A wife asks her husband, a software engineer…
"Could you please go shopping for me and buy one carton of milk, and if they have eggs, get 6!" A short time later the husband comes back with 6 cartons of milk. The wife asks him, "Why the hell did you buy 6 cartons of milk?" He replied, "They had eggs."
A wife asks her husband, a software engineer, “Could you please go shopping for me and buy one carton of milk, and if they have eggs, get 6!” A short time later the husband comes back with 6 cartons of milk. The wife asks him, “Why the hell did you buy 6 cartons of milk?” He replied, “They had eggs.”
Seems reasonable to me.
My autistic students would have done the same thing as the engineer, interpreting the wife’s request in the most literal and logical manner. Not surprising how many of them gravitate toward that career track.
Little wonder a lot of them are libertarians…
It isn’t necessarily libertarianism that can be idealogically attractive to autistics. Reasoning from broad principles rather than empiricism creates the illusion of simplicity. That is what appeals to them.
But I will agree that yes, autistic individuals (in my experience) have some moderate tendency to gravitate toward libertarianism or conservatism for that very reason. Liberalism is a lot more “messy”.
Uh, the ‘them’ referred to software engineers…
Since when would a software engineer or other IT nerd have a wife? Okay, maybe a mail order bride from Thailand.
That was a very funny yoke.
*snort*
As a software engineer, I approve of this joke.
Ben, it’s probably not so much the ‘messy’ aspect of liberalism that autistics find unattractive, but rather the emotional appeals and empathy that justify many liberal ideals aren’t something they experience.
I think autistics would be equally put off by the moral appeals and tradition that is used to justify so many social conservative ideals for the same reason. That pretty much only leaves the libertarian approach.
Let’s just hope that wife isn’t in charge of anything important. Her order was the epitome of vague and confusing. When giving an order, precision is the key to achieving your goal. She could have ended up with a half pint of milk up to a half gallon. The order precludes gallons since they are almost never in cartons. And anywhere from no eggs to 6 dozen. Yes, she definitely shouldn’t be in charge of anything more complex than a software engineer.
And if you watched Jeopardy, Watson answered “Toronto.”
http://asmarterplanet.com/blog/2011/02/watson-on-jeopardy-day-two-the-confusion-over-an-airport-clue.html
Funny about this autism stuff. I had a libertarian friend who was a software engineer and a big objectivist. He kept getting diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, which was funny because he wasn’t autistic at all.
Just really really devoted to libertarian philosophy.
Perfectly understandable. There are 10 kinds of people, those that understand binary and those that don’t