In part of the ongoing research into geek culture (and please respond to the survey if you haven't already!), I watched some clips from "Big Bang Theory to see what the mainstream has to say about geeks. It's not flattering, I'll say that much; here's CBS's description of the show (from their website):

“Leonard and Sheldon are brilliant physicists, the kind of “beautiful minds” that understand how the universe works. But none of that genius helps them interact with people, especially women. All this begins to change when a free-spirited beauty named Penny moves in next door. Sheldon, Leonard’s roommate, is quite content spending his nights playing Klingon Boggle with their socially dysfunctional friends, fellow CalTech scientists Wolowitz and Koothrappali. However, Leonard sees in Penny a whole new universe of possibilities...including love.”

and the episode description for the first installment:

“A pair of brilliant theoretical physicists meet a woman who shows them how little they know about the real world.”

Whew. Yeah, all right. Let's take a look at this.

First of all, Penny the "free-spirited beauty" is a stereotypical ditzy blond who has no more idea of how to deal with reality than the geeks do. She's portrayed as "normal," as a foil to the geeks' lack of social skills, but is no more normal than any other sitcom stock character.

Secondly, and worse, Sheldon the Klingon Boggle aficionado displays classic elements of autistic spectrum behavior. He's overly analytical, speaks in a monotone, doesn't pick up on social cues, etc...which makes the humor based on his character in extremely poor taste, the equivalent of a comedy about a blind man who walks into walls and falls down stairs (Mr. Magoo, anyone?).

But it does raise some interesting questions. Is there really more incidence of autism and Asperger's syndrome among geeks than in the mainstream culture? If so, are autistics and Aspies drawn to geek cultures because there is more acceptance of people whose social skills fall outside the norm? Or is this just a perception based on the fact that many geeks, autistic or otherwise, display typical spectrum behavior? If the latter is true, why? Why do so many geeks show similar behavior patterns (e.g., can't decode body language or social cues) even though they are not on the spectrum?

You may be familiar with Steve Silberman's article in the December 2001 issue of Wired magazine about what he dubbed "The Geek Syndrome," wherein he presents an outwardly convincing case for the idea that geeks with autistic tendencies (or autistics with geek tendencies--he doesn't really address the chicken/egg question) are themselves increasing the incidence of autism by close inbreeding in such technological hot spots at California's Silicon Valley. I say "outwardly convincing," because it seems to be mostly speculation based on anecdotal observation--it's a Wired article, after all, not a research paper, so while it's good writing, it's slim on hard data. It’s clear from reading it that Silverman considers “geek” and “autistic” to be practically synonymous (mentioning fascination with computer games, Star Trek, and fantasy novels) but he never pauses to consider the huge majority of geeks who share these fascinations, and also have difficulty with social cues, yet are nowhere on the autistic spectrum.

I also came across this page today, which touches on my post on bullying a few weeks back. If you watch the first video, you'll see that the "normal" kid responds to the other kid's harassment by "giving as good as he got," apparently the "correct" response to the social cue—and wins the attention of an attractive girl as his reward. The autistic child misses the cue and answers the question directly and literally, sparking further invective, including accusations of perversion from the attractive girl, and eventual physical abuse. The subsequent interviews show autistic adults recounting their experiences in school, and they sound—particularly the woman and the first guy—depressingly similar to some of my own and friends’ experiences, though none of us would be considered even mildly autistic.

I am not trying to deny or make light of a real and devastating problem. I realize that the people in these interviews have far more against them than I did. Nor am I trying to defend neurotypical geeks by exclaiming, “look, we’re not all autistic!” What I’m curious about is the link between us. Because there is a link: the bullying, the lost social cues, the computer aptitude, the fantasy worlds...Where does that link come from? Why is it there?