Geeks...

[Doug Schuler]

FYI...

>From: Phil Agre <pagre at alpha.oac.ucla.edu>
>To: "Red Rock Eater News Service" <rre at lists.gseis.ucla.edu>
>Subject: [RRE]geeks
>Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1999 19:39:58 -0700 (PDT)
>
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>Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1999 11:40:47 -0500
>From: Gary Chapman <gary.chapman at mail.utexas.edu>
>To: chapman at lists.cc.utexas.edu
>Subject: L.A. Times column, 9/27/99
>
>Friends,
>
>Below is my Los Angeles Times column for today, Monday, September 27,
>1999. As always, please feel free to pass this on, but please retain
>the copyright notice.
>
>This is likely to be a controversial column, and possibly disturbing
>and even offensive to some computer professionals. My original draft
>of the column had more than 350 additional words than the version
>that was published this morning, and I tried, in my first draft, to
>"soften" the link between computer professionals and the stereotype
>of the "geek" and "nerd." I've also risked offending parents of young
>people with autism. In any case, a sensitive but, in my opinion,
>fascinating subject.
>
>Carol and I are doing well, settled into our routine of work and
>social life here in Austin. We're hoping that it will cool off and
>that we'll have some rain soon -- we've gone about eight weeks
>without any rain, and with high temperatures, and the vegetation
>around here is really suffering. Global warming, I suppose. . . .
>
>Best wishes to everyone.
>
>-- Gary
>
>gary.chapman at mail.utexas.edu
>
>------------------------------------------
>
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>------------------------------------------
>
>Monday, September 27, 1999
>
>DIGITAL NATION
>
>Even if "Geekness" Is a Disorder, There's No Rush to Find a Cure
>
>By Gary Chapman
>
>Copyright 1999, The Los Angeles Times, All Rights Reserved
>
>To the surprise of many people, and the dismay of some computer
>professionals, the formerly derogatory labels "geek" and "nerd" are
>now being used with pride -- or at least resignation -- by a growing
>number of young computer experts.
>
>What makes a computer geek?
>
>There is some fascinating speculation going on these days that the
>well-known stereotype of the computer geek or nerd may actually be a
>description of mild autism, especially a form of autism known as
>Asperger's syndrome.
>
>Unlike classic autism, which often involves mental retardation and a
>lack of verbal skills, Asperger's syndrome is at the "high
>functional" end of the spectrum of autistic behavior, experts say.
>
>People with Asperger's syndrome have normal or above-average IQs and
>may even display savantism, or exceptional abilities in a specific
>skill. What they lack is human empathy, a deficiency sometimes called
>"mind-blindness," which shows up as a distinct inability to read
>routine human nonverbal cues of attitude such as kindness, anger or
>love.
>
>Asperger's syndrome patients, who usually develop their traits at a
>young age, often have these tendencies: excellent rote memory;
>fascination with fantasy worlds and arcane facts; facility with math
>and science; physical awkwardness or clumsiness and sometimes an
>unusual gait; hyperactivity but with an ability to focus on
>interesting problems for hours at a time; poor social understanding;
>hyper-verbal activity but without the ability to make contextual
>connections in conversations; and an appearance of insensitivity and
>eccentricity. They are commonly victims of teasing in school.
>
>And, apparently, some can do well in the computer world.
>
>Indeed, some people claim that a paradigmatic case of Asperger's
>syndrome is displayed by Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft Corp. and
>the richest person on earth.
>
>They say that Gates is famously negligent about his personal
>appearance and schedule and that he has the autistic behavior of
>compulsively rocking in his chair, which reportedly began early in
>his childhood. They say he has temper tantrums and is abrupt and
>abusive to his employees. He is also regarded as one of the smartest
>people in American industry.
>
>It's important to note that success and skill with computers do not
>depend on any mental condition such as Asperger's syndrome, if there
>is a connection at all. It appears that some people who may have a
>mild form of this syndrome may simply find computers and computer
>culture more comfortable than other professions.
>
>An autistic woman who has a successful career in programming told
>ComputerWorld magazine that when she's programming, "my code just
>flies," and she can accomplish more in four hours than other people
>can in two or three days. This is a widely known phenomenon in the
>programming field -- such productive people are sometimes known as
>"super-programmers" and are highly valued by employers. Few are
>clinically autistic.
>
>Asperger's syndrome was first described in 1944 by the Viennese
>psychiatric researcher and physician Hans Asperger, who called his
>child patients "little professors" because of their interest in
>arcane subjects and their advanced verbal skills.
>
>Not surprisingly, research published in German in 1944 was destined
>to be ignored, so Asperger's work was not translated into English
>until the 1970s, and it was only in 1994 that the syndrome became
>part of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
>(DSM-IV), the bible of psychiatric diagnosis.
>
>There is still a great deal of controversy over what set of behaviors
>the syndrome covers and its link to some computer and software
>engineers.
>
>Dr. Fred R. Volkmar, professor of child psychiatry at Yale University
>and one of the world's leading experts on autism, thinks that the
>concept of a mild form of Asperger's is bunk.
>
>"The children we see with Asperger's syndrome are horribly, horribly
>impaired," he said. He admits that there is a debate among
>psychiatric experts over how far the boundaries of the syndrome
>should extend.
>
>Diluting the definition of autism to cover personality traits may
>divert resources away from severely autistic patients who desperately
>need help, Volkmar said.
>
>"The dilemma right now is over what people mean by Asperger's
>syndrome," he said. "We don't have enough data yet. It's likely that
>in the next 10 or 20 years, we'll discover a great many new syndromes
>that we don't understand well enough now. We do know that many people
>with autistic-like behaviors can be highly functional and successful
>in society."
>
>A common reaction to the entire Asperger's debate, among
>self-professed computer geeks, is a big "So what?"
>
>They typically view non-geeks as relentless self-promoters, obsessed
>with their own trivia such as fashion, style and money.
>
>The geeks of the world, they say, are moving society forward with new
>technologies, new ideas and a fierce commitment to free-thinking
>intelligence. The last thing we need, they say, is a "cure" for
>geekness, whatever its source.
>
>Even if Thomas Edison had Asperger's syndrome, we need more Edisons
>and not more pop stars, they argue.
>
>Maybe the geeks shall inherit the Earth.
>
>Gary Chapman is director of the 21st Century Project at the
>University of Texas at Austin. He can be reached at
>gary.chapman at mail.utexas.edu.
>
>------------------------------------------
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