Guess who had asperger's syndrome!

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http://www.awares.org/pkgs/news/news.as ... =&section=

The father of Thatcherism! You know, the economic plan that nearly destroyed England?

I think we need more asperger's types in areas that are beneficial to the lifestyle of the population in general than to the whims of the financial and corporate sectors. Aspies like Albert Einstein, you know? Yeah, he created the atomic bomb, but he also wanted to take it back after finding out that the government had evil plans.

- Ray M -

many say tha Einstein was not aspie not even an autistic savant .

Possibly, but it's the easiest example I could give about a famous person. Some say Bill Gates had it, but that would be barking up the wrong tree, because he is in the corporate and financial arenas.

I think the talents of most aspies go unrecognized for a variety of reasons arising in the contemporary culture.

- Ray M -

interesting that the article mentions geore orwell. i hadn't heard that before.

I think aspies would tend to become what they become obsessed with. I dont think aspies have specific jobs, because I think their speical interests dominate and either determine that for them. Or they get a job they can tolerate so they can engage in their special interests in their off hours.

I'm sure there are tonnes of useless aspies as well who's special interests add no inherent value to their functioning in society.

Albert didn't create the bomb. He put his name on the letter that started it, nothing more.

Ray,

Do a little research on the Manhattan Project. Einstein was a theorist who never created much at all. The physicists who were working out quantum theory were somewhat in competition with Einstein for recognition by the scientific community. Getting Einstein's signature on a paper, presented to the president, which would eventually lead to formation of the Manhattan Project was simply an early form of political correctness, since he was also a Jewish refugee, one of some weight. I believe you are correct in that he probably regretted his decision to involve himself politically for any purposes.

Actually, what is sort of interesting is that the A-bomb probably prevented WW3. I think it would have been inevitable that the US and the USSR would have come to blows if they weren't both so afraid of nuclear destruction.

Einstein was HFA. He had a language delay and his entire symptomology fits an autistic profile. His brain has also showed similar anatomical abnormalities as those seen in autistic brain autopsies (i.e., longer cortical strands and smaller neurons).

Looking at the link though, I get kind of tired of that Fitzgerald guy diagnosing posthumously left and right. I've read his latest book and on about half of his postmortem diagnoses he clearly didn't have enough information to do anything but take a wild stabbing guess in the dark.

Some he was definitely head on. But others there just wasn't enough biographical information on them to show they were anything but maybe a bit eccentric. And not every eccentric person has/had Aspergers or HFA.

I'm all for finding out more and more "great minds" were autistic throughout history. But sometimes there's just not enough information to be even relatively certain. But Fitzgerald doesn't seem to care. I'd imagine he's a bit of a joke in his professional community since it can be hard enough to diagnose a living person whose sitting right there in your office let alone a dead guy you've never ever talked to and sometimes have very little developmental history on.

Bill Gates died and I didn't hear about it? Kidding, kidding.

I highly doubt Bill Gates has Asperger's Syndrome, his biggest successes happened whenever he copied or bought software or ideas from other people. He could be a financial genius with little regard for the masses hip pocket or the integrity of the IT industry. In that case he could be a moraly confused Aspie but I still doubt it. My point is that while he was a little rutheless, opportunistic and got very lucky, not much thinking seems to have been involved in his success.

I think the intelligence of Aspie types gets taken advantage of quite often. Imagine a scientific corperation that develops some inhuman and unnaturally dangerous device that could lead to some kind of tradgedy. Now did Joey the Aspie who designed the key component make the decisions or even know what it was going to be used for?

Blame should rest on the people who actually decide to do or cause damage rather than the minds that unwittingly allowed them to do so.