Geek genes I just ran across this old piece in Wired about the prevalence of Asperger's Syndrome among the children of techies. What is Asperger's Syndrome? Basically autistic kids that aren't retarded-and often rather bright. Plenty of interesting stuff in the article-but here's the gist: Children of programmers have it a lot (at least get diagnosed), many of their parents admit to some symptoms, strong genetic factors indicate problems due to assortive mating, and so forth. A mild case of the ailment might be good for you if you are going to code 14 hours a day 7 days a week. Too much might make you totally socially incompetent. One doctor asks-what if parents keep aborting kids that have the genetic markers for Asperger's? Will there be an overall diminution of those with mild versions that might facilitate the obsessive compulsive tendencies that make good techies? Something to ponder....