k wrote:
] ] One provocative hypothesis that might account for the
] ] rise of spectrum disorders in technically adept
] ] communities like Silicon Valley, some geneticists
] ] speculate, is an increase in assortative mating.
] ] Superficially, assortative mating is the blond gentleman
] ] who prefers blondes; the hyperverbal intellectual who
] ] meets her soul mate in the therapist's waiting room.
] ] There are additional pressures and incentives for
] ] autistic people to find companionship - if they wish to
] ] do so - with someone who is also on the spectrum. Grandin
] ] writes, "Marriages work out best when two people with
] ] autism marry or when a person marries a handicapped or
] ] eccentric spouse.... They are attracted because their
] ] intellects work on a similar wavelength."
] ]
] ]
] ] That's not to say that geeks, even autistic ones, are
] ] attracted only to other geeks. Compensatory unions of
] ] opposites also thrive along the continuum, and in the
] ] last 10 years, geekitude has become sexy and associated
] ] with financial success. The lone-wolf programmer may be
] ] the research director of a major company, managing the
] ] back end of an IT empire at a comfortable remove from the
] ] actual clients. Says Bryna Siegel, author of The World of
] ] the Autistic Child and director of the PDD clinic at
] ] UCSF, "In another historical time, these men would have
] ] become monks, developing new ink for early printing
] ] presses. Suddenly they're making $150,000 a year with
] ] stock options. They're reproducing at a much higher
] ] rate."
] ]
] ]
] ] Genetic hypotheses like these don't rule out
] ] environmental factors playing a role in the rising
] ] numbers. Autism is almost certainly not caused by the
] ] action of a single gene, but by some orchestration of
] ] multiple genes that may make the developing child more
] ] susceptible to a trigger in the environment. One
] ] consequence of increased reproduction among people
] ] carrying some of these genes might be to boost "genetic
] ] loading" in successive generations - leaving them more
] ] vulnerable to threats posed by toxins in vaccines,
] ] candida, or any number of agents lurking in the
] ] industrialized world.
]
] Really interesting. Really interesting. Really interesting.
] Really interesting. Really...
]
] [ Truly. Very fascinating article. -k]

SAVE THE CHLDREN: Models fuck Geeks.

RE: Wired 9.12: The Geek Syndrome