There’s a lot about 21st century capitalism that is bad. Billions of animal lives and bodies are commodified for profit. Many of my friends cannot afford basic healthcare. Workers around the world are exploited. Plenty of ink has been spilled about these problems and many more.

But there are some subtle benefits. In a world where anything can be obtained for the right price — well, anything can be obtained for the right price.

Recently, I adopted a turtle. I knew nothing about turtle care and had to very quickly educate myself about general turtle care and the specific biology of that turtle species. I figured out that I needed to purchase the following items, as soon as possible: an $800 water filter; a UV light tube; a heat lamp; and a water heater. And on a Sunday, no less!

Of course, obtaining those four items caused me immense discomfort. Basically, I placed a click-and-collect order with the local aquarium shop, open 7 days until 6 pm. At the aquarium shop, there were hundreds of live fish in tanks on display. The commodification of animals, indeed.

But at what other point in history can you easily obtain, with zero notice, those four items needed to help a sick reptile? I think that’s a pretty bright silver lining.

There’s another silver lining specific to autistic people. Many essential services, including healthcare, shelter, and food, are placed behind arbitrary pay walls that prevent many people from accessing these needs. But if you do happen to be born into the right circumstances such that you can afford these needs, then the world is much less confusing.

At many points in history (and in many places today), social interactions have been governed by complex networks of social rules. The English words “guest” and “host” (and even “ghost”) sound similar because they originally described a single guest-host relationship that structured social interactions around 6,000 years ago in what is now eastern Ukraine.

Social rules? Structured social interactions? For me, as an autistic person, this sounds like a nightmare.

But many of these complex rule have been replaced by a much simpler rule: if you pay $X, you get Y service. One need not consider social obligations, or reciprocal arrangements, or bartering, or inconveniencing others.

There is an A4 laminated piece of paper at my local chemist. It lists all of the additional services that the pharmacists offer: blood pressure check, $5. Certifying a document copy, $10. Administering an injection, $20. As an autistic person, all I have to do is literally read the written list of requirements in order to obtain various services.