I hope he doesn’t know anything about genetics, and what his parents would need to have for him to get “100%” Neanderthal DNA. 50 each would be generous (then he’d be ~75%.) Chances are, his parents would have to ALSO be 100% Neanderthal (or close to it) for him not to get any human segments during recombination.
I share a lab with people sequencing Neanderthals. They’d very much like to get their hands on a little Cleve…
I wouldn’t be surprised if he considers actual genetics to be complete quackery.
I remember him writing that Asperger Syndrome is actually Neanderthal gene expression, and thus him being a Neanderthal is evident because he suffers from severe Asperger’s.
Well no wonder he has a secret bunker in the desert. You’re not paranoid if they’re really out to get you.
There’s some study that indicates this. I remember reading about it. It’s pretty flimsy, but the idea is that people with more Neanderthal genes may be more inclined to have Asperger’s.
How does one work 20 plus years on a game that badly needs a manual… without one? Even if he has to toss out a rudimentary text file with keyboard shortcuts and a guide to starting out…
Developers typically hate documenting their work. That’s very common.
I think you answered your own question :)
I did a 23 and Me DNA test and discovered I have more Neanderthal genes than ~90% of the population. As such, I would like to apologize for Cleve on behalf of my people. Don’t judge us Neanderthals based on him!
Prehistory already judged you.
Crossposted into the science is cool thread, in honor of Cleve. We share our lab space with the speaker (David Reich), and he’s both a great statistical thinker, as well as very interesting guy. I mentioned him tangentially upthread.
Is this true?
Self-diagnosed, I think.
To be clear, he’s stated he was diagnosed as a “savant.” This syndrome is a commonly comorbid with Autism. People think of Rain Man most frequently when these terms are used together, but that’s a more dramatic case than typical. Asperger’s is actually in the Autism spectrum, although it’s by definition not severe within that range. Someone on the severe side of the Autism scale wouldn’t be able to interact like Cleve does.
I’ve never met Cleve and therefore cannot speak to his state of mind let alone diagnose him. However, it’s important to know that having Asperger’s is sometimes challenging but doesn’t prohibit one from having a constructive life, loving relationships, and an understanding of modern society and genetics.
My expertise is allowing me to diagnose a case of itsnotmyfaultism, where a jerk is blaming his behavior on science, the weather, fatality, or the crash of vanilla icecream prices on the all-new Arstotzkan stockmarket.
A very real and common condition.
I found the quote:
A better person, more social and affable, could have likely come away from E3 with a pocket full of business cards and job offers. I’m not that guy, unfortunately. I am like a guy standing on one side of a chasm that can only be bridged with social skills I just don’t seem to possess. People with a microscopic percentage of my ability as a programmer do far, far better on much, much less because of their willingness to open up and talk with the humans. If you are unwilling to talk you are not going to be successful with women, with a career or with much of anything in life no matter how much talent you have. It’s depressing (!) but there you have it. Now you know why I am always so depressed. Crazy Catch-22, right? Only about 50 years. Guess why people with severe “Aspergers” (Neanderthal gene expression) have all killed themselves usually by the time they turn thirty? Right.
Yes indeed, and often found in small children and delusional narcissists, who frequently need excuses for why they can’t actually predict the future, or defeat hordes of Zulu warriors by flexing their thighs, or whatever.
Dan_Theman, I am aware of the autism spectrum and its variety, and I don’t look down on people with those conditions. I really doubt Cleve is on the spectrum. His claims of savant powers are the ones a 9-year-old Hulk reader would pick, rather than any that people actually have. And self-diagnosed Asperger’s has been a cliche among Internet dwellers since USENET days. But if Cleve is on the spectrum, whatever social problems that has brought him are nothing compared to the towering and absurd narcissism he has offered the world.
It was a sight to see on his blog when neo-Nazi commenters his rants about Jews and ZOG had attracted started to realize what kind of person they were actually dealing with. If paranoid Nazis start rolling their eyes at a fellow-traveler, social awkwardness isn’t his main problem.
Oh, I agree. And much of my post was meant as healthy skepticism about his claims.