Paranoia and the Geek

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(I am referencing this here because Asperger's syndrome is significantly positively correlated with geekiness.)

A very common characteristic of the computer geek or technological enthusiast an overriding distrust of all large social institutions, a pessimism towards human motivation, and a suspicion that some entity (FBI, military, organized crime, or simple teenaged script kiddies) will hack into their system unless they take inordinate safeguards to prevent it. They load their browsers up with extensions like NoScript that are a pain in the rear to use because it prevents that small proportion of websites they may visit from running a script that exploit a vulnerability if they haven't already installed a patch (and usually these patches are out a day or two after the publication of a major exploit). Misanthropes, they look down on those who do not speak the C programming language or grep the bash shell. They always anticipate the other shoe dropping when a government program is announced and indeed see "big gub'mint" as an unnecessary intrusion and nothing more. Their technophilia permits them to idealize companies like Apple and Google for a time, but eventually even these are seen as nefarious entities hellbent on stealing private user information, exploiting machines, and taking over the world.

Folks, why is it so?

I have not seen this so much in my travels through the world of nerdiness over the past 60 years. Yes, we have our share of paranoids, but I believe the percentage to be not much more than is found in the world of NT.

I started in nerdworld when there was only radio (remember crystal radio recievers?) and came into my own in the world of computers (remember 8080s?) I have always been in the nerd community of firearms and we have, there, a justifiable, proven reason for paranoia concerning government intervention into the rights of humans. In the world of electronics, however, I see only a bit of excessive worry about intrusions and malicious damage.

I think one reason AS folk might be a bit more paranoid than NTs is because of the harrassment we have received over our lives for not blending properly.

Pops

In the world of electronics, however, I see only a bit of excessive worry about intrusions and malicious damage.

I think one reason AS folk might be a bit more paranoid than NTs is because of the harrassment we have received over our lives for not blending properly.


I agree

It's absolutely rampant on sites like Slashdot.

"overriding distrust of all large social institutions, a pessimism towards human motivation" and suspicion of the alphabet agencies seems pretty well grounded to be honest.

You definately cant trust google and yahoo, google are indexing gmail to help sell you rubbish better and both will happily assist opressive states in tracking down its citizens if they are daft enough to blog about how bad it is in country X.

Being paranoid doesnt mean you arent being watched after all.

If you really are being treated badly, it's not paranoia. It's perceptiveness.

I don't know. I just find it hard to get worked up about the paranoid concerns of many of my geek cohorts. This hypervigilance takes a lot of energy. I, for example, obviously don't care for the Bush administration's rampant abuse of power (e.g., the illegal wiretappings), but I don't see that as reason to point just about every discussion back to it and closely related topics (as is done on Slashdot—where everything has to have an angle).

I'll try to analyze this.

I think it is possible that a "geek" who knows their way around computer programming and the internet might indeed, on the surface, seem paranoid about possible hackings, etc..

I think that because of the knowledge of technology and techniques, the "geek" is more aware of what is out there in the world, and this makes them more knowledgeable about the true possibilities of sabotage.

It is a thief that is most paranoid about his/her belongings being stolen, even with alarm systems because the thief knows the vulnerabilities and how to get past the alarm system.

The same is true of hackers or people that have studied enough about computer programming.. They KNOW that weaknesses DO exist and that there are people out there that will try to take advantage of them... Hackers are probably the most paranoid about there operating systems.

I dislike programming.

They aren't paranoid, they're right. People suck.

i suck with computers lol

Asperger's doesn't equate to being a geek (I only like computers to kill poor pixels, and to talk as I'm not very good out there with words in comparison to here).

And just because I trust no one doesn't mean I'm paranoid, it's safer this way.

That's a good point. Equation of geeks and Aspergians aside, I think geeks are more often into conspiracy theories and such because they're 1) smarter than average and 2) already marginalized and therefore less worried about appearing foolish to others.

More than a few times I've said something or been in a conversation where someone else said something that amounted to a conspiracy theory or belief in something paranormal or somehow at odds with a more orthodox view of the world, and I've heard some really bewildering responses. Like "I don't wanna think about that," or "I don't wanna believe that." When presented with evidence that makes them uncomfortable, people often shrink back and try to forget what they've learned.

So anyway, NeantHumain, at the very least, I hope I add some credence to your generalization about geeks and "paranoia" because I've noticed it too.

My really enjoyed to winnuke my poor Win95 box, so I had a reason for paranoia... and the fear of the government... well... I was at state schools and a state-owned uni and it made me associate incompetence and malice with the government, I admit it.

I don't know about that. I know enough about computer programming to know ways a hacker might circumvent security, but I'm still not overly concerned about it (I take a basic level of precaution, though). I guess I'm just not one of those types of people who can sit around constantly worrying what if...? because I'd find that'd make life too unpleasant.

I say, let them outsmart the selfish with their distrust. Paranoia isn't a bad trait.

"Misanthropes are paranoid" would be an unquantified statement. All of them, or some?

To deduce from the premise that misanthropes are paranoid that all paranoid people are misanthropes would be a logical fallacy.