Thought experiment:
If the world was going to get reconfigured in 2026 for maximum benefit to people with ADHD, what would it look like?
We’d be able to get a job doing whatever our passion of the year was until we mastered it and then move onto our next favorite thing. Without having to worry about homelessness and bills
What a brilliant question! All feature films would have a maximum run time of 30 minutes. All books would have a TL;DR at the end. If anyone takes longer than 5 minutes to explain a simple concept, they owe you a dollar. Neurotypicals would be highly incentivised to work as diary managers and time keepers for us. Forgetting what you are about to say just as you launch into a great speech would be considered good luck and there would be clapping and hugs. Commas in sentences would become optional. If a Neurotypical stops responding to your text messages half way through a conversation until a week later and then pretends they didn’t just trigger a week long RSD anxiety attack - straight to jail.
It might be an exploratory nomadic hunter-gather society that has predators and enemies day and night.
A study analyzed DNA of Neanderthals along with contemporary and prehistoric humans. They found ADHD associated alleles were on genes essential to development before the stone age, but selective pressure has decreased the frequency since then. PMC7248073
Another study on tribes examined an ADHD gene mutation that affects dopamine receptors. In the nomadic tribe, those with the mutation had better social standing and nourishment. In the sedentary tribe, those with the same mutation were malnourished, distracted, and regarded as unreliable by their peers. PMC2440754
A third study found ADHD participants collected more berries with more exploring. Non-ADHD participants collected less berries, spent more time trying to deplete bushes, with less time exploring. PMC10878810
I wonder what the equivalent would be in a modern industrialised society? Private investigator maybe? ‘Nighthawk’ detectorist?
Those are really intresting studies. It’s quite something to think about my cycle of getting bored and starting a new hobby or trying something different as an essential life skill of a nomadic forager. Not like those slow, obsessive types, who lag behind trying to pick a bush to the bone before moving on.
In the nomadic tribe, those with the mutation had better social standing and nourishment. In the sedentary tribe, those with the same mutation were malnourished, distracted, and regarded as unreliable by their peers.
This is pretty depressing, and believable.
Yes, this, we don’t need to force people in set routines they can’t really preform without destroying them, and we especially need more people do/work/be producing what they would (happily) like to, not what some megacorp can monetise & nobody actually needs.
one trillion percent agree.
I’d still have fucking Adderall I’ll say that
All bills can be done by automatic debit, which can be started and cancelled easily.
Medical referrals call you instead of the other way around.
More free public phone charging stations.
Menus ask a series of questions about your preferences, online-quizlet-style, rather than present you all the options at once.
Abolish clock time completely.
Giving both an initial thesis sentence and a concluding summary sentence becomes normalized in verbal communication.
What do you mean by clock tine? How else would we tell the time?
Not so sure about the “call you” one - I really need to be in the right frame of mind to deal with it, and being called at any random moment isn’t likely to work well for me. By all means email/text me, tho!
I’ll make a modification:
It’s normalized for people to form rings of personal assistance, where the one person who’s good at making appointments does it for everyone and the other person who actually likes filing taxes (me!) does that for everyone and the person who has a system for sending in warranty cards and rebate forms does that for everyone in the group.
Seriously, why aren’t we doing this already, I’m ready to live in a commune.
I feel like a 4 day work week OR MAYBE (if we rly have to compromise) instead of being given the weekend off you get wednesday and sunday off or something like that?
4 day work week would probably make the office life so much easier. Just eliminate wednesdays and my battery would probably keep me more productive on thurs and fri
I’ve never needed less days, more just the ability to actually focus on work and less distractions. I’ve never been more productive than WFH, and it means I can spend more time maintaining my home as well.
No overhead lighting.
Especially florescent.
Sensitivity to light is an ADHD symptom?
Now that you mention it, that fits my family diagnoses, even those definiely not on the autistic side.
But I have no idea.
Recently diagnosed. Why no overhead lighting?
Some kind of UBI or universal work from home regime
Jobs would be result-driven whenever possible. Those that need butts-in-seats (like contact-driven support) would provide an option for rotating duties so nobody just sits all day every day pretending to be busy. Specialist jobs like nursing and stuff where you need minimum staffing levels would get 3 months per year of discretionary time to use when (if possible) and how they like. Bullshit jobs wouldn’t exist, but UBI and universal healthcare would. Middle management would not exist. C-suites would be paid at the same rate as a mid-tier worker to do their “totally indispensable” job, because pay would be reconfigured to actually reflect effort and skill. Stock market wouldn’t exist, so shareholders wouldn’t exist, and companies would be focused on worker retention via competition again.
More casual dining places would have pod options, like were big during lockdowns, just to be away from the noise and distraction of public spaces. More maker spaces would open and be free or very inexpensive. More third spaces would open, where spending money wasn’t the goal.
School would fundamentally change from being something you do in a sterile building with boring walls and climate control, into classes held outside, held while on walks, or with practical application front and center in the curriculum. Classes would be smaller and more focused on how to think than what to think, probably via discussion. People who want to contribute a lot wouldn’t be punished for engaging, but maybe those students would be better off in a class together, so they can have wildly active tangential discussions and let shyer kids speak up to peers better suited for them.
Doctors send you a calendar invite for appointments, in which you look through what’s available and pick the time you want, while actually having the time to sort through your own responsibilities and make the best match. Most healthcare that doesn’t involve being poked, prodded, examined, etc. would be telehealth/secure message, at no additional cost. Prescription renewals are automatically sent to your doctor to contact you about, when needed, or are otherwise just reordered. Most medications that you’ll be taking forever have a rolling prescription, your doctor just checks in with you yearly or whatever to make sure it’s still working for you. All prescriptions are available through the mail, and are sent that way unless requested for pickup, at no cost.
Public transit is phenomenal, everywhere. All those old railway stations every single town already had get brought back and cars die out other than for rural living. All public transit is no cost, with no tracking card to lose.
And finally, the real winner: All items have a tiny loop so you can put them on a lanyard of some sort if you want so you don’t lose them all the time.
I love this
I love this
Ive always had this thought of a movie, where if the artists and creative made the money and the lawyers and mathematicians were the poor ones
Like I could see a scene in it where the guy is a lawyer and makes like no money and no one respects him. But the guy (who would normally be a busker on a street corner) has a huge lawyer mansion.
Automatic doors on dishwashers, no doors on kitchen cupboards
Glass front doors. The grease. Good God, the grease all over everything you own.
Yea, as someone who has lived with open cupboards, it motherfucking sucks. Everything is dirty all the time and you have no chance in hell to keep it clean. And don’t even get me started on how dirty stuff gets when you have a cat.
Is the month and change we have left before 2026 hits enough time to develop society and tech as shown in The Culture novels?
I’ve never heard of the Culture novels - tell me more!
Still highly imperfect for me …regarding all my other comorbidities. 🤷





