As a wildlife rehab volunteer I carried various birds of prey into educational programs.
We had non releasable owls, hawks (buteos) and a black vulture.
What we did not have were accipiters and falcons (OK, one very tiny kestrel who went into KLEEKLEEKLEE mode five minutes after you got him out and had to go back in his safe box). Those birds are hot wired like warp ten starfighters. That grey streak you saw at your bird feeder right before the sparrow exploded was a Cooper's Hawk, destroying the space-time conundrum. Falcons are the fastest living thing on the planet (in a dive). Both are expert level falconry birds.
Anyone can fly a redtail. Buteos like redtails hunt by sitting, watching, waiting, or surfing the thermals. Literal surfer dudes. Owls also hunt by sitting and waiting, or drifting silently over fields (barn owls). All of these make excellent lecture birds, because they are wired to be chill.
You can take an excursion into the mad insanity that is NYC with your shi(t)poo but try putting a wolf on a leash... you won't get out the gate of the sanctuary. I met a wolf-dog hybrid at a faerie fest, and he was lurking in the back of the pavillion tent, looking a bit overwhelmed. That was a fairly quiet outdoor festival, and THAT was a HYBRID. Wolves are hardwired to smell, hear, notice things not even the neurospiciest of neurospicy humans would.
The mundane world of most humans is stupidly overwhelming.
Enter us, the neurospicey hunters. Maybe we've spent a lifetime masking, shielding, escaping the Stupid. Most of the modern human world is not designed for us. We are happier in the woods, the water, the beach... long empty stretches...well they look empty to the Mundanes, but not to us.
Ma Nature requires diversity, of form, function, and brainstyle.
Unfortunately, as you refer to, their "evidence," leading to some misguided medicine, to mistakenly calm the super alert nervous systems that have their very important place in human existence.
Love your radio knob analogy.
ADD and HD: Attention Differently Directed toward what neurotypical minds do not have. Human existence depending on both typical and atypical intelligences, and not only human, as pointed out in an earlier comment.
I, myself, remember an article about wild parakeets in SF. One was atypical, a loner, who watched out and, when needed, assisted any other in the group.
Ahh, the beauty and calm of knowing perspectives that honor life's intent.
I've been reading your work for decades, and I wanted to thank you.
When I was finally diagnosed with ADHD later in life, I had already spent years wondering why my mind worked differently from so many other people's. Your Hunter/Farmer framework didn't just explain ADHD to me—it helped me understand myself.
I'm one of those people who is always scanning, always asking questions, always looking around the next corner. For much of my life, I was told those qualities were distractions. Your work helped me see that they can also be strengths when they're directed toward a purpose.
For more than twenty years I've worked on election transparency. That work has required persistence, curiosity, and a willingness to keep looking when others have stopped. Reading today's article about the Homer1 research reminded me again that what some people call "noise" can sometimes be the very awareness that allows us to notice what others miss.
I especially appreciated your point that science can explain how a mechanism works, but it cannot tell us whether that mechanism is inherently good or bad. That meaning comes from the environment and from the story we choose to tell.
As someone who was diagnosed later in life, your writing gave me a healthier story to stand on. Instead of seeing myself as someone who needed to become someone else, I came to understand that I simply needed to learn when my Hunter traits were an advantage and when I needed to borrow some Farmer skills.
Thank you for spending so many years helping people like me understand ourselves a little better. Your work has made a real difference in my life, and I suspect in the lives of many others who finally realized they weren't broken—they were simply wired differently.
As a wildlife rehab volunteer I carried various birds of prey into educational programs.
We had non releasable owls, hawks (buteos) and a black vulture.
What we did not have were accipiters and falcons (OK, one very tiny kestrel who went into KLEEKLEEKLEE mode five minutes after you got him out and had to go back in his safe box). Those birds are hot wired like warp ten starfighters. That grey streak you saw at your bird feeder right before the sparrow exploded was a Cooper's Hawk, destroying the space-time conundrum. Falcons are the fastest living thing on the planet (in a dive). Both are expert level falconry birds.
Anyone can fly a redtail. Buteos like redtails hunt by sitting, watching, waiting, or surfing the thermals. Literal surfer dudes. Owls also hunt by sitting and waiting, or drifting silently over fields (barn owls). All of these make excellent lecture birds, because they are wired to be chill.
You can take an excursion into the mad insanity that is NYC with your shi(t)poo but try putting a wolf on a leash... you won't get out the gate of the sanctuary. I met a wolf-dog hybrid at a faerie fest, and he was lurking in the back of the pavillion tent, looking a bit overwhelmed. That was a fairly quiet outdoor festival, and THAT was a HYBRID. Wolves are hardwired to smell, hear, notice things not even the neurospiciest of neurospicy humans would.
The mundane world of most humans is stupidly overwhelming.
Enter us, the neurospicey hunters. Maybe we've spent a lifetime masking, shielding, escaping the Stupid. Most of the modern human world is not designed for us. We are happier in the woods, the water, the beach... long empty stretches...well they look empty to the Mundanes, but not to us.
Ma Nature requires diversity, of form, function, and brainstyle.
Great aligned wild nature story.
I would like the choice to quiet the noise sometimes but as much as ADHD has made my life difficult, I don't want it to go away entirely.
Great explanation of what science has found.
Unfortunately, as you refer to, their "evidence," leading to some misguided medicine, to mistakenly calm the super alert nervous systems that have their very important place in human existence.
Love your radio knob analogy.
ADD and HD: Attention Differently Directed toward what neurotypical minds do not have. Human existence depending on both typical and atypical intelligences, and not only human, as pointed out in an earlier comment.
I, myself, remember an article about wild parakeets in SF. One was atypical, a loner, who watched out and, when needed, assisted any other in the group.
Ahh, the beauty and calm of knowing perspectives that honor life's intent.
Correction: parrots, not parakeets.
Tom,
I've been reading your work for decades, and I wanted to thank you.
When I was finally diagnosed with ADHD later in life, I had already spent years wondering why my mind worked differently from so many other people's. Your Hunter/Farmer framework didn't just explain ADHD to me—it helped me understand myself.
I'm one of those people who is always scanning, always asking questions, always looking around the next corner. For much of my life, I was told those qualities were distractions. Your work helped me see that they can also be strengths when they're directed toward a purpose.
For more than twenty years I've worked on election transparency. That work has required persistence, curiosity, and a willingness to keep looking when others have stopped. Reading today's article about the Homer1 research reminded me again that what some people call "noise" can sometimes be the very awareness that allows us to notice what others miss.
I especially appreciated your point that science can explain how a mechanism works, but it cannot tell us whether that mechanism is inherently good or bad. That meaning comes from the environment and from the story we choose to tell.
As someone who was diagnosed later in life, your writing gave me a healthier story to stand on. Instead of seeing myself as someone who needed to become someone else, I came to understand that I simply needed to learn when my Hunter traits were an advantage and when I needed to borrow some Farmer skills.
Thank you for spending so many years helping people like me understand ourselves a little better. Your work has made a real difference in my life, and I suspect in the lives of many others who finally realized they weren't broken—they were simply wired differently.
With gratitude,
John R. Brakey
Executive Director
AUDIT Elections USA
John’s Substack | Substack