being "unreasonable"

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Was just thinking about George Bernard Shaw's famous quote in relation to Aspieness....

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man."
George Bernard Shaw

Maybe there's hope for us after all? If only we could convince the rest of them of our unique potential.

Your thoughts people?

EDIT: Just wanted to add BTW that im not insisting all aspie behaviour is "unreasonable".... just an interesting application of said quote...

I like that little piece of unconventional wisdom

Well....it makes sense to me that you need enough "unreasonable" folks to create change in the first place, but you need "reasonable" people to adapt to that change so that it actually becomes part of the world.....so I guess my thought is that progress begins with the unreasonable man, but depends on the reasonable man as well.

In memory of Steve Jobs:

His unreasonable expectation was that computers should be perceived as "friendly" instead of intimidating (as they were when he started) so that everybody felt comfortable using them, not just tech-savvy people. He made this unreasonable expectation a reality and the world adapted.

That's pretty deep! And true!

I would add that, among the experiences of High Functioning Autistics, there exists ample evidence that though there may be many "reasonable" people that have no problem adapting to the status quo, many of those same people demonstrate "unreasonableness" when it comes to adapting to a new idea that goes against the status quo.

Since Autistics tend to want the world to adapt to them (though they view this "adaptation" to be the way "the world ought to be" to begin with), they are often viewed by those who readily accept that which is already "acceptable" to society, as "unreasonable," and by doing so, reveal their own unreasonableness in some situations, to the detriment of the Autistic.

It never ceases to amaze me how many professionals are out there, dealing with Autism, who know that Autism usually includes a lowered ability to adapt to things the Autistic finds illogical, insist that the way to "treat" Autism is always to teach the Autistic to adapt, and not to adapt at all to the Autistic person. I find this hypocritical.

After all, we are the ones with limited adaptation skills. We are also taught that the best way to teach others is through our own example. If they never adapt to us, thus setting the example of unwillingness to adapt, what do they think they are teaching us?

When they refuse to adapt to us, it should come as no surprise to them when we, in turn, refuse to adapt as well.

That's a brilliant observation--and I agree with you about the hypocrisy!