Existence, Essence and when Hell is other people

Existence Precedes Essence & Bad Faith

"Existence precedes essence" is a fundamental idea in Jean-Paul Sartre's existentialism philosophy. It means that individuals are not defined by any inherent nature or purpose, but rather by the choices we make and the actions we take.

According to Sartre, human beings have complete freedom and responsibility for their own lives and must create their own meaning and values. This is in contrast to traditional philosophical views, which often hold that individuals have an inherent nature or purpose that determines their actions and choices. Essentially, the concept of "existence precedes essence" highlights the importance of individual freedom and responsibility in shaping one's own identity and purpose.

The idea of "existence precedes essence" is closely linked to Sartre's concept of "bad faith," which refers to the denial of one's own freedom and responsibility. When individuals act in bad faith, they try to escape their own freedom and responsibility by blaming external factors or by denying their own choices and actions.

Hell is other People

"Hell is other people" is a phrase from Jean-Paul Sartre's play "No Exit," in which the character Garcin utters the phrase in response to the realization that he is doomed to spend eternity in a room with two other people. The phrase has come to be widely recognized as a reference to the idea that other people can be a source of suffering or torment, either because of their actions or simply because of their presence. Sartre's play is a commentary on the human condition and the ways in which people interact with one another, and the phrase "hell is other people" captures the sense of frustration and despair that can arise in relationships with others.

New article In Psychology Today

How Reasonable are Reasonable Accommodations at Work

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/giving-voice/202410/how-reasonable-are-reasonable-accommodations-at-work

Feedback.

Yes, 100% agree with these important points - the problems with reactive enforcement, power imbalances, "neurodiversity lite" etc. Thank you for being a powerful voice in favour of change!!  

Another brilliant article Hari. I am sharing it widely too. The students in our autism certificate programs always love your pieces and refer back to them frequently in their reflections.

APS Global Psychological Science Summit

 

Will be presenting a research poster at the APS Global Psychological Science Summit.

Read at https://time.com/6299599/autism-research-limited-essay/

Why was I not benefiting from the vast amount of research that is being done in the name of understanding autism better? After all, autism has been an official diagnosis since 1980.

-Hari Srinivasan, Time

 

High Cost of Positive Psychology Services is a Barrier.

"Integrating Autism and the Positive Psychology fields faces significant barriers, starting with the high cost of therapy, which automatically makes it inaccessible to a large portion of autistics and their families. Being autistic already comes with a big financial cost." - Hari Srinivasan 

https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/aut.2024.38246.pw

 

Such a brilliant statement.

"a history of the relegation of first-hand accounts as biased or inaccurate by the nature of the fact that autistic people wrote them (Botha, 2021)."

Botha, M., & Cage, E. (2022). "Autism research is in crisis": A mixed method study of researcher's constructions of autistic people and autism research. Frontiers in psychology, 13, 1050897. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1050897

My Research at Vanderbilt

https://lab.vanderbilt.edu/live/person/hari-srinivasan/

https://lab.vanderbilt.edu/live/about/people/

More specifically on my lab's research project

https://lab.vanderbilt.edu/live/2024/06/12/creation-of-immersive-cave-environment-for-sensory-testing-in-children/

 

 https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/giving-voice/202402/the-spectrum-of-loss-grief-through-the-autistic-lens

EVRA Visioning Event

Just got invited to this event.  

Dear Hari,

I am delighted to invite you to the upcoming ERVA visioning event on Engineering Design to Equip a Neurodiverse Workforce on January 29-30, 2025, in Nashville, TN. You were selected for your expertise and experience in this field, which we believe will allow you to contribute to the discussion and raise the level of understanding among all participants. That will lead to a better visioning report, which is the output from this event.....

The Engineering Research Visioning Alliance (ERVA), an initiative funded by the National Science Foundation Engineering Directorate, will host a visioning event to roadmap critical areas of engineering that can have a significant impact. The goal of the event is to collectively develop a strategic plan spanning the next 20-50 years of high-impact, high-reward, pre-competitive engineering research-led opportunities that will advance United States competitiveness. The event outcomes will inform future research directions/resourcing across the nation in industry, academia, federal agencies, national labs, and other stakeholders.

Challenges-Based Solutions

"For some autistics, we can step right into the application of positive psychology. For others, we need to be working on challenge-based solutions at the same time. It’s not a binary, either/or situation where you do one at the expense of the other. " - Hari Srinivasan 

https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/aut.2024.38246.pw

VKC Science Day

 

Poster Presentation at VKC Science Day

https://vkc.vumc.org/multisensory/hari.html

Vanderbilt Kennedy Center Science Day - Tuesday, October 15, 2025

2024 Vanderbilt Kennedy Center Science Day will take place Tuesday, Oct. 15, beginning at 11:30 a.m. at Vanderbilt University Student Life Center. Posters will be hung in the Commodore Ballroom from 10:00-11:30 a.m. with the program beginning at 11:30 a.m. in the Commodore Ballroom. Science Day festivities will include lunch, two poster sessions, a keynote, and a Data Blitz, closing with a wine/cheese reception. Find updates for Science Day at the VKC Science Day webpage here: https://vkc.vumc.org/vkc/scienceday/

What's on my mind

What's on my mind. 

I'm just troubled by all the hate in the world. If humankind wants to progress it should be a combined effort forward, not splitting into all the hate factions for whatever reason. Humans are an insignificant nix in the context of the vast universe we live in. I also wonder about my role in all this. I know in terms of disability advocacy I've thought of everything I get to do as adding small pebbles that widen ripples in the pond of change. So I wonder about which small pebbles I can add to that pond.

Diagnostic Overshadowing

"Autism already faces the problem of diagnostic overshadowing where anything and everything is attributed to the mysterious bucket of “it's all part of autism so live with it, nothing more need be done,” by medical professionals. Ironically, the same underlying issues would get treated if the autism label were not attached to that person."

- Hari Srinivasan, Newsweek

 Read at https://www.newsweek.com/dual-approach-autism-opinion-1818062