WATCH: How autism is remaking a world still hostile to it

When Elon Musk hosted “Saturday Night Live” back in May of 2021, he went public with his Asperger’s diagnosis, linking innovation and neurodivergence in a way that — in that moment — made him a role model for a community that’s often struggled to find employment or acceptance. Since then, Musk has referred to that diagnosis to justify how out of touch his motivations seem with society’s (or even humanity’s), which is more controversial. And now that he’s become arguably the world’s most powerful person and his politics have turned in a direction that threatens the lives and livelihoods of millions, commentators are divided on what to make of his claims. Many accept his explanations, making sense of his political moves in terms of his autism, while others — including those in the autistic community — argue for separating his political conduct from his neurodivergence.

There’s more heat than light on this issue right now, so we reached out to someone who actually knows what they’re talking about: Simon Baron-Cohen, a psychologist and author who is one of the world’s leading experts on autism. His recent book The Pattern Seekers is essential reading for anyone interested in how people with autism or on the spectrum may have built not just Silicon Valley, but human civilization itself.

Baron-Cohen joined us to discuss our changing understanding of autism, what it means to live in a tech-driven world increasingly shaped by leaders who are on the autism spectrum, and how we can balance the innovative drive of super-systematizers with the empathy that’s critical to holding society together.

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