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Oh come on. As owner of history's largest ad platform and someone who's made ungodly amounts of money from it, this seems like a massively hypocritical and un-self-aware thing to say.
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> so they threw out Asperger's, said it wasn't a real mental illness after all, thus postponing the day or reckoning. Say what you want about Asperger's, but my son has autism and I can assure you it's a real mental health disorder, however many kids might somehow get diagnosed with it.
> Say what you want about Asperger's, but my son has autism ... Yes, but you're mixing different things. Autism is a category that includes a "Rain Man" level of functioning, but Asperger's was a diagnosis du jour that picked out brighter-than-normal kids, plus a raft of historical figures including Albert Einstein, in a way that made it seem like an attractive diagnosis, such that now, we have people objecting, sayi…
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I think the problem in the end is the narrowing definition of normal behavior. First it was ADD - adolescent boys who were fidgety and distractible now had an illness, previously this was considered normal for young boys - then we decided that people who are not as social, perhaps shy - were now ill as well, whereas before again, this was considered within the definition of normal human behavior.
It seems the psychologists are getting antsy to find a replacement for Asperger's (they hate losing diagnoses): http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/12/health/idea-of-new-attenti... Quote: "With more than six million American children having received a diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, concern has been rising that the condition is being significantly misdiagnosed and overtreated with prescription medic…
"Page once told a room full of Google’s first marketing employees that their profession was built on an ability to lie." Oh come on. As owner of history's largest ad platform and someone who's made ungodly amounts of money from it, this seems like a massively hypocritical and un-self-aware thing to say.
* for varying definitions of the truth.
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> Say what you want about Asperger's, but my son has autism ... Yes, but you're mixing different things. Autism is a category that includes a "Rain Man" level of functioning, but Asperger's was a diagnosis du jour that picked out brighter-than-normal kids, plus a raft of historical figures including Albert Einstein, in a way that made it seem like an attractive diagnosis, such that now, we have people objecting, sayi…
I agree with all of this, as I get to see it online even now. My concern is with the idea that there will yet be a "day of reckoning" when the rest of the ASDs must also be termed fad diagnoses, which seems to be the implication from the wording you used.
No, not possible. That would be as likely as schizophrenia being labeled a fad diagnosis, or seriously questioned as to its reality. The reason that cannot happen is there are a handful of real physical ailments, ailments rooted in genetics and body chemistry, not just mental illness. I'm saying that "real" mental illnesses are actually behavioral symptoms of physical ailments. If you cure the physical disease, the mental symptoms will go also.
Schizophrenia, bipolar syndrome, autism and a handful of other conditions aren't fads, they're physical diseases with behavioral symptoms. On the other hand, purely mental illnesses whose diagnosis relies entirely on the opinion of a clinical psychologist and that have no associated physical properties or diagnostic indicators, like Asperger's, that's a different story -- that's an obvious area for abuse by mental health practitioners.
Eventually there will be a day of reckoning in which conditions like autism, schizophrenia and bipolar syndrome will be scientifically understood, and when that happens, psychiatry and psychology will take an entirely new form.
This is why President Obama recently announced a brain initiative rather than a mind initiative -- people are becoming distrustful of claims about mind diseases.
I find it funny that Page complained about Gmail taking 600 milliseconds to load back when it was created. It probably takes longer than that these days unless you have a really fast connection.
Agreed, but to be fair, people have a lot more email these days.
I'm sure Google's engineers could get the page load time down if it was a priority. I think at this point everyone is so invested in Gmail they just aren't that worried about losing users because of slower UI load times.
"With little emotion, speaking in his usual flat, robotic tone[...]As Page talked, he kept his gaze averted, resisting direct eye contact." Journalists have a tendency of portraying figures in tech circles as being on the spectrum, while very often that isn't the case.
It's not just journalists. Both Amazon's Betas and HBO's Silicon Valley could not resist the temptation to make Asperger's jokes in their first episodes. HBO's Silicon Valley's usage even made it into the trailer. To be fair, I suppose an argument can be made that the shows are reflecting the common view of people in technology. It's weird to me, because I don't think being nervous around people you're not familiar w…
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Yes, let's point to this one failed example as how the entire company has been misled by Page...
I never said misled. If you need an example of misleading the company (and industry), look no further than the no poaching lawsuit, where Larry specifically mentions to keep the deal out of email and off the books. Don't be evil. Sure Larry. Sure.
http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/23/3906310/the-no-hire-paper-...
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It's not just journalists. Both Amazon's Betas and HBO's Silicon Valley could not resist the temptation to make Asperger's jokes in their first episodes. HBO's Silicon Valley's usage even made it into the trailer. To be fair, I suppose an argument can be made that the shows are reflecting the common view of people in technology. It's weird to me, because I don't think being nervous around people you're not familiar w…
I don't know if it's OK to make those jokes, but it's infinitely preferable to say it out loud explicitly and deal with it with humor than to just make fun of them for being weird and acting different like on big bang theory, where sheldon is clearly modeled after someone on the spectrum but with few redeeming qualities.
It can't be compared to the cruel jokes I would hear in school about anyone below average either physically or mentally. It's in a different category.