Editing Openai/69177fbb-14c4-800f-bc57-ccb5a1d88c95 (section)

==== If someone wants an evolutionary framing without drifting into unsupported claims, researchers tend to emphasize: ====
* balancing selection (traits like hyperfocus or high sensory acuity can be adaptive in some contexts and costly in others)
* cognitive diversity as population-level robustness
* autistic traits arising from general variation in brain wiring, not lineage divergence

This keeps the focus on present-day neurodiversity without relying on speculative paleopsychology.

If you want, I can also break down:
* the specific archaeological evidence RDOS interprets and how mainstream researchers interpret the same data
* the actual genetic regions in humans that come from Neanderthals and what they do
* or the cultural/psychological appeal of “alternative origin stories” in neurodivergent communities.