flickerbulb

soho zombie, slave to the man, code monkey, lover & hater, and, one downright good looking bastard.

Oct 11, 2006

Is autism a "disorder"? Is psychopathy a "disease"?

Is autism a “disorder”? Is psychopathy a “disease”?:
I realize that these are uneasy bedfellows. Autism isn’t psychopathy. The question is, are there many “disorders” that are really “adaptations”? Homosexuality once appeared in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual as a disorder — now, it’s considered just part of the spectrum of human behavior, considered best as “a thing that a person does and is,” not “a way that a person is broken.” What else lurks in the DSM, waiting to be redefined?

i can think of one…

ADD?

Technorati Tags: , ,

Possibly Related

No Comments, Comment or Ping

Reply to “Is autism a "disorder"? Is psychopathy a "disease"?”

  • RSS i have been reading

    • DollarApp: Big Words October 29, 2011
      Those of you who follow the DF RSS feed know how the weekly sponsorship works. There’s one sponsor per week, and two posts: on Monday, an entry that appears only in the RSS feed, written by the sponsor; then on Friday, a thank-you post that appears on both the DF website and in the RSS feed, written by me. (You’re reading one of the latter now.) The rule for […]
      John Gruber
    • The Important Field October 28, 2011
      […]
      (author unknown)
    • ‘Needs More Texture’ October 26, 2011
      Neven Mrgan: Some time later, I worked on a twitter client with my pal Buzz. A friend of his who worked at Apple told us this little story. One day while riding the elevator at Infinite Loop, he found himself in the freakiest scenario any Apple employee can imagine: alone, with the elevator door opening to let Steve in. Being a well-adjusted individual, Buzz […]
      John Gruber
    • ★ The Just-Buy-Our-Devices Model October 26, 2011
      Tim Bajarin, “Why Google and Microsoft Hate Siri”: Yes, Siri is an important product for enhancing our user interface with the iPhone. But Siri is in its infancy. When it grows up, it will be the front end to all types of searches conducted on iPhones, iPads, Mac’s and even Apple TV. And, if I were Google or Microsoft, perhaps I too would be playing down the […]
      John Gruber
    • Nest — New ‘Learning Thermostat’ October 25, 2011
      Looks gorgeous and clever. Reminds me of HAL. Here’s CEO Tony Fadell — that Tony Fadell — introducing the company in a blog post: “So what are you working on lately?” a friend asks over lunch. “I started a new company. We make thermostats.” They chuckle, take a bite of their salad, “No, seriously. What are you doing?” “I’m serious. Thermostats.”  ★  […]
      John Gruber
    • P-P-P-Pah-PITTSBURGH?! October 24, 2011
      National Geographic Traveler’s latest edition features Best Trips 2012 and in addition to Peru, and Panama, and Greece, Iceland, Thailand, Dresden, Sri Lanka, Guatemala, Oman, Costa Brava, Croatia and other exotic places there sits Pittsburgh. Yes. Pittsburgh! Suck it, World. Or Peetsboirg, as my awesome Mexican in-laws pronounce it. My God, I oughta start a […]
      Virginia
    • Pre-Order ‘Steve Jobs’ From Amazon October 21, 2011
      Call me old-fashioned, but a book like this, I get in hardcover. Pre-order links for the new-fashioned: Kindle and iBooks.  ★  […]
      John Gruber
    • How to Disable Internal MacBook Display When External Display Is Attached October 20, 2011
      Mac OS X Hints: Before Lion it was possible to run an external display off a laptop and have the internal display disabled, even if you opened the lid. This can be useful for a myriad of reasons including energy saving and better Wi-Fi reception. With Lion the internal display will always turn on when the lid is opened, even if there is already an external d […]
      John Gruber
    • Spirit Merchants and The Knowledge Gap October 20, 2011
      When I’m in a Wine and Spirits store, perusing the whiskey section, more times than not I’m approached by a store clerk that really doesn’t know what they are talking about. I don’t mean that to sound ugly because most times that’s perfectly fine (I know what I want or I’m just checking things out). However a recent encounter had me thinking about a customer […]
      Jason Pyle
    • U.S. used to have awesome money October 20, 2011
      On the 1896 five dollar bill, "the entire obverse was covered with artwork representing electricity." The $2 bill offered an image representing science, with youth gracing the $1. […]
      Rob Beschizza
    • Lytro Camera October 19, 2011
      Speaking of fascinating new imaging technology, Lytro today started taking preorders for their new “light field technology” camera. The result allows you to “focus” the image after it was taken. Sounds amazing, and the examples look good. I’ll let others be the guinea pigs on this, but I’m tempted. (In another sign of the changing times, their desktop editin […]
      John Gruber
    • T-Shirts & Apparel : Stigosaurus October 19, 2011
      Some say he lived some 155 to 150 million years ago, and that he had a brain the size of a walnut. All we know is, he's not The Stig, but he is the Stig's prehistoric cousin. The oldest Stig.... in the world. $16.99 - $18.99 […]
      (author unknown)
    • An interview with David Eagleman, neuroscientist October 19, 2011
      Photo: Poptech David Eagleman is a neuroscientist and author. Avi Solomon What fascinates you about the nature of time? David Eagleman We all go through life assuming that time is an external river that flows past us. But experiments in my laboratory over the past decade have shown that this is not precisely the case. Time is an active construction of the br […]
      Avi Solomon
    • Amazing "quantum levitation" superconductivity video October 18, 2011
      Here's a magical demonstration of superconductivity from Tel-Aviv University. Of course, superconductors are key to the future vision for high-speed maglev trains. (Thanks, Ariel Waldman!) […]
      David Pescovitz
    • A Duet With Siri October 18, 2011
      “I’m OK if you’re OK.”  ★  […]
      John Gruber
    • Paula Deen's Butter-Flavored Lip Balm October 17, 2011
      Yes, this is a real product. And that really is the slogan. hollybailey.tumblr.com  /  via rachelfershleiser.com I feel a little violated. […]
      (author unknown)
    • Ball-camera that you toss in the air for a 360° panorama October 15, 2011
      Jonas Pfiel's "Throwable Panoramic Ball Camera" sports 36 cameras and contains firmware that stitches their output together to form a global panorama; you throw it into the air and at the top of its arc, it takes a snap and processes it. (Thanks, Fipi Lele!) […]
      Cory Doctorow
    • Suggest a new name for the Very Large Array October 14, 2011
      The Very Large Array is a spectacular piece of a scientific equipment with a less-than-compelling name. Located in New Mexico, you've seen this radio observatory pop up in the background of movies, album covers, and on Carl Sagan's Cosmos. This year, the Very Large Array, which has been around since the 1970s, got some much-needed electronic upgrad […]
      Maggie Koerth-Baker
    • Climbing the world's tallest tree, in California October 11, 2011
      [Video Link] The great science reporter Robert Krulwich of NPR has a beautiful story up from earlier this year about epically tall trees in the ancient forests of California. I missed this when it was first published, but it's been making the rounds again this week on Twitter. Krulwich begins by introducing us to a tree in Humboldt Redwoods State Park i […]
      Xeni Jardin
    • Steve Jobs October 6, 2011
      Steve Jobs is dead. The combination of pancreatic cancer and a liver transplant meant the odds were inevitably stacked against him. (The immunosuppressants needed to prevent organ rejection would impair his immune system's ability to respond to a recurrence of the cancer, making a relapse much more likely.) In medicine, even great wealth can't buy […]
      Charlie Stross

  • Recent Comments

Meta

Before you go