aspergers & computers (was: Re: [thechat] Whisky Question)

Andrew Forsberg andrew at thepander.co.nz
Thu Dec 20 14:33:44 CST 2001


>>Perhaps I suffer more from this than I thought:
>>http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/9.12/aspergers_pr.html
>
>Strange... I thought aspergers was a form of attention deficit 
>disorder... sort of an ADD/autism combo.
>
>And I've had a theory that computers/TV aggravate ADD.
>
>And I'm even more convinced that computers and the Internet are like 
>flypaper for ADD-ers.  But I think that there is a connection 
>between ADD & autism also, just like I think there's a connection 
>between diabetes and alcoholism.
>
>What they are calling "autistic" behavior here (Gate's rocking, for 
>example) is relatively mild and I don't think Gates or most 
>greasy-haired socially-backward hacker would be called "autistic" by 
>most doctors.

I don't think I was being quite as serious as all that -- more 
observing how sometimes when something apparently off-the-wall hits a 
subject I really want to know how it relates. The article, I thought, 
was well balanced and I found especially interesting the relationship 
drawn between many generations of professors and academics with 
today's growing communities of out-and-out geeks.

They don't actually call Gate's 'autistic', btw. :) And they do go to 
great lengths to separate autism from Asperger's syndrome, even 
though they feel there is a strong family relationship between the 
two disorders (for want of a better word).

Cheers
Andrew

-- 
Andrew Forsberg
---
uberNET - http://uber.net.nz/
the pander - http://thepander.co.nz/




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