Computers as Logical Extreme of Autism

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It is often said that people on the autism spectrum are much more "pedantic" with the meaning of words and sentences than most people, and have trouble deducing what NT's "mean by" statements that are slightly vague or, if you look at their logical meaning very carefully, actually mean something different than the NT intended (and how other NT's interpret it without thinking about it.)

Programming a computer feels like, in a lot of ways, trying to communicate with someone far, far, far more autistic than myself. After all, it takes all instructions literally and has ZERO sense of what you "meant by" stuff. If you so much as forget a semicolon, the compiler will interpret code following the forgotten semicolon completely differently, as part of your previous line, because it doesn't have any concept of one interpretation "making more sense" than another. Even if one way compiles and the other doesn't!

Another example is something like (in C++):

caller_ptr->msgCount[dst]++;
cout << msgCount[dst];

This will not compile because, although some here will see that I "meant" caller_ptr->msgCount[dst] in the cout line but forgot the "caller_ptr->" part, the computer will not see this, throw its hands up in the air, say "I don't know of any msgCount" (even though I "mentioned" it just one line ago) and give you a compile error.

It's why it can sometimes be hard to catch programming mistakes by hand-tracing code, since humans (NT's especially) tend to see what they expect to see instead of what's actually there!

Could my computer be autistic?

So is the blue screen I keep getting a meltdown?

hehe. I'm in IT and I TOTALLY get where you're coming from
A few months back, I posted a thread about people with Aspergers being more "digital" minded than analog (NT).
Things have to be precise, and we don't comprehend nuance on an intuitive level, it has to be unraveled for us.

An autistic person is a living being. A computer is a machine. It has no neuroses, psychoses or bad habits.

ruveyn

Say it ain't so! My computer is my bestest friend forever! Here's why...

A computer will wait forever for you to come home, and not insist on knowing where you've been, what you've been doing, and who you've been doing it with.

A computer won't interrupt you "just to talk" while you're favorite program is on, or while you're playing your favorite game.

A computer won't tell you "I just want us to be friends" and then ignore your for the rest of your life.

A computer won't drink your entire stash of super-caffeinated cola.

A computer is ready when you are, it's easy to turn on, and it responds to your every touch.

A computer has a "mute" function for the audio.

A computer doesn't require that you buy it drinks, dinner, a diamond ring, or say "I love you" to use it for your pleasure.

A computer won't file for divorce and demand half of everything you own if you bring another computer home and start having fun with it.

Funny and true.

Yeah, why can't women be more like computers?

Right. You can "program" then to get on top and to go down on you.

You nasty man!

ruveyn

I'd program them to do a lot more than that.

Hell. Get a dual processor and really have some fun.

ruveyn

I'm totally quadcore.

I've lived online for years. Mostly becuase there's no nonverbal language to worry about in chat rooms. Another nice thing is that if I embarass myself it won't follow me if I was smart about hiding my real identity. There is not a place in meatspace I've felt as at home as I do in my chat rooms. In reflecting on my own relationship with my computer, I can't help but be reminded of the mentor's last words (quite possibly the most famous hacker manifesto of all time. It was absolutely beautiful.) Please let me share a quote from it with you.

"I am a hacker, enter my world... Mine is a world that begins with school... I'm smarter than most of the other kids, this crap they teach us bores me... Damn underachiever. They're all alike. I'm in junior high or high school. I've listened to teachers explain for the fifteenth time how to reduce a fraction. I understand it. "No, Ms. Smith, I didn't show my work. I did it in my head..." Damn kid. Probably copied it. They're all alike. I made a discovery today. I found a computer. Wait a second, this is cool. It does what I want it to. If it makes a mistake, it's because I screwed it up. Not because it doesn't like me... Or feels threatened by me.. Or thinks I'm a smart ass.. Or doesn't like teaching and shouldn't be here... Damn kid. All he does is play games. They're all alike. And then it happened... a door opened to a world... rushing through the phone line like heroin through an addict's veins, an electronic pulse is sent out, a refuge from the day-to-day incompetencies is sought... a board is found. "This is it... this is where I belong..." I know everyone here... even if I've never met them, never talked to them, may never hear from them again... I know you all... Damn kid"

I don't know about you, but I find the whole thing very relatable. Meatspace just wasn't set up to allow people like me to do well, but online there are people who depend on me and who I know I can depend on. Online, there's the potential for me to accomplish wonderful things, but in meatspace I'm doomed to the same fate as Sysiphus...

lol that's funny

computers are dumb machines. Minds/brains are living organisms.

ruveyn

I used to be fond of saying, "The only NT I've ever met that uses logic like Aspergians is Windows NT."