Autism in Cyberpunk type settings

[taiwanluthiers]

I know Cyberpunk is always depressing stuff, but I am autistic (or really, Asperger's, but it's now lumped into Autism in general). One big difficulty I have is social interaction. I always thought that cyberware could help autistic person to live normally in society by training them to recognize nonverbal cues.

For example in Deus Ex they have a cyberware which is called CASIE, or rather the social augmentation. It's basically a set of sensors and processors designed to read people's heart rate, blood pressure, perspiration, etc. to give you a clue as to the impact of your words, before they say anything. So for autistic people who can't "read" people, this is immensely helpful. However Deus Ex never really go into it.

In Cyberpunk I feel braindance could be a very powerful training tool for autistic people. For example the autistic person could have social interactions with someone who is scrolling BD's, then it can be saved and played back by the autistic person who can then learn how normal (neurotypical) people think, and feel. So it helps them better to put themselves in other people's shoes (autistic people like me struggles hugely with this).

But then I played River's sidequest, and in it it deals with autistic people. In that there are people saying that autistic people are despised by schools universally and it makes it easy for someone like Peter Pan to manipulate them for evil ends.

What do you think, would cyberware be useful for autistic people to overcome their differences and be able to live in society, or it doesnt?

 

[Wulf145]

What could help is Software that could guestimate peoples emotion from thier facial expression. This would be negated by facial implants as a Cyber eye does not convey an emotion akin to a 'natural' eye.
It would never be acurate since each person conveys their emotions diffenently, this would be exasperated by the wearers non subdermal implants. It would be difficult for a human without Aspergers, so I doubt that software would fair any better. At most it could give you information on wether there is an extreeme reaction.
Even without Aspergers it can be very difficult to gauge how people are realy feeling, since dependent on their cultural background they will react totaly different to one and the same statement.

 

[GVArcian]

Pretty sure the only reference to autism in River's quest was the fact that the tech used to scroll Peter Pan's dreams came from a lab developing treatments for autistic kids. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[WileyMarmot]

Reading and interpreting micro expressions, verbal and non verbal cues is more of an art form than a science. My background is career law enforcement, criminal justice, and high risk security---there's a plethora of methods out there for accomplishing the above; and a boatload of training courses to go with them. When all is said and done; many of those who've taken the training simply can't get the hang of it (like trying to teach me to paint people's portraits)---suggesting there are indeed somethings some are born with; while others are not.

An enhancement to achieve what the OP suggests; seems more likely to be a software upgrade to interface with the users five senses and mental processes; more than it would be a hardware upgrade. Though in fairness; either soft or hardware that improved detection of respiratory, saliviary, heart/pulse rate, perspiratory rates would help "target/suspect" interpretation.

Oh yea...............................intoxicants. Talk about throwing some **** in the game (of interpreting peoples emotional state and truthfulness). Good luck!

PS: You can't go wrong with shock paddles and a 240V power source to help you get to the bottom of things!

 

[Tych_o_godgamer]

Man this is a game not a therapist, and it is not aimed at helping autistic people, live with it. Go out in real life and talk to people, I know it's a struggle im autistic myself, but don't try and associate it with a game and think it would help you socially.
Because, for the last time, this is a GAME.

 

[atomowyturysta]

Back in the days there was a campaign module for Cyberpunk 2020 (so called Alternate Reality, to be precise) "Thicker Than Blood" that revolved around an autistic child. As for 2077. The world there is even bleakier and more unforgiving than the original. I don't think any of the powers that be cares about autistic people unless thay can exploit them somehow.

 

[Draconifors]

Keep real-world stuff separate from fictional, on this forum. Posts deleted.

 

[Mwatuangi]

I know Cyberpunk is always depressing stuff, but I am autistic (or really, Asperger's, but it's now lumped into Autism in general). One big difficulty I have is social interaction. I always thought that cyberware could help autistic person to live normally in society by training them to recognize nonverbal cues.

For example in Deus Ex they have a cyberware which is called CASIE, or rather the social augmentation. It's basically a set of sensors and processors designed to read people's heart rate, blood pressure, perspiration, etc. to give you a clue as to the impact of your words, before they say anything. So for autistic people who can't "read" people, this is immensely helpful. However Deus Ex never really go into it.

In Cyberpunk I feel braindance could be a very powerful training tool for autistic people. For example the autistic person could have social interactions with someone who is scrolling BD's, then it can be saved and played back by the autistic person who can then learn how normal (neurotypical) people think, and feel. So it helps them better to put themselves in other people's shoes (autistic people like me struggles hugely with this).

But then I played River's sidequest, and in it it deals with autistic people. In that there are people saying that autistic people are despised by schools universally and it makes it easy for someone like Peter Pan to manipulate them for evil ends.

What do you think, would cyberware be useful for autistic people to overcome their differences and be able to live in society, or it doesnt?

Since it would still depend on people being able to afford it, not really. Same with folks with disabilities. Good ones cost a ton of money and thus leave folks depending on shifty and questionable Black Market stuff. The class imbalances I think make the social discrimination worse in that sense as people can literally have them removed from a person and I wouldn't be surprised if this was done without consent. Braindances are an interesting avenue though that'd be great for Neurodiverse folks in theory if implemented correctly. But there'd also be the risk of them being abused.