Do you hate the idea we should get into technology?

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Just because I surf the web all the time and like playing videogames my parents constantly like to toss at me I should get into making videogames or technology. When I went into first researching AS and to this day I constantly read of getting into technology (if you like that that's your interest go for it) but I hate that that's expected of me. OMG I surf WP all the time I should get into computer work UH NO! I like Mario,Final Fantasy etc. get into videogames UH NO!


While any gamer would be lying if they wouldn't want to work for Miyamoto be realistic it takes ALOT to make a videogame and you have to have a good knowledge of computers (I practically flunk College Algebra so that's a NO! for me IMO) The reason I brought up the technology debate is my main interest was and still is Psychology in some form. You see you and your boyfriend arguing alot I see a Psychology study idea there is so much behavior around us it's amazing.


Also Psychology doesn't have to be You have Asperger's or *insert disorder* my main focus is research. Since every person is different doing for example a 300 person study on X topic 50/50 male/female who cares if the study takes 2 years of data I IMO would have fun doing it since everyones behavior is different. and isn't studying why you buy Ipods,or violent videogames semi technology? Also IMO I wouldn't have to have that much social contact studying people (Not sure if this is true it's mainly a guess LOL! sorry) So what are your thoughts on the I should get into technology or people with Asperger's should? Thanks *rant over!*

Only if it actually interests you! I have been given similar advice because of my love of my blackberry, ds and my ability to do problem solving work on my pc, however the technology behind my"toys" never interested me. I wouldn't think it a good idea to push people with AS into this sort of thing. Knowing aspies, if they were interested in the field it would be obvious (due to obsessive natures within the group). Also, if it isn't something that interests them the results would probably not be positive since many aspies have difficulties focusing on things in which they have no interest.

I don't have a natural aptitude for computers. I enjoy fooling around with BASIC on the early micros and running type-in programs but I'm pretty sure I don't have any particular talent in this area. As far as the modern PC goes, I don't have much knowledge beyond general use. I think computers tend to overwhelm me and I only really understand them in a narrow way.

I've wanted to get into video game design for a while now... but the idea of actually learning HOW to do it all is very discomforting. I do lousy in math and in a lot of computer stuff in general really... and after looking at the curriculum that I would have to take, well... I haven't gone back since my first year, lol.

I love the idea of making the backgrounds, monsters, characters, figuring out how to make them move and all... but in a very superficial way I guess you could say. I want to get straight into doing JUST that, and have a hard time grasping the things that are actually involved in getting to that point.

So no... not all of us are destined for things dealing with technology, even some of us who would like to get into something that has to do with it still have that roadblock of actually having to learn it.

People often overlook the educational value of the early home computers. They enable people to learn computing at its most basic level, without the complications of the modern PC (This is just what an Aspie needs when he has to learn something that doesn't come naturally to him).

Many professional programmers, including a certain Linus Torvalds, learned the initial skills they needed on these machines.

Very true-when I was younger... way younger, 20 years ago or so, lol, don't remember exactly when, I remember being a LOT more interested in computers and learning about them. But once new ones came around... like the one I have now, I just kind of figured out how to do the basic things and want very little to do with the more complex stuff. My boyfriend got me some program once that was supposed to be able to be used to create video game characters and such... I got mad when none of the lists just had the word "color" or "size".... the tutorial was little to no help either to someone who doesn't understand all the lingo, lol.

I envy him at times. He is going into computer programming and talks to me about calculus and things like that... it all just goes right over my head and makes me mad if he keeps talking about it, lol... or if he gets into the technical things about a game I'm playing. I just cannot keep up with all of the terms and I feel blocked off from fully understanding.

See the following thread from a C64 forum. The OP (a girl in a forum full of computer nerds) wanted to learn how to design video games. The thread goes on for three pages and pretty much covers the whole canon for C64 programming materials .
http://www.lemon64.com/forum/viewtopic. ... highlight=

Using technology and building it are unrelated. As we say in the homebrewing community, "Going pro turns a great hobby into a job".

Most of the people I worked with in IT were not gamers and many of them came from other disciplines, not CS.

My brother wanted me to write my own programs. No thanks. A lot of people want me to get into computers, mainly making websites because I spend a lot of time on my computer.

From the OP on, it is not technology that is of interest, but the basic structure of the universe.

Spinning things are cycles, parts of objects structure, and a study of why someone bought an I pod could go from a marketing survey to psychology, down to very basic neurological 1-0 choices.

