I'm curious to see how many of you here score on this test about autism.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/9.12/aqtest.html
I scored a 35, and though I've had problems socially in my life I've got good friends and live a pretty decent life. So take a look and post your score.
20
>>1
That was an old article, but the reason diagnoses of autism are rising is because of better awareness, detection methods/different diagnosis criteria. I doubt anyone that thinks they are autistic is. You cannot diagnose yourself.
33
25
I notice details that don't invovle people, since I don't look at people.
Also, I'm good at knowing how characters... but not real people, for the same reason.
29
Some of the questions were hard to answer because I simply don't have a clue.
20
I expected to score a lot higher.
32
:-/
33
27
31
33
I got a 38, do I win?
38. I've been diagnosed with Asperger's.
I also agree with >>9's comment. The test is a little too vague to take seriously.
>>19 The test is a little too vague to take seriously.
Welcome to internet quizzes!
Agree: 2,5,12,19,21,22,23,26,35,39,46: 1 point
Disagree: 8,10,11,14,15,17,24,34,37,38,47,48: 1 point
Score: 23
>50 I find it very easy to play games with children that involve pretending.
how was i supposed to answer this :/
19.
A lot of the questions didn't apply to me, though, because I have zero social interation. I had to pretty much pick one of the middle-road options for those.
18.
since i answered most of the middle which applies to me more..
31. i have OCD by the way
44. Miserable. Alone. Goingthth throughew Mastrubbation Withdrfaweal.
27.
About 5 points from being in the Autistic catagory.
Although I think some tendencies might be connected with enjoying certain activities.
15 I find myself drawn more strongly to people than to things.
16 I tend to have very strong interests, which I get upset about if I can't pursue.
39 People often tell me that I keep going on and on about the same thing.
40 When I was young, I used to enjoy playing games involving pretending with other children.
41 I like to collect information about categories of things (e.g., types of cars, birds, trains, plants).
The correct answers to all of these seems to point to "Otaku" type behavior. For a clear example, I'd point you toward trek and wars fans who can name ship classes, Jedi fighting stances, etc, as well as argueing about the status of religion and economics. They also seem to have enough imagination to dress the part (anime fans as well).
Theory: A geek, especially an otaku geek is probably low-grade asperagers.
Score: 35
I haven't been diagnosed with anything except social anxiety disorder. And I don't really have a daily routine or specific interest in collecting information about categories of things.
23 here.
>>Theory: A geek, especially an otaku geek is probably low-grade asperagers.
That's the theory being pushed here, yes.
And that is the problem I have with the ideology I see being pushed in the guise of pop psychology here. There seems to be an underlying idea being sold very hard here of irrational mandatory egalitarianism, not just in pop psychology, but in pop culture. The idea that all human beings are all exactly identical in capability and value to society is nonsense on its face, but we're bombarded with it daily in ways that make Soviet agitprop look subtle.
"Yeah, them thar egghaids may be book-smart, but they's all STUPID GEEKS! HAW HAW HAW HAW! Says rat cheer in this here magazine, they's all got AUTISMS!"
"Rain Man here drools on himself and masturbates in public, but he has unnatural superhuman math skills, plus he plays seventeen musical instruments and has perfect pitch! Aw, isn't it just so cute and uplifting? Doesn't that give you warm fuzzies?"
"Deshawn here may score only 73 on the standard IQ tests, but under 'Multiple Intelligences Theory,' we can declare him a supergenius at 'kinesthetic intelligence,' which he displays while playing midnight baxitball and strong-arming little old ladies for their Social Security checks to feed his crack cocaine habit."
I actually suspect that this particular latter-day superstition has its roots in Christianity, and the concept that all humans have souls and are therefore all exactly equally valuable to God.
Which would be enough to cause me to become an atheist if I weren't one already. Feh.
Everyone wants aspergers these days. It's the perfect excuse for not changing.
