Is Bill Gates really AS??
and interesting videotape. It doesn't really matter who has AS but just hoping to have some positive aspects to educate my child with when and if I do chose to disclose the information. Emily Dickinison is well respected in my household, along with Lincoln and Gates so I was just curious. Thanks
This is not true. I am a former MS employee. There were no memos about Bill having AS/autism or how to treat him or anything like that.
The grapevine never suggested a memo or any requests for special treatment. What I've read are posts (in another forum) along the lines of, "my brother works at Microsoft and he asked Bill once when they were alone, and Bill said that yes, he had AS." As I also noted, there is questionable reliability to this sort of information.
Even he is AS, he is clearly brilliant enough and able to compensate well enough to not need handlers or help. Innate social skills aren't everything.
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Mom to an amazing young adult AS son, plus an also amazing non-AS daughter. Most likely part of the "Broader Autism Phenotype" (some traits).
This is not true. I am a former MS employee. There were no memos about Bill having AS/autism or how to treat him or anything like that.
I'm sure Bill has plenty of assistants on the road, but when I saw him at my "new employee dinner" or at the MSN/Win95/Office95 launch or the other "pep-talks" he gave the team before that, he came by himself without handlers.
Bill Gates HAS talked about it with some employees. I'm sure, of course, that MOST M/S employees DON'T know it. OBVIOUSLY, the stims are, as they are supposed to be, CONTROLLABLE! At major public functions, he probably stops it. It IS odd though, that he will, at a NATIONAL card tournament be stimming! Then again, he is a good player, and it probably helps him think.
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I'll believe it when Bill (or Melinda or a spokesperson) comes out and announces it. I don't believe quotes from nameless individuals or diagnosis from voyeurs.
On a side note - guess how many autism grants the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation has given during its history (according to a search of their web site)? You can count them on your thumbs.
Sorry to bring this one back from the dead nearly a year later, but it's something I feel strongly about.
Parents, Bill Gates does not have Aspergers Syndrome.
He is smarter than you, smarter than me, smarter than 99 percent of the world. He knows very well how to conduct himself in interviews and high-pressure public events, there is not and never has been a processing delay in his speech, and he can make and take a joke. He's always had friends in both his youth and professional life - in fact, it was he and his best friend that started Microsoft. Gates is used to being a boss, being in a position with a lot of responsibility, and having his employees rely on him to efficiently run his corporation. He is an alpha male. He's a philanthropist and a family man, and he never devotes all his energy to a single effort, instead choosing to multitask focusing on several projects at once. He plays golf and tennis.
I know alot of you are going to say "But he rocks!" This is brought upon by jactatio capitis nocturna, and is compounded with Gates' long-running sleep deprivation and long work-days that started during the infancy of his company and likely lasted until he stepped down as CEO ten years ago. Have you ever seen him flap his hands? I didn't think so.
Perhaps he's an eccentric NT. But Bill Gates does not have Aspergers Syndrome.
That in particular has always made me skeptical -- he is very verbally adept and VERY good at talking his way around questions (and in high stress situations, as you say). I don't think it's 100% air-tight, but it leaves me with enough doubt not to consider him AS unless I hear I hear more evidence that strongly suggests otherwise.
Gates is a bussiness man. He got succesful not only by innovation in programming but mostly because of being able to manipulate people and deal with things that, honestly, require skills that do not match the AS profile. The prejudice for people outside the IT world is that he is a computer overmind, but he really got his success more as a business person and salesman than as a programmer...
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Parents, Bill Gates does not have Aspergers Syndrome.
He is smarter than you, smarter than me, smarter than 99 percent of the world. He knows very well how to conduct himself in interviews and high-pressure public events, there is not and never has been a processing delay in his speech, and he can make and take a joke
You DON'T know me, or 99% of the world. You don't even know Bill Gates! WHO said a processing delay is always obvious or even always there? And HEY, people HERE can make/take jokes ALSO!
You SURE about that? Pirates of silicon valley indicates that friend almost LEFT him! He got locked up in JAIL! The company started out VERY small and people were from COLLEGE! His met his wife at microsoft! He apparently has ONE person playing with him in bridge tournaments. Maybe you have heard of him!? His name is Warren Buffet! YEP, #2 richest guy!
Did you HEAR about how he treated his "friend"? THAT person used to be the boss and basically gave his position at M/S to Gates!
we ARE talking about William Gates III, RIGHT!?!? And M/S!?!?!? 8-/
What an OVERUSED term these days! I always described it differently. AGAIN, some HERE fit that bill!(no pun intended)
Yeah, NOW! THAT was easy after meeting his wife.
He didn't seem that way before. AND, when he plays bridge, he DOES concentrate quite a bit.
Have you LOOKED at that syndrome? It does NOT match!! !! !! !
I don't know about THAT, never heard about that.
Well, I don't flap MY hands either! WHO ever said that was a requirement?
Interesting. I have some interesting info from people that work with him! My father PLAYS with him. IT implies AS. AS WAS mentioned. jactatio capitis nocturna was NOT! So what evidence do you have against itt?
BTW Several people have told me that bridge is a great way to meet people. Most people my father knows, and he knows a LOT of people, he met at BRIDGE!
If that means Bill Gates is a genius, like with an IQ of 170, then Linus Torvalds must have an IQ of 400 EASY! Of course, I use IQs just to illustrate the absurdity of it.
