Autism, Extremism, and Protecting the Vulnerable with Dr. Tony Attwood

Cult Conversations: The Influence Continuum with Dr. Steve Hassan

Dr. Steven Hassan

Self-improvement, Society & Culture, Education

4.8 • 684 Ratings

🗓️ 27 February 2023

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Wish to learn more about the psychology of Elon Musk and Aspergers Syndrome? In this episode, I am honored to interview Dr. Tony Attwood, one of the world’s foremost experts on Autism Spectrum Disorder. His first book, Asperger’s Syndrome: A Guide for Parents and Professionals, is widely considered the foundational book on the subject. In past decades, I have had many clients who were on the spectrum and I long ago realized they are particularly vulnerable to authoritarian cults, as well as being radicalized online to do acts of terrorism. Years ago I taught an online webinar to warm folks and their families about their vulnerability to undue influence. Folks on the spectrum can be absolute geniuses and over the centuries have made major contributions. That said, these gifts can be manipulated and abused to harm or help others. Join me in this incredible learning experience. Learn more about Steven Hassan and Freedom of Mind Resource Center. Visit freedomofmind.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, I'm Dr. Steven Hassan with another episode of the Influence Continuum.
0:10.0	Today I have a very special guest, Dr. Tony Atwood.
0:18.0	Tony is the world authority on autism and especially Asperger's. I had the opportunity of attending one of his trainings years ago when he came to Boston, his offices in Brisbane, Australia. And I recently reached out to him with the intent to talk with him and then set up a
0:41.7	recording for the podcast.
0:44.4	But he was anxious to just do the interview.
0:48.7	So I hit the record on Zoom.
0:52.8	And we just leapt right into a wide variety of different topics related to
1:00.6	understanding the mind of folks who are on the spectrum and in particular my concern and his
1:08.9	concern that that people could be more vulnerable and susceptible to being
1:15.7	radicalized or recruited into a mind control cult. And in this episode, we covered a number of
1:23.4	very interesting topics. I found it utterly fascinating. And I even asked him about Elon Musk,
1:32.6	because I've been so concerned about what an outsized influence he has since he purchased
1:39.9	Twitter and whether there was any chance of trying to find a way to talk with him to get him to
1:49.2	reevaluate.
1:50.3	I very much appreciated Dr. Atwood responding so favorably when I showed him a chart of my
1:58.2	influence continuum.
2:00.2	And he talked about how valuable it was to be able to have
2:04.8	something where folks on the spectrum can visualize the difference between ethical and
2:11.3	unethical influence.
2:13.8	We covered so many incredible topics, and all you need to do is Google Tony Atwood, ATT-W-O-O-O-D plus
2:24.3	autism and see that he is considered to be one of the masters of this topic.
2:41.5	And we really need to come to grips with the fact that neurodiversity is a good thing that so many people are brilliant contributors because they think out of the box and are not
	...

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