>>28
I think you're right about it being pop psychology. They're just looking for a reason to explain that which they can't, and so they just decided that the autism spectrum of behaviors suits it well. Yeah, the rain man might be socially impotent, but he makes up for it with his other skills. People aren't necessarily created "equal" in this sense, but there is still a balance maintained.
>>30
What about retarded people? Doesn't seem to be any balance there.
I do see the point partially in seeing that it downgrades the geeknes. But I think geeks are kind of elitest too, if you take my meaning. Intelligence isn't only measured by geekitude. I've seen people who are absolutely brilliant chefs or salesmen or writers. But to a geek, or at least some of the geeks that I speak with online, you're only intelligent if you can write recursive C++ sorting algorythms or explain string theory etc. The attitude is: gee that's nice, but if you were smart like me you'd know about cache and bytecodes and can't write sorting programs, have fun flipping burgers.
As to the Aspergers, I think in some ways it could be beneficial -- in small enough doses. It would allow a person to memorize tables and equations -- useful for engineering and computer/tech fields.
If you're high enough functioning that you can turn those facts into something useful, that's great. But at too high a level, it can limit you. And as I tried to indicate in my first post, (>>26) I mean the obsessive fascination with FICTIONAL devices, especially when it comes to the point of debating their merits whilst wearing Spock-ears and giving Vulcan salutes, at a conference of others in the same frame of mind. Or if you can name all the minutae of some random Anime. See at some point, the same Geekitude can turn on itself and take the victim OUT OF REALITY, to the land of Anime cosplayers, wannabe klingons and so on, and prevent him from leading a normal life.
What I think this really is is a continuum.
0-30% is average
30-60% is geek
60-70% is otaku
70-100% is aspergers/autism
And I suspect it's heritable as probably a series of genetic traits. If you have too many of these traits, after the geek phase, you'll have more and more problems.
But there's another problem (at least if I'm right). Our society, probably since the first days of the public school system, has actually been selecting for the mid-range of the scale. In school, you're rewarded for being able to memorize and give back facts. You graduate with honors and get to go to college, which demands more of the same. So if you're a "geek" you can memorize these facts more easily, you go to college, and graduate for the most part to a good job. Women like sucessful men, so they tend to marry or at least fuck those they perceive as successful. Thus, those who have enough Asperger's-like traits to be a geek are more likely to pass on the genes. But if both parents have enough traits to be "geeks", then their children may have a higher risk of Autism.
Of course, the above needs to be tested. At least once.
What does "elitism" mean in this context?
I believe that the good is preferable to the bad and the better is preferable to the worse. Does this mean that I am elitist? If so, is this a bad thing?
>>Our society, probably since the first days of the public school system, has actually been selecting for the mid-range of the scale.
I disagree, colleges orgasm over the extremely rare "well-rounded student," but it's certainly more true that schools lean closer to "geekiness" concerning academic skills than your life skills, which I believe are equally important. I think this message board speaks for that.
I got 13 points, so I seem fairly normal. But I was a lot worse when I was younger...somehow I've changed very much the past few years. I've never been to a psychologist, but if I went to one around 5 years ago, I would probably be diagnosticed with Aspergers. Is there anyone else here who has experienced something similar in his/her life, changing from having the typical Aspergers symptoms to being "normal"? I have a younger sister who (I think) is going through the same thing...she reminds me very much of me when I was younger.
One thing I forgot to add, which may be interesting: In the past, I had a very narrow musical taste, I've only been able to like one or two genres at a time (usually sub-genres of metal), but nowadays I have a much wider musical taste which I haven't had before in my life.
Being an angsty emo faggot does not mean you have aspergers.
the mid-range of the scale is "geek". And that is what schools reward. If you're an average kid, you'd probably rather play soccer or basketball or football with your buddies than learn something new. They generally don't like school, though if motivated by outside factors (i.e good grades bring a reward like money) they can do decently well in classes. They'll get by, probably go on to business school or trade school and move on.
