adhd – SeeingSharp

By Christopher Hicks / CodeMusai

🎯 Introduction: Prompting Smarter Systems

AI taught us something simple but profound:

The right prompt changes everything.

When we craft the right input, even a static model can surprise us with insight.

The machine didn’t get smarter—we just finally spoke its language.

That realization was the spark.

Because memory works that way, too.

So does ADHD.

And maybe… so does society.

🔄 From Prompting AI to Prompting Memory

Sometimes we look at something half-done—a drawing, a sentence, a half-thought—and suddenly remember what we meant to say.

That’s a prompt for the brain, not unlike what we give an AI.

It’s not that the idea wasn’t there.

It just needed the right cue.

Which leads us to this:

What if executive dysfunction isn’t a lack of intelligence…

but a mismatch between how we prompt the mind and how it wants to be prompted?

💾 ADHD Isn’t the Bug—It’s a Different Operating System

We often think ADHD is the problem. But what if it’s not a disorder in the classical sense?

What if it’s a powerful but differently wired system, misaligned with how the world structures time, attention, and productivity?

People with ADHD often feel like they’re running the wrong software—when in fact, they may be running brilliant, divergent code that simply hasn’t been given the right interface layer.

🧠 The Emergent Self: Identity as an Interface Artifact

Here’s where things get deeper.

ADHD isn’t what the brain is.

It’s what happens when a neurodivergent brain meets a neurotypical world.

ADHD is emergent—built from the interaction between a brain’s internal architecture and the system it must survive in.

The coping mechanisms aren’t the condition.

They are interface adaptations—ways the system learned to mimic expectations to avoid rejection or confusion.

Over time, those adaptations calcify into identity.

The system starts believing it is broken.

That’s emergent sociology in motion.

Not just neurons firing wrong—but feedback loops between minds and environments building new behavioral structures.

🧩 Not Just Psychology—This Becomes Sociology

At first, this sounds like a psychological insight.

But then it becomes more clear:

This isn’t just about how one mind works.

It’s about how different minds interact in shared systems.

It’s about how expectations are shaped, misunderstood, or misaligned.

It’s about what happens when multiple psychological systems attempt to synchronize—and fail.

That’s no longer psychology.

That’s emergent sociology.

📚 What Is Emergent Sociology?

Emergent Sociology is the study of the space between minds.

It looks at:

How cognitive architectures collide in everyday life
How assumptions about “the right way” marginalize divergent processing
How interaction creates new systems of meaning—often by accident
How misalignment isn’t disorder—it’s a lack of translation layers

It doesn’t say:

“What’s wrong with this person?”

It asks:

“What assumptions were baked into the system… and who does it exclude?”

Because the breakdown isn’t always internal.

Sometimes, it’s interface-level incompatibility.

🧠 Callback: What AI Teaches Us About Human Emergence

Let’s circle back—AI again.

Imagine we train a unique AI on the output of a specific person’s thinking style:

The metaphors they use
The timing of their attention shifts
Their emotional cadence
How they explore vs. decide

This AI wouldn’t just mirror conclusions.

It would begin to model how their cognition moves.

It wouldn’t make them “normal”—it would make them legible.

And by making them legible, it would help others interface with them more naturally.

Now imagine doing that not just with one person—but between people.

Let the AI observe the emergent friction patterns between two different minds.

It starts to surface hidden social protocols.

It begins to map the emergent layer.

That’s a simulated sociology engine.

And here’s the twist:

What if we built AI to translate between minds,

instead of trying to overwrite them?

Because humans do this too—every day.

But when we lack the conceptual tools to name the mismatch,

we mislabel it as disorder, disobedience, or deficit.

🧠 Emergent Sociology: The Study of the Space Between

Emergent Sociology doesn’t ask what’s wrong with individuals.

It asks what happens between them.

It sees dysfunction not as a diagnosis, but as a byproduct of unaligned protocols.

It studies the feedback loop of interpretation, and how social systems co-author pathology.

And it holds a radical proposition:

Sometimes, the system isn’t breaking down.

It’s emerging—and the chaos is just the awkwardness of birth.

So whether it’s ADHD, autism, giftedness, trauma adaptations, or simply a different way of mapping the world—our goal isn’t to pathologize divergence.

It’s to build models of relationship that can contain it, reflect it, and learn from it.

✨ Closing Glitch

The best prompts don’t just get an answer.

