Flip the coin, man. In a world where everyone is tracked, there wouldn't be much room for murders and rapists. It would be absolutely trivial to tell who were with the victim when the crime happened and as such next-to-no crime would go unpunished. (Assuming a non-corrupt government and a decent law enforcement agency that got the resources they need)

Well.. yes. Not for a 2 month drive-across-the-continent-type vacation, but believe it or not we don't drive around in cars like the one Mr. Bean uses. Besides, as I posted elsewhere on this article, fuel costs roughly €1,5 here in Norway (despite the fact that we are a major producer of oil products). Even so, the fact that you get your fuel almost for free (in comparison) doesn't in any way justify driving a huge monstrosity of an SUV/pickup-truck/whatever just because you might go to Disneyland or you might have to move some heavy shit.

I can't be arsed to do the math right now, but I'd bet that having a sensible car (that accelerates no worse, and probably drives and handles better than a huge SUV or something) offsets the cost of leasing something more roomy that one time per decade you actually go road tripping with your family of five.

According to Wikipedia, Diesel has the highest energy density of all the more popular fuels and as anyone who has ever driven a new diesel will know, torque, noise, etc. are non-issues.

Would we even be having this silly discussion if not for those blasted average Americans? =P

Really? Here in Norway, where a significant part of the worlds oil products are produced, fuel costs roughly €1.53862 per liter.

What on earth are you talking about? You can't just make retarded, unsupported statements like that! We Europeans are quite fond of our cars, and have no problem packing a family of four into a typical European/Asian family car for vacation. if you think you need to drive a Hummer or a 2-ton pickup truck to get where you're going, then perhaps you should learn to pack your stuff with some common sense (and perhaps put your all-American family on a diet).

Yes, that diet comment assumed a very clique image of Americans. I allowed myself this small freedom, as you seem to have no problem making stupid statements and assumptions about us.

Thanks for the reply! I hope you don't mind my digging a bit more!

This inability to filter out information.. is this the same thing that lets some ("idiot") savants fly over a large city once, then draw the city in perfect detail? Or people like Beethoven who could hear an entire symphony and recall it all in detail?

I've often found myself wishing I could turn adjust my "filters" a bit at will, because it feels like a lot of info simply never reaches the "me" part of my brain. Of course, sensory overload doesn't sound like much fun either.

So.. what's the conclusion? We are somewhere in between "normal" and "rain man"? We have root access to the tools (like empathy) that normal people take for granted and autistic people lack? ^^

Woah.. WOAH! Thanks for that info. I know people who consider themselves "above average" in the intelligence department but who are, per this definition, actually mentally retarded. I've suspected as much for a long time, but to see that they actually meet at least 3 of the points (and to some degree the first point).. aah, did someone say narcissism? ^^

So.. in other words, you're a man? =P On a more serious note.. when you truly focus on a single subject, are you better at it than us "normies"?

On the topic of the Cocktail Party Effect, I seem to have problems with this as well. Just like I can't type while I speak or pay attention to something unrelated being said to me, I haven't the faintest chance of paying attention to more than one conversation at once. I'm a guy with pretty loud opinions and I like a good argument though, so I normally end up immersed in a single conversation while completely ignoring the rest of the party. =P

How do you experience this? You say you can't focus on doing more than one task, does this not apply to focusing on incoming info around you? Sorry if this is rude-like, just intrigued by the chance to speak with someone who potentially experiences the world differently from myself. =)

It's not that I disagree with your post in general, but I welcome you to visit our planet to get a perspective on how things are here. The further back in time we look, the harder people had to work. My grandfather worked 12 hour days, 6 days a week chopping wood without the aid of power tools, and had to walk roughly 1-2 hour to and from work, depending on where they were working at any given time. My grandparents did the best they could, both because took pride in their work and because they had a family to provide for and working was the only option.

My father has never shied away from work either, though he has always been protected and limited to 37,5 hours a week plus overtime. Add in regulated working conditions, sick days, sick leave and knowledge that he'd still get enough to survive should he lose his job, and the picture is even clearer: compared to my grandparents, he hardly even worked.

Then, there is me. Posting on slashdot during work hours, need I say more?

I agree wholeheartedly. Tough handicap or not, I often find myself wondering what the world looks like to the stereotypical (though rare) Hollywood Rain Man. I have an IQ of about 142, and seeing certain friends of mine struggle to understand things that come completely intuitively to me, like programming a tv without a manual (or even with one!), grasping the concepts of levers and gearing things up/down, logic puzzles, etc. I wonder how a person significantly more intelligent than me views the world we live in.

It would seem I have missed out on some vital information here. What does having an old mother have to do with expected lifespan? I mean, apart from the very high chances that something goes wrong when women who could be grandmothers spawn offspring of their own..

This is quite off topic, but I'll say it just the same. I do not have autism, Asperger's, nor any other "mental disability" (man, how wrong it feels to call a slight difference in wiring a "disability"). I function well in social situations, I understand normal emotions and possess well above average (for a male) empathy which allows me to read other people's emotional states quite easily and accurately.

Driven by logic over emotion? Hell yes. Of course I won't kill someone because it seems logical (though that might just be because preservation of another thinking mind is very logical). Of course I need a hug from time to time. The choices I make and the way I live my life is based, as much as I can, on logic and cold reason. Perhaps as a side-effect of this, as well as other engraving factors in my childhood and teens, I rarely feel much. No waves of joy, bursts of anger, overwhelming sadness, hopeless crushes or crushing jealousy. Logically, I see no reason to let emotion get in the way of having a civil argument. I see no reason why I should let an entire day go sour do the detriment of myself and those around me because I "feel like I'm having a shitty day", when those thoughts and feelings can be overridden by reason. I'm no monster though, so although I don't feel much I don't do things to others that I know will hurt them, and I like making those I care about happy. What logical reason would I have to do something to another person that I wouldn't like if they did to me?

Yeah, completely anecdotal and useless, but here's at least one person who could easily pass as either stone-cold sociopath or socially active, outgoing, compassionate and caring should the need arise. Generally I like the compassionate, caring and social me though, so when around people, that is the "software profile" I use. =P

So you're saying your employer views you exactly the same as every other IT guy out there is viewed by their employer..? =P

On a site such as /. where it is assumed that the level of intelligent discussion is higher than the rest of the 'net, it's frustrating to see people believing they have countered an argument or disproven a rule because they point out and exception. Yes, I am generalizing. Yes, I am talking about westerners.

Sure, you will find the situation is different in other parts of the world. Yeah, I might find some woman with enough money to support me who'd rather I take care of house and kids than waste my time making (comparatively) very little money. I might become some older, unfathomably rich woman's boy-toy. The first fact is irrelevant to my statements, and both the latter possibilities would make people frown and question my manhood, and neither are very likely to happen.

On the other hand, we see women living off their man's income as nothing out of the ordinary. It's just a choice she made, plain and simple. Chances are though, that even in that situation the man is in no way guaranteed to come home to dinner and a clean house, because that would be horrible, horrible male chauvinism!

Oh, and off topic: I don't think Pablo Picasso ever had the privilege of working with computers. I do, and computers (at least when coupled with average users) tend to give me far more problems and hard questions than they do answers. =P