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> The Scoutmaster’s wife noted that a typical kid working on this badge goes to a hospital and asks about x-rays. David decided to build a Breeder Reactor. This

> The Scoutmaster’s wife noted that a typical kid working on this badge goes to a hospital and asks about x-rays. David decided to build a Breeder Reactor. This was perfectly logical to someone with a rather naive social awareness, accompanied by a passion for collecting all the Periodic Table Elements. Can someone explain the logical connection between "naive social awareness" and "choosing to go way above and beyond for this merit badge"? As someone with Asperger syndrome (very mild) and the parent of a kid with it (more so), I may be overly sensitive to stereotyping on the topic. So in that excerpt above, what I hear is a neuro-typical adult dismissing the kid's amazing accomplishment here, just because he's socially awkward. I'm sure she's actually a lovely person, so I'm hoping someone can give me a better explanation.

zitterbewegung 5y ago
From my limited background in psychology what really separates him is the drive to execute on his goals and not the social awkwardness. But, creating the device would obviously have a large amount of time invested which would be the same for whoever would build the device .
peterburkimsher 5y ago
The Gervais principle of management hierarchy: Sociopaths (friends with everyone) Management (clueless) Losers (actually do the homework) I'm trying to be the biggest loser and outsmart the system, but thank God, I failed. The sociopaths want to copy the homework. Whatever good ideas you and your kid have, please type them and share! There's no intellectual property here. We're not afraid to ask "What if?" Welcome to the community of the Internet, we love you.
otomoaoe 5y ago
It sounds like he was hyper-focused to the detriment of his health and others around him at several steps in the story (lying to nuclear scientists, performing dangerous experiments in a residential area, it goes on). I agree with you that he did amazing things, but those things are tainted by his disregard for others. I think that's what they mean by social naivete.
tigeba 4y ago
My sons recently completed the Nuclear Science merit badge, and one of the experiments involves the creation of a cloud chamber. The 'old school' method for obtaining a radioactive source is using a lantern mantle, which is a practical item that a scout might be able to access. I did not previously realize that old school mantles were dipped in Thorium. Alas, these are somewhat difficult to obtain today as you might expect. It was pretty fun to discover that the modern solution is to just order some Uranium ore from Amazon.
watwut 4y ago
"Naive social awareness" is euphemism for disregard and possible endangering of well being of others. Not just in this case, in general too. Basically, they did not wanted to sound critical of him and wanted him to sound good/cool. Theoretically, the hidden assumption is that the only reason why you would not do certain things is because you guessed from social clues other people might be mad.
eternityforest 4y ago
As far as I know Hahn was never formally diagnosed with it, but as an adult was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and bipolar. Perhaps she was implying he was not neurotypical(Many think he wasn't), perhaps she was referring to something else. She's probably not a psychologist, she probably knows she isn't supposed to diagnose, so she's probably not thinking in those terms. She's just thinking something is wrong, and it was, and she probably felt a need to say it politely, and might have, without really thinking, used phrasing typically used when trying to be understanding about neurodiversity issues. If it were me I can't say I would be proud of what I might have said about it. I almost feel bad writing this post at all. But I probably would have thought they needed some kind of immediate state or even police intervention. I'm not a psychologist either, but I do suspect I have Dyspraxia myself, and many friends with Aspbergers, and some of the stories do fit, but it doesn't fully explain everything. The problem is... this is not that much of an amazing accomplishment. He didn't discover something new. He actually made himself LESS likely to have a nuclear career. To me it looks more like pyromania with nuclear materials. It's definitely true that most people might not be able to do all that. I probably couldn't. In fact, I absolutely know he was more capable than me. Already driving by 16, while I'm 28 and still occasionally make mistakes crossing streets on foot. But still, I doubt any nuclear professional would be happy to see what he did. It was difficult, special, and impressive, but maybe more importantly, it was horrifying. He had some raw potential, but the experiment was a tragedy, and possibly the result of untreated mental health traumas. He needed help. But not the help a lot of people now think he needed. His superfund creating experiments shouldn't have been encouraged. Someone should have made him understand why he needed to do better in school. I think the aura of impressiveness the whole thing had may have led to some enabling happening.

zitterbewegung 5y ago

From my limited background in psychology what really separates him is the drive to execute on his goals and not the social awkwardness. But, creating the device would obviously have a large amount of time invested which would be the same for whoever would build the device .

peterburkimsher 5y ago

The Gervais principle of management hierarchy: Sociopaths (friends with everyone) Management (clueless) Losers (actually do the homework) I'm trying to be the biggest loser and outsmart the system, but thank God, I failed. The sociopaths want to copy the homework. Whatever good ideas you and your kid have, please type them and share! There's no intellectual property here. We're not afraid to ask "What if?" Welcome to the community of the Internet, we love you.

otomoaoe 5y ago

It sounds like he was hyper-focused to the detriment of his health and others around him at several steps in the story (lying to nuclear scientists, performing dangerous experiments in a residential area, it goes on). I agree with you that he did amazing things, but those things are tainted by his disregard for others. I think that's what they mean by social naivete.

tigeba 4y ago

My sons recently completed the Nuclear Science merit badge, and one of the experiments involves the creation of a cloud chamber. The 'old school' method for obtaining a radioactive source is using a lantern mantle, which is a practical item that a scout might be able to access. I did not previously realize that old school mantles were dipped in Thorium. Alas, these are somewhat difficult to obtain today as you might expect. It was pretty fun to discover that the modern solution is to just order some Uranium ore from Amazon.

watwut 4y ago

"Naive social awareness" is euphemism for disregard and possible endangering of well being of others. Not just in this case, in general too. Basically, they did not wanted to sound critical of him and wanted him to sound good/cool. Theoretically, the hidden assumption is that the only reason why you would not do certain things is because you guessed from social clues other people might be mad.

eternityforest 4y ago

As far as I know Hahn was never formally diagnosed with it, but as an adult was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and bipolar. Perhaps she was implying he was not neurotypical(Many think he wasn't), perhaps she was referring to something else. She's probably not a psychologist, she probably knows she isn't supposed to diagnose, so she's probably not thinking in those terms. She's just thinking something is wrong, and it was, and she probably felt a need to say it politely, and might have, without really thinking, used phrasing typically used when trying to be understanding about neurodiversity issues. If it were me I can't say I would be proud of what I might have said about it. I almost feel bad writing this post at all. But I probably would have thought they needed some kind of immediate state or even police intervention. I'm not a psychologist either, but I do suspect I have Dyspraxia myself, and many friends with Aspbergers, and some of the stories do fit, but it doesn't fully explain everything. The problem is... this is not that much of an amazing accomplishment. He didn't discover something new. He actually made himself LESS likely to have a nuclear career. To me it looks more like pyromania with nuclear materials. It's definitely true that most people might not be able to do all that. I probably couldn't. In fact, I absolutely know he was more capable than me. Already driving by 16, while I'm 28 and still occasionally make mistakes crossing streets on foot. But still, I doubt any nuclear professional would be happy to see what he did. It was difficult, special, and impressive, but maybe more importantly, it was horrifying. He had some raw potential, but the experiment was a tragedy, and possibly the result of untreated mental health traumas. He needed help. But not the help a lot of people now think he needed. His superfund creating experiments shouldn't have been encouraged. Someone should have made him understand why he needed to do better in school. I think the aura of impressiveness the whole thing had may have led to some enabling happening.