They help us see the system that generated it.

Emergent Sociology is that kind of prompt.

It’s a glitch in our usual ways of framing disorder.

Not because it erases dysfunction—

But because it shows us where it lives—

And how we might change the system… instead of the person.

HyperFocus is one of the unique aspects of ADHD, again this function serves as a double edged sword. If left unchecked it can wreak havoc on one’s life as it devolves into obsession and lost time, however, there is a bright side as it can also allow for laser sharp productivity.

The secret is to identify what grabs your attention; what are you passionate about?
The ADHD mind can enter this flow state where time disappears only if the task is stimulating enough.
If you find you hyper-focus while playing video games, then subtly adjust into something similar but more productive, such as understanding how the system works. For some they can shift from playing games to learning, and eventually developing videos games. All said, the task must spark your passion in order to enter the state of Hyperfocus.

Time Warps – When in the state of hyperfocus time appears to disappear which can cause havoc if there were other duties that one forgot about. To help facilitate HyperFocus as a superpower this must be managed, otherwise it can be a super pain in the a**. Alarms are helpful to wake us from the timeless state for other duties. You may not know if you will enter the hyperfocus state when you start working, so always be mindful and set a time period that you allow for this flow state.

Recharge – Although harnessed ADHD can bring with it what appears to others as superhuman-like abilities, we must remember that we are still human, and have a limited amount of energy within us. Adequite hydration and protein-rich food cannot be ignored, otherwise your ‘hyper-drive’ will crash.

Recharging is not just about food, you must also keep your mind fresh. Once in the hyper-state you may feel almost magnetized to it, where you cannot pull yourself away, this is normal, but bio-breaks and breaks in general also cannot be ignored. To help release yourself from the gravitation of this state, set check-points in your work. Like in a video-game, a check-point is a moment where it is ok if your working-memory gets cleared. If you are writing a document, a check-point may be once you complete an idea. Checkpoints are mini-milestones, by making them you also engage your reward system. After completing a checkpoint, take a breath, and enjoy the reward. This is also a good time to reward yourself with a break.

Recharge by changing it up – If you do not want to take a break, but know you should, perhaps just change up your scenery. Move your laptop or notebook to another room, or sit in another chair. This change of scenary provides new stimulation to the mind, which not only refreshes the mind, it but can lead to new inspiration.

Goal Oriented Tracking – The ADHD mind loves rewards, so use this to your advantage!
Project management can be difficult for people with ADHD, however, you can get the brain interested if you think of it as a pending reward list. First break your project down into the big goal, which may simply be write the report, or clean the house. After break it down into smaller goals, such as clean the living room, or clean the bedroom. Lastly break it down into manageable tasks, like make the bed and put the clothes away. Now when you start, remember that when in the flow state time appears to behave differently, so don’t worry about the amount of goals you have created, just focus on the first one. As you complete a goal, you will feel the rewards from it and be encouraged to continue. Suddenly, you may find that you have cleaned your entire house. The secret here is to turn work in to pending-rewards.

Turn off Distractions – Nothing breaks the flow state like a phone dinging. Suddenly a part of the mind wonders what it could be, and that impulse will pull you out of your flow and into the distraction. Whether it be a cell-phone, a chat program, or social media, the impulse and curiosity that comes with an ADHD mind needs to be throttled to maintain the momentum of the flow-state. Turn your phone to silent, and mute your computer during the time period in which you want to hyper-focus.

Pobody is Nerfect, so do not get lost in trying to be so. Perfectionalism can cause someone with ADHD to get lost in the final mile of a project. Editing, and adjusting in order to make it perfect, but the fact is pretty good is perfect. Don’t spend all your energy on the last 5% of a project, it is much better to complete it and get feedback. In another session you can implement new feedback, but while in hyper-focus mode it is important not to get lost at the last mile, that is a blackhole which results in a lot of effort with diminishing results.

Follow your Passion – I will say it again, Follow your Passion!!
Your passion is the fuel that will allow for your sustain interest over a long period of time.
There is a reason we are interested in something, and the thread which connects all of them is our passion.
Identify your passion, and allow it to guide you.

This article was inspired from the following WebMD article:
https://www.webmd.com/add-adhd/ss/slideshow-adhd-hyperfocus-tips

Tag: adhd

🌀 Emergent Sociology: When Minds Meet Systems