5 ms·

Programmers are much more likely than the general population to have hyper-mobility. I am so hypermobile that none of the traditional ergonomics techniques, inc

Programmers are much more likely than the general population to have hyper-mobility. I am so hypermobile that none of the traditional ergonomics techniques, including physical therapy, work well enough and I have resorted to using a reclining chair. The reclining chair has worked out great and I really wish I had tried it much sooner. I had not considered it earlier because all of the advice I had received was that it was damaging.

dtdynasty 2y ago
> Programmers are much more likely than the general population to have hyper-mobility. This does not seem intuitive to me. Why would this be the case?
- cjbgkagh 2y ago
  I noticed it in general observationally and later found a generic explanation for it. I used to do behavioral analytics and noticed that programmers tend to have a distinct clustering of behaviors. I’m pretty sure it’s the TNXB gene, it’s been overlooked because it’s traditionally hard to sequence but modern sequencing 30x or long reads can find SNPs here. A colleague who has the same rare set of behaviors and interest as me and is also hyper-mobile had found that he has a TNXB SNP combination that should by random chance only occur in 1/10K people, I subsequently did a DNA test and found that I too had the same SNPs. I have since collected more samples from friends and colleagues who are world class in their fields and so far 5 of 5 have had the same TNXB SNPs. It also appears that in reality this combination is much more common than random chance due to sexual selection which should underscore how behaviorally impactful it is. Hyper mobility is considered a spectrum and a theory that I’m yet to prove is that the spectrum is almost entirely down to the number and type of TNXB SNPs. And it appears that people on this spectrum are more likely to be programmers. Consider the over representation of transgenderism in programming. That same over representation exists in hyper-mobility and I would suggest this is due to a common cause.
  - lupire 2y ago
    These conditions (hypermobilty, transgenderism, programming) are all part of the autism cluster.
    - seanw444 2y ago
      Programmers might be one of the most autistic cliques I've seen, so this checks out. That's both a good and bad thing.
    - cjbgkagh 2y ago
      That is true, I tend to use transgenderism instead of autism because the data is cleaner and that more than makes up for the smaller sample sizes. At least for the things I am interested in. But for internet discussions I should have used the autism cluster instead.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
mikestew 2y ago
Programmers are much more likely than the general population to have hyper-mobility Boy, that one comes with a whole lot of [citation needed].
- solumunus 2y ago
  I strongly doubt. Why would this be the case?
  - Jtsummers 2y ago
    Do you mean why would it be the case that a strong claim needs citation? Because it's a strong claim with no evidence (they provided some in another comment, sample size of 5...). If you mean the claim itself, the person you responded to did not make it.
    - cjbgkagh 2y ago
      The sample is biased and intentionally so, the prior probabilities are pulled from general population statistics. Consider the likelihood of an event that should only occur 1/10K times happening 5 times in a row due to random chance, it is incredibly small.
- volkl48 2y ago
  Not really an expert in the topic, and so I can't comment much on the mechanisms why, but AFAIK there's a decent body of evidence that hypermobility is significantly more common in the ADHD + Autism populations than the general public....and I don't think there's much debate that those populations are more likely to be programmers than the general public. Haven't reviewed in depth, but here's an example to support that claim that looks reasonably credible from a quick review - for some types of hypermobility at least, 5x more likely for Adult ADHD, we're not necessarily talking some kind of small/statistical noise level difference: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34560594/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34560594/
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
OJFord 2y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypermobility_(joints) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypermobility_(joints) I think everyone doubting, saying counter-intuitive etc. is making a spot interpretation of what the term means ('very active sporty person' or something).
- NotSammyHagar 2y ago
  just say double jointed - I had to look it up too.

dtdynasty 2y ago

> Programmers are much more likely than the general population to have hyper-mobility. This does not seem intuitive to me. Why would this be the case?

cjbgkagh 2y ago
I noticed it in general observationally and later found a generic explanation for it. I used to do behavioral analytics and noticed that programmers tend to have a distinct clustering of behaviors. I’m pretty sure it’s the TNXB gene, it’s been overlooked because it’s traditionally hard to sequence but modern sequencing 30x or long reads can find SNPs here. A colleague who has the same rare set of behaviors and interest as me and is also hyper-mobile had found that he has a TNXB SNP combination that should by random chance only occur in 1/10K people, I subsequently did a DNA test and found that I too had the same SNPs. I have since collected more samples from friends and colleagues who are world class in their fields and so far 5 of 5 have had the same TNXB SNPs. It also appears that in reality this combination is much more common than random chance due to sexual selection which should underscore how behaviorally impactful it is. Hyper mobility is considered a spectrum and a theory that I’m yet to prove is that the spectrum is almost entirely down to the number and type of TNXB SNPs. And it appears that people on this spectrum are more likely to be programmers. Consider the over representation of transgenderism in programming. That same over representation exists in hyper-mobility and I would suggest this is due to a common cause.
- lupire 2y ago
  These conditions (hypermobilty, transgenderism, programming) are all part of the autism cluster.
  - seanw444 2y ago
    Programmers might be one of the most autistic cliques I've seen, so this checks out. That's both a good and bad thing.
  - cjbgkagh 2y ago
    That is true, I tend to use transgenderism instead of autism because the data is cleaner and that more than makes up for the smaller sample sizes. At least for the things I am interested in. But for internet discussions I should have used the autism cluster instead.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

mikestew 2y ago

Programmers are much more likely than the general population to have hyper-mobility Boy, that one comes with a whole lot of [citation needed].

solumunus 2y ago
I strongly doubt. Why would this be the case?
- Jtsummers 2y ago
  Do you mean why would it be the case that a strong claim needs citation? Because it's a strong claim with no evidence (they provided some in another comment, sample size of 5...). If you mean the claim itself, the person you responded to did not make it.
  - cjbgkagh 2y ago
    The sample is biased and intentionally so, the prior probabilities are pulled from general population statistics. Consider the likelihood of an event that should only occur 1/10K times happening 5 times in a row due to random chance, it is incredibly small.
volkl48 2y ago
Not really an expert in the topic, and so I can't comment much on the mechanisms why, but AFAIK there's a decent body of evidence that hypermobility is significantly more common in the ADHD + Autism populations than the general public....and I don't think there's much debate that those populations are more likely to be programmers than the general public. Haven't reviewed in depth, but here's an example to support that claim that looks reasonably credible from a quick review - for some types of hypermobility at least, 5x more likely for Adult ADHD, we're not necessarily talking some kind of small/statistical noise level difference: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34560594/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34560594/
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

OJFord 2y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypermobility_(joints) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypermobility_(joints) I think everyone doubting, saying counter-intuitive etc. is making a spot interpretation of what the term means ('very active sporty person' or something).

NotSammyHagar 2y ago
just say double jointed - I had to look it up too.