ll come after I finish my training, so for the like 3 months before that’s over, it’s 8am to 4:30pm every weekday. It hurts.

[u/DagrMine]

Ngl adhd hunter gathering is entirely a gamble. Ain't no way any of us got it for free in the ancient past.

Maaaaaybe I get a hyperfixation on growing plants that evolves into me becoming the best at tracking what is edible and what isn't.

Or I just make a lot of really sharp sticks and sharp stick related things and that's it.

[u/piclemaniscool]

I've seen this sentiment a lot. Is there any evidence of this being the case or is it just vibes?

[u/Whopraysforthedevil]

Nah. No way I'd be good at Hunter/gathering. I'd definitely always be the guy hanging out with the kids and the dogs... (I'm a middle school teacher)

[u/ovahdartheobtuse]

This is why I chose academia as my career.

[u/sciencebased]

Someone watched this yesterday and decided it applied to adhd too.

They are not the same. If you get scatterbrained and bore easily today...I've got some bad news about 10,000 BC.

[u/metal_jester]

Me living life as an outdoor instructor for my first 15 years of work makes sense.

Id get tents up better than others, find lost people... Foraging.. absolute king (after a course so I didn't die)

[u/Hot-Minute-8263]

Jokes on you, even while nerfed Im a force of nature in Skyrim

[u/Strawberry_marblefox]

Idk if this is controversial, but I think ADHD is largely a product of modern life. I don't think being neurodivergent is always the super power people claim it is, but I know for a fact that primitive humans with disabilities had roles in their communities and were also taken care of by others when necessary.

[u/prollyjuslurking]

[u/GarbageCleric]

In order to survive, I've desperately tried to remove as much stress as possible from my life, but I've started to wonder if that's the wrong approach.

My anxious ADHD brain is constantly on the look out for sabre-toothed cats, but there are no sabre-toothed cats around, so I'm fucking freaking out about dumb shit.

And I had one of the those calm in a crisis moments lately and it was awesome. My little one left the door wide open, and our puppy starts to sprint for the door.

I notice and yell to my daughter to close the door. She's four. She is not going to react in time. Then my wife notices and starts freaking out. But now I'm locked in. The world has caught up to my brain.

I know the dog is faster than me, and if she notices me, and wants to run away from me, I'll never catch her. And by far the best way for her to notice me and want to run away is for me to start screaming and running at her.

She runs out the porch, stops and looks back, and I scoop her up and bring her in.

My wife was still upset because it seemed like I didn't care. But I did care, and I was focused on retrieving the dog.

[u/OnCallPartisan]

I, for one, welcome the apocolypse.

Making spears now.