07/02/2026
Interesting…
Part 1: Hybrid Minds: Rethinking Neurodivergence Through the Lens of Interspecies Inheritance
For decades, neurodivergents have been pathologised without context - framed as disordered, deficient, or inherently dysfunctional. Yet emerging genetic evidence demands a radical reframe: what if these so-called disorders are inherited expressions of an ancient hybrid lineage?
Modern Homo sapiens are not a pure species. Around 40,000 to 60,000 years ago, early humans interbred with other hominin species - most notably Neanderthals and Denisovans. These weren’t one-off encounters. They resulted in functional, fertile interspecies hybrids whose descendants still carry traces of this genetic legacy today.
In non-African populations, approximately 1-4% of the genome is Neanderthal-derived. In some Southeast Asian and Melanesian groups, Denisovan DNA contributes an additional 4-6%. This process, known as interspecies hybridisation or interspecific introgression, has long been acknowledged in evolutionary biology. Only recently have scientific researchers begun mapping where these ancient genes land - and what they do.
🧬 Neanderthal DNA and Divergent Traits
Neanderthal-derived genes are disproportionately enriched in regions of the human genome associated with:
Skin and hair infrastructure (yes, collagen...connective tissue differences).
Neural development and synaptic function
Immune response regulation.
Sensory perception, particularly skin and pain sensitivity.
Circadian rhythm and sleep architecture.
Cognitive and neurological traits linked to autism and ADHD.
Far from being inert relics, these inherited sequences affect how we think, feel, and interact with the world. In some cases, they appear to correlate with traits frequently seen in divergent populations - including sensory hypersensitivity, altered social processing, and heightened pattern recognition. These are evolutionary artefacts, selected under different environmental pressures, and preserved through hybrid survival advantage.
From Legacy to Liability
What changed? The environment. Traits that once helped our hybrid ancestors navigate ice-age survival - through vigilance, hyperfocus, or heightened immune defence - have become liabilities in today’s overstimulating, industrialised society. Systems that favour standardisation, obedience, and cognitive conformity now label these traits as pathological.
Worse, no model acknowledges their origin.
Despite mounting evidence, the biomedical system still treats neurodivergent traits as if they arise in isolation, disconnected from evolutionary context. This amounts to a systemic misreading of biology: the pathologisation of hybrid inheritance.
Rethinking Identity, Rethinking Science
If divergence is the expression of functional interspecies ancestry, then many individuals today are not disordered - they are biologically distinct. They have hybrid minds - carrying fragments of Neanderthal and Denisovan cognition in a sapiens-dominated system that was never built for them. They also have hybrid bodies that require different environments to the typical.
This doesn’t romanticise suffering or erase the real challenges many divergent people face. It does, however, demand a shift in how we frame those challenges - from internal defect to ecological and ancestral mismatch.
Maybe then we can address the real heart of what is happening here.
Divergents are evolutionarily complex, shaped by an ancient tangle of hybridisation, survival, and adaptation. To pathologise that is not just a scientific error; it is a form of erasure. It is time to correct the narrative - and restore dignity to hybrid minds.
©️ Neurotopia CIC | 2026