The main thread in all of it is natural interests. I got my first computer to replace a typewriter. Being me it was from a thrift store, not working, which I figured out, Windows 3.1, original cost $2200. For the next fifteen years I fixed computers for others, but still see them as a machine. I don't care how software works, because I cannot repair Windows, Format C, reinstall, it works. That is only if the mechanical structure works.

My natural interest in all this was desktop publishing, from a better typewriter, I tried for a decade till I got a $5,000 HP Laserjet, 4050, for $35, fixed it, max memory, feed rollers, and can print 1,000 pages an hour.

I was selling books, but the Scum of Hell was working at Office Max, and kept screwing up the binding.

I bought the Powis system, binder and spine printer, new $11,000, for $500, fixed them, and now all errors are my own.

They were machines, one had no power, a new tranformer cured that, the other a feedwheel and new EPROM, but done like replacing a flat tire, no Degree in Automotive Technology needed.

I learned wide format fine art printing to do my own dust jackets. Another set of machine repairs.

I started in 1992, the machines that could do what I wanted came out in 2002, fitting my price range took a few more years, and I have to fix my own tools.

Lulu Press did the same with venture capital, so I do not own the print on demand market, the business and technology is a side issue, I wanted to publish books, now I can.

Our interests may lead to thoughts that are not yet possible, but it did happen for me. I am a user of technology, I knew what I wanted, so new machines made sense, compared to what I wanted. Along the way I refined my sense of what is possible, and five HP 4200s can boost production to over 10,000 pages an hour. Others can do more, for millions, but I would impress Guttenburg, or Ben Franklin.

I do have one thing the others do not, content. My costs are 20% of having it done, and in publishing, a book that sells 10,000 is a dog. I like dogs.

I have said I use 1% of Windows, Word Perfect, my machines have the thrift store prices on them, but I got what I wanted.

I have the only full digital system in my region. I can undercut Lulu Press. If I hit on something that sells 3,000 a month, I know the contract printers who can turn out 10,000 a day.

I think nothing is equal to having a vision of the future, everything that adds to that is easily understood, and merging with that future works.

Technology is from the past, the good is the future application that few see.

I think we have a better view of the future than most.

I've been occasionally pushed to learn programming but have had a huge aversion to doing so, despite deciding on some occasions that from myself to learn it. Making programs is a lot like playing with Lego - I just can't have fun playing with lego and I most certainly would not have fun putting together programs.

At best, I like using spreadsheets and databases are fun. I just need to take a few more courses in databases to get a eull understanding of them.

I was told that when I was younger. I did get into some web programming for a while.

Yes.

Unless it's your interest, blah to IT (do what you want to do in other words).

Oh, I like that. I used to program a lot for amusement, and almost everything I did was a simulation of some kind - not realistic simulations, just fanciful ones, but all ways of putting together a large number of objects, some rules for their behaviour, and sitting back to watch what happened. It was great fun - my favourites were a fishpond where every species of fish followed its own rules, and I tinkered to get an ecosystem that would survive, and second a medieval sort of town which would grow from scratch and then burn down - but I've not done any real programming for a long time now.

(I love emergent behaviour, which is why I think Dwarf Fortress is the best computer game yet written. )

I don't know that I agree that working with computers turns a fun hobby into a job, though - I do, and I enjoy my job; I like taking laptops apart and fixing them and generally tinkering with things! - but I do have a good deal of freedom in what I do, so maybe I'm not representative. I certainly do agree that liking to use computers doesn't mean you'll necessarily want to work with them though!

That looks like the problems developed by Nobel Prize winner Thomas Schelling in his book "Micromotives and Macrobehavior".

I don't care about technology either! Futhermore I hate when people start talking about the "new" cell phone or other gadget that they just invented! I can't cope with all those changes. The only thing I care about is technology related to energy development. I learnt Visual Basic "programming" at college (if you can call that programming) cause it is usefull when working with finance. I also learnt how to use the econometric software to perform statistical tests. I even learnt some programming with the econometric software so I can perform "monte carlo experiments" and non-linear tests.

I suggest starting a new thread for those wanting to reminisce about learning computers. (I might participate.) But the OP is asking how to get out of that.

Your parents think because you use a computer you should become a programmer? Do they use light switches and plug things into outlets? Does that mean they became electricians? Do they drive cars? Did they become mechanics? Do they eat? Did they become farmers or ranchers?

If you're interested in research into human nature, then go for it. Do be aware that studies like that require a fair amount of math, though, so work on your algebra and statistics skills. And while you might not like programming, you'll be crunching a lot of data, so learn how to use analysis tools, starting with spreadsheets and working up to bigger tools.