Autism as Alternative Ground State Architecture: Sensory Calibration, Social Attractor Differences, and the Cost of Forced Neurotypical Convergence

We apply the Displacement Framework to autism spectrum conditions, arguing that the displacement is not autism itself but the forced convergence to neurotypical S0. Masking is sustained high displacement cost; autistic burnout is wrong-attractor capture from chronic masking. Special interests are deep attractor basins with the fastest displacement dissipation rate. Meltdowns and shutdowns are threshold crossings.

ABA therapy is formalized as a forced-displacement intervention whose displacement integral exceeds any therapeutic benefit. Neurodiversity is a distribution over valid ground states; accommodation is displacement equalization.