>> ^radx:

Holy autism, batman! I wonder if he has a fireplace in engineering ...


Dammit, radx! I wanted to make the fireplace joke!

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>> ^NordlichReiter:

Oh no she didn't.
She played the John Stuart, fucking, Mill card. Mill was a classical liberal among other things.
I believe she was referring to his Axiom:

The object of this Essay is to assert one very simple principle, as entitled to govern absolutely the dealings of society with the individual in the way of compulsion and control, whether the means used be physical force in the form of legal penalties, or the moral coercion of public opinion. That principle is, that the sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection. That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not sufficient warrant. He cannot rightfully be compelled to do or forbear because it will be better for him to do so, because it will make him happier, because, in the opinion of others, to do so would be wise, or even right... The only part of the conduct of anyone, for which he is amenable to society, is that which concerns others. In the part which merely concerns himself, his independence is, of right, absolute. Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harm_principle

>> ^kranzfakfa:

This is from the HOPE (Hackers from Planet Earth) conference in New York, back in July.
>> ^Yogi:
Why would this guy go in front of this audience? Also where the heck is this anyways?



Yeah I looked it up...watched the rest of it...read about how he was just diagnosed with Aspergers which is interesting. I don't know exactly what happened here but it's pretty clear he's keeping most everything from us, not an unreasonable position considering how upset the audience was with him.

I think there could be an interesting moral argument about this situation specifically, and I think because of the moderator and the general tone of the room in this setting it wasn't had.

I wish that so many game developers didn't have aspergers. It sure would be nice to have this sort of things made by people that actually understand the important parts of human interaction, rather than getting so many rubber mask puppets.

I've had a reasonable amount of experience with autism-spectrum disorders. I have a brother (adopted) about 16 years younger than me that has been diagnosed with PDD "Pervasive Developmental Disorder", an autism variant. I have a cousin diagnosed with Aspergers, on the opposite end of the spectrum in terms of high vs. low functioning or however you want to politically-correctify that.

And then there is me, personally. I think that if I was born and growing up now instead of late Gen-X / early Gen-Y, I would probably be diagnosed with mild Aspergers. I was never very socially adept, I had obsessions more than an average kid, etc. The Aspergers kids that I know now remind me a lot of myself at their age.

I accept that Aspergers is a real thing, but to me it seems a LOT more nebulous than the opposite end of the autism spectrum. What I mean is, it is easy for me to analyze myself as being fairly asocial (different than antisocial, I think) and nerdy, but not necessarily clinically asocial and nerdy. The kids I know that have been diagnosed with Aspergers seem to be perhaps a little more pronounced in their display of "symptoms" than I was (/am?), but not to a great degree.

I guess it just seems like sometimes we're in a scramble to classify and diagnose "disorders" that lie not all that far away from the meaty area of the bell curve. Can't a nerdy kid just be nerdy? It worked OK for me.

He's lucky he has such a well-adjusted, intelligent, loving mother. Not all parents of kids with Asperger's are like that. Not having a "social gene" can degrade into some pretty serious asocial behaviours. Props to her. Big ones.

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Duckman:
While your statistic is accurate according to the CDC, that is in reference to Autism Spectrum Disorder; there are varying degrees of the disorder, and not every child diagnosed has that severe Autism that everyone is so on edge about. Yes, having the disorder is bad in and of itself, but there are varying levels of the disorder. Here's a list of statistics on the prevalence of types of PDDs from the Autism Society of Canada's website:

"Prevalence of specific PDDs

* CDD Rare: ~ 0.2 in 10,000= ~ 500 Canadians
* Rett's Rare: ~ 1 in 10,000= ~ 3,150 Canadians
* Autistic Disorder: ~ 20 in 10,000= ~ 73,000 Canadians
* PDD-NOS: ~ 15 in 10,000= ~ 47,000 Canadians
* Asperger's: ~ 5 in 10,000= ~ 15,000 Canadians

Reference:
Fombonne, E., 2003: Modern Views of Autism, Can. J. Psychiatry, 48:503-505.
Fombonne, E., 2003: Epidemiology of autism and other pervasive developmental disorders: an update. J. Autism.Dev. Disord. 33:365-381\"

http://www.autismsocietycanada.ca/asd_research/research_prevalence/index_e.html

Why are the levels of Autism increasing? A very good explanation could be the same reason the levels of diagnosis on other diseases seems to spike with the progression of medical science: We get better at diagnosing illnesses.

