Theiling Online    Sitemap    Conlang Mailing List HQ   

Re: OT: Asperger's syndrome

From:BP Jonsson <bpj@...>
Date:Monday, June 26, 2000, 20:14
For reference on this topic, see:
         http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/jargon/html/Personality-Characteristics.html
and
         http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/jargon/html/Weaknesses-of-the-Hacker-Personality.html

esp. the last few paragraphs:

>1994-95's fad behavioral disease was a syndrome called Attention Deficit >Disorder (ADD), supposedly characterized by (among other things) a >combination of short attention span with an ability to `hyperfocus' >imaginatively on interesting tasks. In 1998-1999 another syndrome that is >said to overlap with many hacker traits entered popular awareness: >Asperger's syndrome (AS). This disorder is also sometimes called >`high-function autism', though researchers are divided on whether AS is in >fact a mild form of autism or a distinct syndrome with a different >etiology. AS patients exhibit mild to severe deficits in interpreting >facial and body-language cues and in modeling or empathizing with others' >emotions. Though some AS patients exhibit mild retardation, others >compensate for their deficits with high intelligence and analytical >ability, and frequently seek out technical fields where problem-solving >abilities are at a premium and people skills are relatively unimportant. >Both syndromes are thought to relate to abnormalities in neurotransmitter >chemistry, especially the brain's processing of serotonin. > >Many hackers have noticed that mainstream culture has shown a tendency to >pathologize and medicalize normal variations in personality, especially >those variations that make life more complicated for authority figures and >conformists. Thus, hackers aware of the issue tend to be among those >questioning whether ADD and AS actually exist; and if so whether they are >really `diseases' rather than extremes of a normal genetic variation like >having freckles or being able to taste DPT. In either case, they have a >sneaking tendency to wonder if these syndromes are over-diagnosed and >over-treated. After all, people in authority will always be inconvenienced >by schoolchildren or workers or citizens who are prickly, intelligent >individualists - thus, any social system that depends on authority >relationships will tend to helpfully ostracize and therapize and drug such >`abnormal' people until they are properly docile and stupid and >`well-socialized'. > >So hackers tend to believe they have good reason for skepticism about >clinical explanations of the hacker personality. That being said, most >would also concede that some hacker traits coincide with indicators for >ADD and AS. It is probably true that boosters of both would find a rather >higher rate of clinical ADD among hackers than the supposedly >mainstream-normal 10% (AS is rarer and there are not yet good estimates of >incidence as of 2000).
/BP B.Philip Jonsson mailto:melroch@mail.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~__ A h-ammen pennuid i phith! \ \ __ ____ ____ _____________ ____ __ __ __ / / \ \/___ \\__ \ /___ _____/\ \\__ \\ \ \ \\ \ / / / / / / / \ / /Melroch\ \_/ // / / // / / / / /___/ /_ / /\ \ / /Melarocco\_ // /__/ // /__/ / /_________//_/ \_\/ /Eowine__ / / \___/\_\\___/\_\ Gwaedhvenn Angelmiel\ \_____/ / a/ /_adar Merthol naun ~~~~~~~~~Cuinondil~~~\_______/~~~\__/~~~Noolendur~~~~~~ || Lenda lenda pellalenda pellatellenda cuivie aiya! || "A coincidence, as we say in Middle-Earth" (JRR Tolkien)