The Geek Syndrome

Wired Magazine ^ | December 2001 | Steve Silberman

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Autism - and its milder cousin Asperger's syndrome - is surging among the children of Silicon Valley. Are math-and-tech genes to blame?

Nick is building a universe on his computer. He's already mapped out his first planet: an anvil-shaped world called Denthaim that is home to gnomes and gods, along with a three-gendered race known as kiman. As he tells me about his universe, Nick looks up at the ceiling, humming fragments of a melody over and over. "I'm thinking of making magic a form of quantum physics, but I haven't decided yet, actually," he explains. The music of his speech is pitched high, alternately poetic and pedantic - as if the soul of an Oxford don has been awkwardly reincarnated in the body of a chubby, rosy-cheeked boy from Silicon Valley. Nick is 11 years old.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

I was joking about your grandson. I think sometimes these "syndromes" can get so nebulous that just about everybody is included.

[Dataman]

Of course equating ELCA types with "religious leaders" and ELCA churches with churches in general is a horrid sort of equivocation. ELCA harbors some of the most outstanding leftists in the entire "Christian" spectrum. And yes, I live in the Minneapolis area.

[RnMomof7]

We have a cousin with an autistic son..it is painful..

[CheneyChick]

I sure will. CC :)

[afraidfortherepublic]

I think sometimes these "syndromes" can get so nebulous that just about everybody is included.

Agreed. That is why I think it is a dangerous precedent to widen the spectrum of the disoirder just to get more support.