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Wired on Autism in the Valley

Posted by michael on from the counting-matchsticks dept.

digaman writes: "The December issue of Wired magazine contains an article of mine on what appears to be an upsurge in autism among the children of programmers and engineers in Silicon Valley: "The Geek Syndrome." A complicated issue, explored in depth. I hear the California Department of Developmental Services is launching a research project to investigate the questions raised in the article."

3 of 861 comments (clear)

  1. Capitalism encourages Autism by CommunistTroll · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Of course Silicon Valley has a lot of geeks with Ausbergers - Capitalism loves workers with Autism.

    Microserfs work hard, and as long as you keep them supplied with Jolt Cola (TM) they won't start asking questions like "Why am I here?"

    Don't worry about Art, Music, Social Interaction, Sex, just keep drinking the Cola and writing that accounting code. We'll do all the thinking for you; we'll provide you with a nice cubical and keep all the nasty social interaction away from you.

    Keep coding for the man! It's the code that matters! Don't question who you are or what you are doing! You only exist to work!

  2. suddenly feeling much better... by karlm · · Score: 0, Offtopic
    about my girlfriend being less technically minded and detail-oriented than I am. I also feel much better about her lack of ability (and interest to improve) in multivarible calculus and differntial equations. (Considered basic math skills here.)

    I'm also looking at some of the other MIT couples I know and wondering if their children have a very high risk of autism. As a t-shirt from a nearby women's college (Wellesley) says "MIT men: the goods are odd, but the odds are good." Maybe the old MIT frternity saying "B.U. to bed, Wellesley to wed, and MIT to talk to." has some positive implications for the gene pool in the Boston area :-) (Sorry, I know MIT girls really hate that saying. Stereotypes are just stereotypes. My MIT GF is simply the best.)

    I wonder if there is also a higher risk of autism among children of two mechanical enginners. I was drawn to mechanical engineering because of a fascination with complex machines and an appearent ability to model three dimentional machines in my head much better than my peers. (This sounds a lot like one of the autistic people quoted in the article.) Granted, mechanical engineering is considered one of the easier subjects at MIT, so you get some wash outs from other programs diluting the field, but I wouldn't be surprised if mechanical engineering couples from top schools have a much higher incidence of autism, provided the theories layed out in the article are correct. Mechanical engineers should be a self-selecting group of 3D visual thinkers.

    As an aside, is it true about what I've heard about yelling out "LSC" in a movie theater in Silicon Valley? (It's been an MIT cultural thing for at least 15 years now.) How often do you get the propper repsonse from more than one person in an audience? If any of you are curious and want to try it, please do so only when the screen is black before the previews begin or when there is a screw up that has already distracted the audience.

    Hey is it just me, or deos it seem like at least 2% of the regular slashdot posters are MIT students?

    --
    Copyright Violation:"theft, piracy"::Anti-Trust Violation:"thermonuclear price terrorism"<-Overly dramatic language.
  3. Diet Coke and/or Cell phones cause... by GodWasAnAlien · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    migraine headaches, autistic births, and multiple sclerosis.

    Many reports suggest this claim.
    Of course makers of the products will say that they are harmless.
    I try not to consume either one.