If something is causing the disorders to become more common in children, and the public at large, it will be discovered, but at this point there is not sufficient evidence to suggest that anything in our vaccines or our drinking water is creating a neurological disorder epidemic. The burden of proof lies on those who claim it is "not natural", just like those who say God created the Cosmos. For all we know right now it could be natural, and we have just never realized it before.

But, to paraphrase Tim Minchin: "If you can show me how it works and why it works I will spin on a fucking dime, and I'll be embarrased as all hell, but I will admit it with evidence, and I will take a compass and carve "fancy that" on the side of my cock."

NordlichReiter:
I completely agree with you that it doesn't appear that way with our politicians, nor does the mass media help in anyway with the preponderance of getting celebrities to pitch in their own "opinions" on the current state of affairs within our societies. To go back to the Anti-Vax nonsense, Jenny McCarthy is a perfect example; she believes her "mommy instinct" trumps all known medical science and evidence, and now it appears her kid never even had Autism in the first place, but an entirely different neurological disorder:
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1967796-1,00.html


>> ^Duckman33:
Whether this video is bullshit or not. The fact remains that 1 out of every 110 children born has autism. That is unacceptable. So what is the cause if not fluoride in the drinking or vaccines?? I find it hard to believe this is natural. Anyone of you geniuses disputing the video have an answer?

Patterns. I'm hooked on patterns. It was interesting while she was saying that she could see the pictures in her head. I can very clearly remember spacial objects, but it is always in relationship with the other objects.

I watched this talk a couple of days ago. It didn't really click until I was watching a show on Hulu while waiting for something. One of the children ends up having aspergers. His dad was talking with him and another boy came by and said hello. The boy with aspergers said nothing in response. His dad scolded him about not saying hi back because the other kid will think that he doesn't care and the aspergers kid just shrugged. It was a flashback to my childhood and how my dad would tell me things on how to fit in with the kids at school. Luckily, I played and was good at sports so I was automatically was part of an"in" group. But it was my dad's constant, yet not pressured, advice that really helped me out. That's when I started learning the patterns of social interaction in order to fit in better so I would be left alone. An uncanny recognition, but easily shrugged off. Later it showed the kid constantly jumping in a puddle. Again and again. When I was 3, I spent about 4 hours hitting a puddle with a stick. I remember it to this day. It was so utter fascinating watching the cause and affect while trying to figure out exactly what was happening. (On a somewhat related note: I think that is why I find Richard Feynman sift so damn interesting. I love seeing the passion and curiosity that existed in him. And also listening to the explanations. Simply wonderful.)

So I don't know if I'm acting like a hypochondriac or if this is real - I'm too close to have real perspective, but I think that warrants further investigation.

Wonderful sift, btw.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'geek, aspergers, autism, creativity, invention, progress, tolerance' to 'TED talks, geek, aspergers, autism, creativity, invention, progress, tolerance' - edited by calvados

Thank you for posting, as a mom of a child with Aspergers syndrome, and also working in the animal field, I love Temple, shes amazing, her books are amazing as well. Great post!!!

Tags for this video have been changed from 'trent gamer, brutal legend, review, annoying tween' to 'trent gamer, brutal legend, review, annoying tween, asperger syndrome' - edited by dystopianfuturetoday

Inability to understand sarcasm is a common trait of those diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome.

http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asperger_syndrome

>> ^Truth:
>> ^kronosposeidon:
>> ^Truth:


I wasn't trying to be funny, just stating the obvious.
And fire in hospital would be funny under certain circumstances.


Then you're dumber than a bag of hammers. And a douchebag.