Did Asperger’s help cause the financial crisis?

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"Did the financial system blow up because it was built and largely operated by people with many of the characteristics of a mild form of autism called Asperger’s syndrome?

As explanations for the crisis go, it’s on the extreme side but forms an interesting counterpoint to the “blame the looting bankers” story line.

People with Asperger’s, a mild form of autism, are characterized by, among other things, a deficit of “theory of mind,” essentially the ability to understand that other people have different beliefs or knowledge than themselves. Nicholas Nassim Taleb, author of The Black Swan, has written that a lack of theory of mind left many in positions of responsibility without the ability to conceive of and guard against black swans, which are rare, high-impact and hard to predict events":
http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2 ... he-crisis/

We're definitely responsible for global warming...

The media ... news reporters ... they are not shy ...
Do they have a theory of mind?
Do words still MEAN anything ... if this argument makes any sense?
Is Asperger the new ...um... Knot-See target?

I recall the media around the turn of the millenium having many news spots
about it being OK to lie...
and GREED IS GOOD...
So... maybe... is the media full of social psychopaths?

I do not mean to be rude, just FYI,
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt118550.html

I'll add that I have my doubts about how well some people in finance, including Taleb, understand probability. The classic Martingale betting strategy in gambling illustrates the impact of the highly improbable.

.....no...... the financial system collapsed because a bunch of morons were spending money they didn't have.

Seriously, I made a quick wiki search, this person is an intellectual ....yeah, it's definitely the wrong planet...

It is the right planet, but the wrong era...
A decade ago, this man wouldn't even know what Asperger Syndrome is.
Nowadays, he is blaming us for the financial crisis.
A decade from now, he may be praising us for all sorts of wonderful contributions to human society...

P.S
Is it only my computer which marks the word 'Asperger' as a wrong word when I compose a message? Or is it like that on everybody's screens?
(Isn't it ironic to be posting on an aspie forum and have the forum's software mark the word 'Asperger' as a wrong word?)

lol

Well, a deficit of "theory of mind" is just plain stupidity. It doesn't necessarily correlate with Asperger's.

I think I have a surplus of "theory of mind", to be honest with you...

It's just another crackpot theory, brought by someone with a deficit of theory of mind. The man probably doesn't even know what Asperger's is.



You misspelled it as "Asperger". It's actually spelled "Asperger". No worries, it comes up as a misspelled word on Microsoft Word for me, too.

Wikipedia: "Hans Asperger (February 18, 1906 – October 21, 1980) was the Austrian pediatrician after whom Asperger syndrome is named."