Mw99 wrote:
...does it follow that those of us who don't hang out with anyone are non-entities?
Technically, yes, but to be logically true, a conclusion has to be based on sound precedent. And "You are who you hang out with" is not a true statement.
While you do tend to choose people who are more like you than most to spend time with, your identity isn't based on those people--not unless you have some kind of psychological disorder. (Borderlines often say that they don't feel like they have an identity of their own, which is responsible for a lot of the overly "clingy" relationships they get into, for example.)
So it's not, "You are who you hang out with," but, "Who you are influences who you hang out with." And an extremely introverted person may want to hang out with nobody, or hang out with a select group infrequently.
Anyway, Aspie identity is often rather self-contained, anyway; more so than NT identity. Not mirroring others' emotions, being distanced from culture, and being predisposed to original thought rather than teamwork tends to make a person who determines his identity based on internal rather than external factors.