The Internet Itself May Have Asperger's Syndrome

Posted by Zach Baker Sun, 05 Nov 2006 23:59:00 GMT

Having read a New York Times article on Asperger’s Syndrome, I now feel qualified to diagnose the internet as having this emotional syndrome. Here is a checklist from the article.

TYPICAL SYMPTOMS

  • Poor eye contact

The internet - the #1 way of avoiding eye contact.

  • Inappropriate social interaction

Most definitely. Anything from flamewars to weird chat to general abuse can be found on even the most innocuous corner of the internet.

  • Unusually strong, narrow interests

Um, yeah. Pick a TV show, as obscure as you like.

  • Above-average to superior intellect

The overall IQ of the internet continues to decrease, but it’s still above-average.

  • Lack of voice intonation

This is of course why one needs to use smiley faces… =^) :-) ;-)

  • Impulsiveness

Hey, I wonder how my stocks are doing… you know, I should check my Yahoo mail… oh, what’s that link?!

  • Literal, concrete thinking patterns

Any frequent user of a search engine knows this.

Okay, so I’m goofing here, but you have to see some similarities, right?

UPDATE 11/16/06 - I realize now that I probably was inflenced by having read the article “Autistic Social Software” some years back, so check that paper out if you’re interested in the idea.