Ironmistress  says:
3 weeks ago

Only four of them are women. Of 41 female Nobel laureates, it makes "only" 10%, and of all Jewish Nobel laureates, 4/129 makes only 3%. Two of the women have earned the litterature Nobel, and none in the "hard" sciences. Since Asperger's is very much a male phenomenon, it suggests a great prevalence of Asperger amongst Nobel laureates.

Ironmistress  says:
2 weeks ago

There is also another notable issue. Almost all the prizes have come on hard sciences - chemistry, physics, economy, medicine, which require analytical touch; literature prizes are rarer, and many of peace prizes relate to Palestine issue.

There is also another nation which is grossly over-represented amongst the Nobels, and it is the Swedes. A nation of 8 million natives has gained 30 Nobels (one by a Swedish Finn). But of the 30 Swedish nobels, 7 of them are in literature - implying a very eloquent and culturized nation. Related to population (14 M Jews, 8 M Swedes), it is almost double to that of Jews. Swedish Nobels are 25% literature, Jewish Nobels only 7.5%

One of the symptoms of Asperger's is limited verbal skills on relation of the analytical skills. I know one engineer who is world class on her branch, but her verbal skills are barely that of a sixth-grader - she represents all the symptoms of Asperger's, including being pushy, bossy and lacking on social skills which others may interprete as rudeness. She has been never diagnosed, but I suspect her as one. I have once said "You would make a good Jew" - she is so meticulous and thorough on what she is doing, and she follows the regulations to the dash of the T. She said she is an Atheist - she didn't get the point.

Again the distinctive marks are here: few female Nobelists (the average is 10%, on Jews only 4%), and only 7.5% of them in litterature - the expectation is 20%) - a phenomenon mainly occurring on males, and limited social and verbal skills.

If Asperger's really is indeed a Jewish phenomenon, then the whole world owes them an apology - and the stereotypes become far more understandable.

Ironmistress  says:
2 weeks ago

Hmm, let's see.

1. An archetypal nerd. Immensely deep interst on a specific subject. Knows everything on it, and can keep half an hour presentation over it ex tempore. Extremely high ability of functioning on his or her special sector. Good 3D patternization skills. Good logical skills. Likes intellectual games, such as chess.

2. Meticulous concept on details. Strict rituals, regulations, routines and habits. Dislike any changes in routines.

3. Disdain on physical education, sports and outdoors life. Delayed motor development. May have an awkward walk. Handwriting is often poor.

4. Frugal with monetary issues to borderline of cheapness. Preoccupies himself for distresses not likely to happen. Good economical skills.

5. Awkward in social context. Reputation of being rude, pushy, bossy, ill-mannered or intolerant. Uncanny ability to irritate everyone around. Appear to lack any empathy.

6. Mediocre linguistic and communicational abilities. Inability to understand non-verbal communication. Poor facial memory. Unability to understand insult. A formal style of speaking.

7. Strange or odd kind of humour. Unability to understand others' jokes, and usually get the jokes last.

8. Preoccupation with health to the point of hypochondria. Extremely sensitive touch sensors. Can smell odours often do not notice.

9. Awkward on social relations with other gender. Strict preoccupation with family and relatives. Very monogamous and obsessive with the family.

10. Uneasy relation to stimulants such as tobacco or alcohol. Often abstains completely.

Those are not stereotypical traits of a Jew - those are medical symptoms of Asperger anamnesis!

When we think of the Jewish stereotype and traits and habits often connected to Jews, they now appear more and more the very symptoms of Asperger's and less and less as insults. Once we understand that these are psychophysiological traits and not signs of an a**hole, we can also relate to them with rational touch. It also explains why Jews often make excellent managers but poor leaders - and why Albert Einstein refused the post of the president of Israel.

Interestingly, many of the half-Jews of your Nobelist lists, like Niels Bohr, had one Lutheran parent - Scandinavian countries are Lutheran, and Sweden too is grossly over-represented amongst the Nobels! (Denmark is not *that* over-represented, "only" 13 Nobels for a nation of 4M). Lutheranism is often referred as "most Judaistic of all Christian denominations", and Scandinavians have a very autistic - cold, reserved, unemotional and intellectual - reputation. And Martin Luther himself was an Aspie! It would be nice to know the prevalence of Asperger's amongst the Scandinavians, Finns and Estonians.

I have sometimes referred Christianity as "Judaism Light". Perhaps Christianity would be "Judaism for Non-Aspergers" as well - or Lutheranism as "Christianity for Aspergers"?

Many of the Christian geniuses, like Leonardo da Vinci. are polymaths, while many of the Jewish geniuses, like Albert Einstein, are ultra-specialists. If a polymath is like a storm, then Asperger's is like a freak wave: it concentrates all the energy on one single crest of wave, which can be much taller than waves of the same cluster. Could it be that Asperger syndrome compresses all the intellectual potential to one single grand wave - enabling a person, who would otherwise be a very mediocre - to become a genius on his or her own branch? (Certainly there are Jewish polymaths, such as Richard Feynman, and Christian ultra-specialists, such as Werner Heisenberg, as well, though.)

If so, then Asperger's would be the best disorder to ever have. While it has its price, it has its benefits too.

Now what comes to my own pseudonyme, it is an occupational term - a steelmaking operations' engineer. Would a Jewess ever go to work in a steel mill, even if an engineer? Certainly not - but she sure might instead take the scholarly route after her studies and become a professor in metallurgy instead instead of going to industry and pursuing an industrial career.

All in all, this is an extremely interesting speculation, and would explain a lot - and perhaps put finally the end to Anti-Semitism.

gwern  says:
8 days ago

IronMistress:

> There is also another nation which is grossly over-represented amongst the Nobels, and it is the Swedes. A nation of 8 million natives has gained 30 Nobels (one by a Swedish Finn). But of the 30 Swedish nobels, 7 of them are in literature - implying a very eloquent and culturized nation.

Better explanation: the literature Nobels are the most subjective and often criticized Nobels (after the Peace prize), and literature is also the area of accomplishment that loses the most in translation. Now, the judges and nominators are all from the Swedish Academy...

shazwellyn:

It's a cute theory, but it doesn't cover the whole history and may be missing the bushes for the trees.

The Roman sources did not portray the Jews in any sort of Aspergerish way, or even as being notably intelligent or capable. (The Roman and Jewish writers of that time commend the Jews for being brave, stoic, and lawful but not the qualities you associate with them.)

And the negative stereotypes of Jews started very early on with the early Christians fulminating against them; a good example being John Chrysostom. In the 300s and 400s AD, the stereotypes were already growing despite the fact that Jews had not been pigeonholed into ghettos or traditional occupations (no usury laws yet!), and the fact that this was only 200 years or so after the Diaspora (far too little time for any Aspergers or IQ mutations to have spread among the farflung Jews). The concentration of Jews into financing or jewelry or other clerical occupations or crafts (and urban environments) would not come for a very long time yet.

So any postulated mental difference couldn't've started the whole shebang or even been important for a good fraction of the time between the Diaspora and now.

The Ashkenazi may be a different story; you've probably heard of the theory of boosted intelligence due to sexual selection pressures in the ghettos & Jewish occupations. But that's something like half a millennium after Chrysostom and the other Christian anti-Semites, though it's possible that modern Ashkenazi perpetuate the stereotype. (Personally, I haven't heard that Aspergers or related issues are more common among Jews. If anything, I had the opposite impression.)