Dr. Diane Hamilton's Blog
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Famous Computer Geniuses with Asperger’s
In a recent TED.com talk by Misha Glenny, titled Hire the Hackers,Glenny noted at the end of his talk that many famous computer hackers have characteristics that are consistent with Asperger’s Syndrome. He mentioned he discussed this with Professor of Development Psychopathology at Cambridge, Simon Baron-Cohen, who “confirmed Gary McKinnon who is wanted by the United States for hacking into the Pentagon suffers from Asperger’s. Cohen explained that certain disabilities can manifest themselves in the hacking computer world as tremendous skills.”
This is not the first time that there has been mention of famous hackers having this disorder. Adrian Lamo, once hunted by the FBI, was institutionalized and diagnosed with Asperger’s. Cnet News recently reported, “Ryan Cleary, the 19-year-old charged in the U.K. on five counts of computer hacking activity, has Asperger’s syndrome.”
According to Wired.com, “There are no reliable figures on how many people have Asperger’s, but anecdotally a lot of them are drawn into the computer field, particularly the logic-heavy world of coding. BitTorrent creator Bram Cohen has diagnosed himself with the disorder, and Microsoft founder Bill Gates is frequently speculated to have it.” According to Businessweek, Bram Cohen’s disorder is, “a condition that keeps him rooted in the world of objects and patterns, puzzles and computers, but leaves him floating, disoriented, in the everyday swirl of human interactions.” In the movie The Social Network, some of the mannerisms that the Mark Zuckerberg character displayed may have implied he had Asperger’s as well.
Some other famous minds that have been noted as having Asperger’s include Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton. The article, The Potential Genius of Asperger’s contains a long list of famous people who have been thought to have this disorder.
Dr. Simon Baron-Cohen developed an AQ test that measures the Autism Spectrum Quotient. “In the first major trial using the test, the average score in the control group was 16.4. Eighty percent of those diagnosed with autism or a related disorder scored 32 or higher. The test is not a means for making a diagnosis, however, and many who score above 32 and even meet the diagnostic criteria for mild autism or Asperger’s report no difficulty functioning in their everyday lives.” To take the Asperger’s test, click here.
The following is Misha Glenny’s talk from TED:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gSwRHScq6M&w=560&h=315]Related Articles
Famous People Capitalizing on Manic Depression
Manic depression or bipolar disorder is a mood disorder where people experience abnormal levels of high energy or depressive states. While generally thought of as a disorder, there are many examples of people who have this disorder and used it to their advantage.
In the article Manic Depression: The CEO’s Disease, the author points out that many leaders can be successful due to the mania involved. They also may not even realize they have the disorder. “On average, it takes 10 years from the onset of the illness for a manic depressive to receive a correct diagnosis. In the interim, some of them do very well in business. And as more and more such sufferers come forward, many psychiatrists are convinced that their good fortune is at least partly a result of their illness. Dr. Sagar Parikh, head of the Bipolar Clinic at the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry in Toronto, says 10% of those who have manic depression actually perform better in their jobs than a “healthy” individual. “[Manic depression] gives them that extra bit of panache to do the big deal,” says Parikh.”
In Joshua Walters’ Ted.com video, he points out the importance of being just crazy enough. He explains that as a performer, the crazier he is on stage, the more entertaining the audience finds his act. He decided to embrace his illness and now walks the line between what he calls mental illness and mental skillness. He points out that there is a movement to reframe the hypomanic part of the illness and to look at it is a positive. He refers to John Gartner’s book The Hypomanic Edge where Gartner writes about how this edge allows people to compete. Walters explains that being this way maybe doesn’t mean you are crazy, but that you are more sensitive to what others can’t see or feel.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruvWiXowiZ8&w=560&h=345]In the New York Times article Just Manic Enough: Seeking Perfect Entrepreneurs, author David Segal explained how people could take advantage of being in the bipolar spectrum. Segal noted, “The attributes that make great entrepreneurs, the experts say, are common in certain manias, though in milder forms and harnessed in ways that are hugely productive. Instead of recklessness, the entrepreneur loves risk. Instead of delusions, the entrepreneur imagines a product that sounds so compelling that it inspires people to bet their careers, or a lot of money, on something that doesn’t exist and may never sell.”