Geeks are a different story. Geeks are more interested in learning new things. They're better at memorizing and spitting back random facts. To most people, the exact date an event happend is trivia -- to a history nerd, not only the dates but the details of battle planning and uniforms and so on. They can remember the trivia of events, sciences and computers more easily than your average non-nerd. But because of the way our education system is set up, you actually do better if you can memorize lots of facts. It doesn't reward the ability to use those facts (except maybe at trade schools or in engineering programs). So for the most part, your honor roll for most schools is going to be geeks, if not higher on the scale.
And the eliteism comes from geeks having the notion that you can't be intelligent unless you've gone through a math/science program at a 4-year college. It's not true in the least. a plumber or a repair person is probably just as smart, even a cook or a business manager. It's just different interests.
27 I'm a nerd!
What are you on about, >>32...
> It would allow a person to memorize tables and equations
No, not always.
> the obsessive fascination with FICTIONAL devices
> 30-60% is geek
> 60-70% is otaku
These are measuring how much someone devotes themselves to their hobbies. Autism doesn't belong on the same scale. There's some correlation there (say, otaku tendencies) but it's not all one thing.
> [geeks are elitist]
Some of them are very competitive. Some will ignore anyone who doesn't have similar interests. I'm not sure about academic snobbery.
>>35
Social skills can improve a lot with practice. You'd be surprised.
Another answer might be simply "adolescence".
Geeks unite! We're abnormal and proud!
Besides, without elitist geeks, there could be no Elitist Superstructure of DQN.
21
31
sadly to say, I couldn't complete the test.
I got a few questions whose meaning I don't know because of my poor English ability.
For example,I'm fascinated by dates.
Date has a lot of meanings,so I didn't know what meaning I should choose.
>>45
The fruit that is delicious when preserved in sugar.
>>47
Oh,I see.
Thanks to your help,I managed to finish the test.
My score was 15
I have meet many social normal people who are the best out there in programming and computers.
i'm sorry, but being smart doesn't have to do much with geekness, its just your own social disbilities, which you neglected to learn because you thought computers, movies and ... are more fun.
Just because autisms have similar traits to a geek, doesn't meen you have it. they are obsessed with something, because they CAN'T underestand others, you are obsessed becasue you did NOT choose to underestand others.
i got 32, but it means nothing.
22 Yay for average.
28.
I got 19.
32 here
fuuukk.. thats just broken!
#!/usr/local/bin/perl
use CGI;
print "Content-type: text/html\n\r\n\r";
my %qs = (
.........
i got 24.. -.-
>>49
It's not fun being social when you're better than everyone at everything.
35
Well, ive got 23,, meaning im normal?? Lol
17
24
27
scored 35. I find social interaction to be overwhelming. I sometimes cry and feel bad afterwards even if it was a neutral to positive interaction. Is there something wrong with me?
11, a higher score is worse right?
>>62
Wow, do you have to ask? Or are you just rubbing it in?
16
Don't wanna ruin it for you all, but this test doesn't signify anything.
39
32
Not diagnosed as autistic or anything, but I have been diagnosed with really inhibiting social phobia which is why I scored so high. I express a lot of traits linked to this disorder but I don't think I have it.
Agree: 13,23,26,46: 1 point
Disagree: 15,49: 1 point
Score: 6
i dream too, about fish
25. What do the scores mean.
Hello my friends
31...
no i am American so i am stupid..........
>>76 yes don't we know!
i hate
ihate
iha te
ice scream
isssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss not a not
neatness suckssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
>,<<><>
http://www.imp3.org/movies/404276-B003TO5J2I-The_Graveyard_of_Death.html
>I am fascinated by dates.
Figs are better.
Agree: 22,26: 1 point
Disagree: 1,11,14,15,38,50: 1 point
Score: 8
http://www.kindaikobo.com/staffblog/?p=239
Please comment.