it makes me wonder too if autism is the next step, there is a man named johnny seitz who has aspergers sydrome wich is a form of autism and he has also given amazing insight into how he thinks. for example he says that the reason autistic people dont use or understand language as nerotypicals do is because they can read your emotions very easily and learned from an early age that what you said verbally about how you felt didnt match up with what you were projecting, , alot like animals and what you hear on the dog whisperer..its your "energy" animals and autistic people are aparently very in tune with thier environment and pick up on all the things we miss. he also says he is always stuck in the moment and can turn on "theta" brain waves at will, wich is the frequency our brain hits while meditating. and cannot look you in the eye because the information from you is too overwhelming for him to think straight. it seems that like some stroke survivors, some autistic folks already have found what many "normal" people seek so hard to experience, regardless of the cause of autism instead of trying to "cure" and "fix" all these people i thinks its a lesson in acceptance and understanding on our part, lets embrace and love them for all thier imperfections