Bill Gates created a product computer makers NEEDED, it was easy to use, and virtually FREE! He built his business on it.
Linus came to market late, and controls a LOT! Out of the top 10 most reliable server hosts, SEVEN use Torvalds product! One uses FreeBSD, a DIRECT competitor. #3 is listed as unknown. #4 is windows! WOW, 1 out of 10! Only about 22% of the http server software market is MS. Linus' most popular server software has TWICE the market share.
That is something since it started as an obscure university project, and about 7 years after M/S Windows. It is ALSO based on standards created around 1970!
and WHAT innovation? The firstt product was just a first. The media had only recently become financially viable, and the potential market was created only 4 years earlier. It was a GIVEN! DOS was an earlier workalike to CP/M. Windows was based on the Mac which was based on a xerox project.
Looks like you put quite a bit of effort into your post. I won't spend my time tearing apart your individual sentences, I'll just state my point. Many of Gates' traits and abilities, while appearing right at home on an NT man, would be atypical on a man with AS. What are the chances that someone with AS would possess so many atypical traits all at once? Possible, but extremely improbable. And in the end, those traits would render him so far away from the traditional diagnosis of AS that it could no longer apply.
Gates and Mrs. Gates had three children, and while all are young and information about them is scarce, they all look to be budding socialites.
Also, multi-billionaires don't become multi-billionaires by being dumb. They all do something much, much better than the average Joe. Buffett is a multi-billionaire in part because of his great understanding of economics and knowing when to invest. Slim is a multi-billionaire in part due to his uncanny knowledge of infrastructure. And Gates is a multi-billionaire in part due to his programming ability and his ability to navigate corporate nuances.
I arrived at the jactatio conclusion since I have a college friend who was diagnosed with it, and she rocks in a similar fashion if she doesn't get enough sleep. Note what it's categorized as: basically, drowsiness that manifests itself as repetitive muscle movements. When Gates rocks in interviews, which is virtually never, note his posture and manner of speaking; they resemble those of a very tired man.
I contend that Gates does not have Aspergers Syndrome.
Parents, Bill Gates does not have Aspergers Syndrome.
He is smarter than you, smarter than me, smarter than 99 percent of the world. He knows very well how to conduct himself in interviews and high-pressure public events, there is not and never has been a processing delay in his speech, and he can make and take a joke. He's always had friends in both his youth and professional life - in fact, it was he and his best friend that started Microsoft. Gates is used to being a boss, being in a position with a lot of responsibility, and having his employees rely on him to efficiently run his corporation. He is an alpha male. He's a philanthropist and a family man, and he never devotes all his energy to a single effort, instead choosing to multitask focusing on several projects at once. He plays golf and tennis.
Perhaps he's an eccentric NT. But Bill Gates does not have Aspergers Syndrome.
You think aspies don't do sports?
I did soccer, t-ball, softball, and track.
I also can take jokes but only time I don't is if I am being serious and someone jokes around. I feel they aren't taking me seriously. I also tell jokes because I have my own sense of humor.
Gates has many AS trait:
- talk late
- Hyperfocusing
- Stimming
- Social Anxiety
- Sensory issues
he has outed about it but never outed about a complete DX.
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Planes are tested by how well they fly, not by comparing them to birds.
Gates and Mrs. Gates had three children, and while all are young and information about them is scarce, they all look to be budding socialites.
Also, multi-billionaires don't become multi-billionaires by being dumb. They all do something much, much better than the average Joe. Buffett is a multi-billionaire in part because of his great understanding of economics and knowing when to invest. Slim is a multi-billionaire in part due to his uncanny knowledge of infrastructure. And Gates is a multi-billionaire in part due to his programming ability and his ability to navigate corporate nuances.
I arrived at the jactatio conclusion since I have a college friend who was diagnosed with it, and she rocks in a similar fashion if she doesn't get enough sleep. Note what it's categorized as: basically, drowsiness that manifests itself as repetitive muscle movements. When Gates rocks in interviews, which is virtually never, note his posture and manner of speaking; they resemble those of a very tired man.
I contend that Gates does not have Aspergers Syndrome.
Well, I knew about M/S BEFORE the IBM PC and BEFORE they became a household word. The Pirates of silicone valley was a film SO true to life that EVEN the major players say that it was very true to life. It ALSO is in line with what I knew earlier. I could tell you how a LOT of success stories came to be. M/S is just one of MANY. The rocking Gates has done was EVEN done during NATIONAL BRIDGE TOURNAMENTS, WHILE HE WAS PLAYING! So it WASN'T because he was tired!
BTW WHY doesn't he rock in interviews? YOU claim it is INVOLUNTARY! I am saying it IS VOLUNTARY!
I'm not sure there is much point in arguing this. There has been no public statement and there isn't likley to be one. Which I respect. So. My opinion after reading all the secondary sources out there is that he probably is AS. Others have concluded differently. Given that there is nothing public to affirm or disaffirm, everyone is entitled to their opinion and the different opinions should be respected. No poster here can say, with 100% certainty, that he is or isn't. If any of us have a private source, it remains a private source, and it is difficult to require that anyone else buy into what we have concluded from that source. In the end, we are giving our opinions, using the different sources available to us, and the conversation should understand and respect that.
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Mom to an amazing young adult AS son, plus an also amazing non-AS daughter. Most likely part of the "Broader Autism Phenotype" (some traits).