[porknubbins]

I have worked very closely with some autistic people and they were very smart in a human dictionary type way- knew a huge amount of facts but hit a wall very hard with higher levels of abstraction.

Two things I see as required for cutting edge math or physics are intellectual humility and a lot of intuitive feeling for how to approach problems. Another way to say this would be not missing the forest for the trees.

[ErigmolCt]

It's kind of wild how the same traits (hyperfocus, detail orientation, pattern sensitivity) can be superpowers in some contexts but limiting in others that require leaps of intuition or comfort with ambiguity

[porknubbins]

Yeah I am slower, clumsier and somewhat worse with memorizing details but still the person that is called in when there is something novel that requires cutting through multiple levels and using judgement. Though I am extremely thankful for my autistic coworkers since we complement each other as a team.