Autism and Invention Are Connected • Hacker News Board

Re: Autism and Invention Are Connected

#31

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Dec 20, 2020, 10:49 PM UTC

DoofusOfDeath wrote: post #17

ksm1717 wrote: post #14

The first sentence rubs me the wrong way. The claim that you wouldn’t expect autism to be coupled with invention because it is a disability only makes sense because of the semantics of labeling autism necessarily a disability. Not to mention the slight to disabilities as a whole

One of my sons has Asperger syndrome. He's brilliant, happy, and has one of the sharpest senses of humor I've encountered. I'm not sure if his Asperger syndrome is a net positive or negative in his life, but it's certainly not a straight-up disability. Perhaps the author was thinking about a strong form of Autism that pretty unequivocally makes life difficult?

[deleted]

Re: Autism and Invention Are Connected

#32

Post by novok » Sun, Dec 20, 2020, 10:58 PM UTC

PlugTunin wrote: post #25

DoofusOfDeath wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of my sons has Asperger syndrome. He's brilliant, happy, and has one of the sharpest senses of humor I've encountered. I'm not sure if his Asperger syndrome is a net positive or negative in his life, but it's certainly not a straight-up disability. Perhaps the author was thinking about a strong form of Autism that pretty unequivocally makes life difficult?

Good point. The author of that article, Baron-Cohen, has previously written (debated?) about whether HFA/AS is a disability OR a difference. Speaking for myself, and many who identify as having Asperger's -- and your son, from what it sounds like (who sounds really cool!) -- it is indeed a difference , and by no means a disability.

Low end ASD can make dating really hard for men, and their often inflexible nature makes them hard people to live with at times. I think from that perspective alone it's a disability.

Re: Autism and Invention Are Connected

#33

Post by lumberjack » Sun, Dec 20, 2020, 11:00 PM UTC

ksm1717 wrote: post #14

The first sentence rubs me the wrong way. The claim that you wouldn’t expect autism to be coupled with invention because it is a disability only makes sense because of the semantics of labeling autism necessarily a disability. Not to mention the slight to disabilities as a whole

Most (like 90% or more) autistic people are low functioning. But they are completely invisible to people like you. When you hear the word you think of the border line cases that fall under the label "high functioning autism". But the author is not limiting himself to just these borderline cases.

Re: Autism and Invention Are Connected

#34

Post by dehrmann » Sun, Dec 20, 2020, 11:02 PM UTC

acd wrote: post #8

kylebenzle wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bless you people. I am amazed at how many pay-walled articles are posted on HN. Are most people here really well off enough that they can afford the dozens of subscriptions that are often linked to here?

Different countries have different purchase power so subscriptions may be different expensive depending where you live. That said, paying for news is essential for our democracy. Paying for news allows news sites to pay journalist to research and write news stories. If we do not pay for news, news has to be financed through online advertising which is basically selling personal data for profit. Without paying revenue…

> If we do not pay for news, news has to be financed through online advertising

Agreed.

> which is basically selling personal data for profit

Not necessarily. Mostly untargeted display ads don't. They could profit from personal data as much as TV or newspaper ads. They also yield a lot worse; my point is that it's possible to run ads that don't actually use personal data.

My bigger concern with ad-funded journalism is it encourages stories and headlines that get clicks, not stories that are important. Journalism isn't supposed to be entertainment.

Re: Autism and Invention Are Connected

#35

Post by cm2012 » Sun, Dec 20, 2020, 11:02 PM UTC

programmerslave wrote: post #12

Mental disabilities are mostly adaptations that have huge upside. Technology is exacerbating that upside. You can’t have a majority autistic society, but you want some of them around

Just world fallacy

Re: Autism and Invention Are Connected

#36

Post by akvadrako » Sun, Dec 20, 2020, 11:04 PM UTC

username90 wrote: post #24

I wonder how much this is autism and how much it is people with low trait agreeableness being diagnosed with autism for being "bad with people". Refusing to do rituals without a good explanation makes people think you are autistic, but it could just as well be that they are disagreeable by nature and don't do things just because people tell them to. And refusing to do things the way everyone else does them obviously…

Autism is a spectrum disorder, defined by just a list of traits, one of which you describe. So it is, by definition, autism.

Re: Autism and Invention Are Connected

#37

Post by lumberjack » Sun, Dec 20, 2020, 11:06 PM UTC

username90 wrote: post #24

I wonder how much this is autism and how much it is people with low trait agreeableness being diagnosed with autism for being "bad with people". Refusing to do rituals without a good explanation makes people think you are autistic, but it could just as well be that they are disagreeable by nature and don't do things just because people tell them to. And refusing to do things the way everyone else does them obviously…

Autism diagnosis does not really focus on social interactions. Difficulties in social interaction are a side effect but it is not how they diagnose the condition.

Re: Autism and Invention Are Connected

#38

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Dec 20, 2020, 11:08 PM UTC

novok wrote: post #32

PlugTunin wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good point. The author of that article, Baron-Cohen, has previously written (debated?) about whether HFA/AS is a disability OR a difference. Speaking for myself, and many who identify as having Asperger's -- and your son, from what it sounds like (who sounds really cool!) -- it is indeed a difference , and by no means a disability.

Low end ASD can make dating really hard for men, and their often inflexible nature makes them hard people to live with at times. I think from that perspective alone it's a disability.

[deleted]

Re: Autism and Invention Are Connected

#39

Post by phs318u » Sun, Dec 20, 2020, 11:08 PM UTC

DyslexicAtheist wrote: post #10

kylebenzle wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bless you people. I am amazed at how many pay-walled articles are posted on HN. Are most people here really well off enough that they can afford the dozens of subscriptions that are often linked to here?

if you are using firefox then there is a great extension here which gets rid of many paywalls. works like a charm https://github.com/iamadamdev/bypass-paywalls-chrome

Another very useful add-on is Unpaywall which searches for free reprints of paywalled scholarly papers.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/unpaywall

Re: Autism and Invention Are Connected

#40

Post by PlugTunin » Sun, Dec 20, 2020, 11:14 PM UTC

amelius wrote: post #27

Please don't take this the wrong way, but there is a 3-to-1 male-to-female ratio in autism prevalence. Does this mean that males invent more things than females? Or is the percentage of people with autism too small to have an effect here? https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28545751/

There was a time when society relegated women to pursuits that frequently deprived them of many opportunities to invent. Fortunately, society has changed.