Tom Wooten, author founder of the Bipolar Advantage, has made it his “mission to help people with mental conditions shift their thinking and behavior so that they can lead extraordinary lives.” He sees it as being bipolar without requiring the word disorder.
The following is a list of famous successful people who have been labeled as having manic depression:
Ted Turner Manic Depression
Abraham Lincoln Manic Depression
Vincent Van Gogh Manic Depression
Christopher Columbus Manic Depression
Edgar Allen Poe Manic Depression
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Manic Depression
Ludwig van Beethoven Manic Depression
Robin Williams Manic Depression
For a more complete list of famous people with manic depression, click here.
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Have a Laugh from Site that Compiles Past Tweets
There is a fun little site called That Can Be My Next Tweet. It pulls information from your Twitter account and calculates what your possible next Tweet could include based on what you have Tweeted in the past. Every time you push the “get your next Tweet” button, it comes up with a new jumble of words combined from your past postings. I put in drdianehamilton and the first three times I pushed the button, I got the following responses:
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It was fun for a few minutes. I’m not sure it has lasting appeal, but it can be good for a few laughs. I put in a few personalities that can tend to be characters to see what their next Tweet might be. Here is what it generated:
Charlie Sheen: Sloppy TunaGet you’re going to Colombia, it’s my page & ! KH & RH RT!! Anger Management ANGER & coke round.
Ashton Kutcher: I’m a joke. retweet to keep spending millions to people sounds funnier than astronauts.
Kanye West: Chilling with my stress and I just threw some bassoon on Yeezy’s and the right thing but I know Howie?
BrianWilson (the closing pitcher for the San Francisco Giants): Charlie Sheen is why. The Tux. Made of the Wharf. you enjoy choking on today’s run, upon reaching the 1st!
To check out: That Can Be My Next Tweet, click here.
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Plastic Surgeon of the Millennium D. Ralph Millard Dies at 92
Picture: D. Ralph Millard, MD and Diane Hamilton, PhD
My cousin, D. Ralph Millard, once nominated as one of the 10 “plastic surgeons of the millenium” died recently of heart failure. The Miami Herald included an article about this amazing man’s life. According to that article, “He was best known for developing “rotation advancement’’ surgery in the ‘50s. The method conserves tissue that doctors had routinely removed when correcting a cleft lip, producing a natural-looking mouth in much less time. Before he developed it, surgical procedures were performed on patients into their late teens. With his method, most children are operated on by 4 or 5. Millard also made major advances in corrective rhinoplasty— nose surgery—for people disfigured by accidents, cancer, war wounds, even cocaine abuse. “His work is considered pure artistry,” Dr. Bernard Fogel, dean emeritus of the medical school, told The Miami Herald when Millard retired in 2000, three months before the death of his wife of 45 years, Barbara Smith Millard. “He’s a giant.”
To read the rest of the article, click here.
Ralph was an inspiration to me and so many others. For information about Dr. Ralph Millard and the Millard Society, click here.
Kate Middleton Dukan Diet and Tracy Anderson’s 30 Day Method Latest Craze or Common Sense
With the upcoming wedding, there is a lot of focus on Kate Middleton. Her interest in France’s Dukan Diet is the buzz. According to Psychology today, this Atkins-like diet, “It is very restrictive and rule-bound (high protein, low calorie), and then eventually gives permission to “eat anything” on six days of the week if you revert to the original guidelines (to basically cut out everything except for lean protein) for one day of the week, ad infinitum.” I’ve tried Atkins-like diets in the past and found that not having carbs not only made me miss them (especially chocolate), but I couldn’t sleep.
There are always new fads out there for dieting. Lately Tracy Anderson’s 30 Day Method has been mentioned quite a bit as well. After hearing that Courtney Cox and Gwyneth Paltrow use her method, I thought I’d get the Anderson book. Although I haven’t had a chance to watch the DVD that came with it, I did look at the daily amounts and types of food that she suggests in it. Although it would be nice to look like Cox or Paltrow, the food choices were very unusual (not much I could even eat because I am picky) and very small in quantity. I will give some attention to her exercise program though as Anderson and her followers do look pretty amazing.
Sometimes these books are fun to read to see what people are doing out there to look perfect. But I think I’ll look a little less perfect and keep to a common sense diet … oh and with a little chocolate thrown in for good measure.