4 ms·

Just two things: 1) Remember that a lot of tech people score higher on the autistic spectrum than normal people do. So most likely many of the commentators just

by pcf 4y ago

Just two things: 1) Remember that a lot of tech people score higher on the autistic spectrum than normal people do. So most likely many of the commentators just don't have the biological wiring for feeling empathy like many others do. This might ease your mind a little. 2) Also remember that Musk would probably have given someone those three months to find other employment, seeing as he gave Twitter employees up to six months. So I don't think he's a good example for this. Use instead... hm... how about Meta?

coinbasetwwa 4y ago
The use of supposed mental illness being used to discount any opposing belief is terrifying. Did you ever stop and consider that maybe empathizing in this situation is wrong?
skinnymuch 4y ago
Elon would definitely behave like this. a perfect example imo. Him being forced by law or PR to give people more time doesn’t show his character or how he is. Elon — the classist, union busting, worker rights abusing (like how he treated lower working class workers during lockdown or how he will randomly fire you while walking around a factory), hyper capitalist. He is definitely okay with this. Can’t imagine him not wanting to do this if he could get away with it.
distcs 4y ago
> Remember that a lot of tech people score higher on the autistic spectrum than normal people do. They do? This comes as a surprise to me. It could very well be true but I would like a citation for this. Kind of finding it hard to just accept this for a fact because I have been hanging out with technical folks for a long time and most folks I hang out don't see to be high on the autistic spectrum.
- hnfong 4y ago
  Selection bias? Presumably those higher on the autistic spectrum prefer to hang out less with people.
  - pas 4y ago
    or prefer to hang out with other atypical folks :)
- pas 4y ago
  one typical symptom of ADHD is a deficiency of emotional regulation and impaired inhibitory function (which results in a bit of impulsiveness). HN is a perfect place for folks addicted to novelty (interesting tech news always!), so it's not that surprising that there is a relative abundance of comments that would have been better left unsent :) also, high is relative. too high would make it very hard to get and maintain a job.
HWR_14 4y ago
> autistic spectrum than normal people do. So most likely many of the commentators just don't have the biological wiring for feeling empathy like many others do This is outdated. Assuming you are using "empathy" conversationally, it's driven by the fact that people higher on the autistic spectrum don't perceive what other people feel very well, and historically this was misinterpreted. The comments on HN aren't "I don't understand why anyone would be upset". They are "it's only business". Those who claim that they are autistic so they can be assholes are just assholes who are happy to lie to try to justify it socially. Or, people with autism have a correlation to issues with cognitive empathy (recognizing what another person's mental state), but not affective empathy (the desire to respond to the other person's mental state.)[1] > Musk would probably have given someone those three months to find other employment, seeing as he gave Twitter employees up to six months. Has it changed again? Last I saw was 3 months. At any rate, he started and continues to try to get people to quit by a lot of policy changes. And has a history of burning out his employees in fairly harsh ways. You can say he's effective, but he doesn't sound pleasant to work for. [1] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41398-017-0082-6 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41398-017-0082-6
- pas 4y ago
  People with a hard time to be empathetic (alternatively let's call it theory of mind deficiency) or who have trouble with emotional regulation tend to develop coping mechanisms, for example a typical one is that they start to simply ignore feelings of others in most situations, don't mention feelings in communications, etc. Does this absolve them of hurting others? Of course not really, but it might help others understand why it's hard to get people with such defenses to even acknowledge that their communication can be hurtful, etc.
  - HWR_14 4y ago
    You disagree with the paper I cited, which says that there is no correlation? Do you have evidence or just a gut feeling?
    - pas 4y ago

by pcf 4y ago

coinbasetwwa 4y ago

The use of supposed mental illness being used to discount any opposing belief is terrifying. Did you ever stop and consider that maybe empathizing in this situation is wrong?

skinnymuch 4y ago

Elon would definitely behave like this. a perfect example imo. Him being forced by law or PR to give people more time doesn’t show his character or how he is. Elon — the classist, union busting, worker rights abusing (like how he treated lower working class workers during lockdown or how he will randomly fire you while walking around a factory), hyper capitalist. He is definitely okay with this. Can’t imagine him not wanting to do this if he could get away with it.

distcs 4y ago

> Remember that a lot of tech people score higher on the autistic spectrum than normal people do. They do? This comes as a surprise to me. It could very well be true but I would like a citation for this. Kind of finding it hard to just accept this for a fact because I have been hanging out with technical folks for a long time and most folks I hang out don't see to be high on the autistic spectrum.

hnfong 4y ago
Selection bias? Presumably those higher on the autistic spectrum prefer to hang out less with people.
- pas 4y ago
  or prefer to hang out with other atypical folks :)
pas 4y ago
one typical symptom of ADHD is a deficiency of emotional regulation and impaired inhibitory function (which results in a bit of impulsiveness). HN is a perfect place for folks addicted to novelty (interesting tech news always!), so it's not that surprising that there is a relative abundance of comments that would have been better left unsent :) also, high is relative. too high would make it very hard to get and maintain a job.

HWR_14 4y ago

> autistic spectrum than normal people do. So most likely many of the commentators just don't have the biological wiring for feeling empathy like many others do This is outdated. Assuming you are using "empathy" conversationally, it's driven by the fact that people higher on the autistic spectrum don't perceive what other people feel very well, and historically this was misinterpreted. The comments on HN aren't "I don't understand why anyone would be upset". They are "it's only business". Those who claim that they are autistic so they can be assholes are just assholes who are happy to lie to try to justify it socially. Or, people with autism have a correlation to issues with cognitive empathy (recognizing what another person's mental state), but not affective empathy (the desire to respond to the other person's mental state.)[1] > Musk would probably have given someone those three months to find other employment, seeing as he gave Twitter employees up to six months. Has it changed again? Last I saw was 3 months. At any rate, he started and continues to try to get people to quit by a lot of policy changes. And has a history of burning out his employees in fairly harsh ways. You can say he's effective, but he doesn't sound pleasant to work for. [1] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41398-017-0082-6 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41398-017-0082-6

pas 4y ago
People with a hard time to be empathetic (alternatively let's call it theory of mind deficiency) or who have trouble with emotional regulation tend to develop coping mechanisms, for example a typical one is that they start to simply ignore feelings of others in most situations, don't mention feelings in communications, etc. Does this absolve them of hurting others? Of course not really, but it might help others understand why it's hard to get people with such defenses to even acknowledge that their communication can be hurtful, etc.
- HWR_14 4y ago
  You disagree with the paper I cited, which says that there is no correlation? Do you have evidence or just a gut feeling?
  - pas 4y ago