Quote:
Originally Posted by silentstriker
Gattaca was a pretty awesome society on the whole tbf. But back to Turing, i doubt that in this day and age he wouldn't be able to do mathematics - there are lots of people in many fields who have some form of autism. If you can prove theorems, people will take notice.
I mean to suggest that people with autism had it better in the 40s and 50s than they do now seems to me a bit of an outlandish statement.
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During the war it would be all hands to the pump. The drive for any sort of exceptional ability that could help the war effort would trump everything else. Even the educational system back then may have been more suited to someone with exceptional talent, instead of what we have now where everything is watered down and the morons are the priority. With less discipline he may also have been more prone to bullying. The level of evolution at that time may also have been suited to Turing's skillset.
The UK is actually pretty pathetic at taking notice of talent in regards to autists. The USA is far better. Their culture and society is better geared to making the most of a talented autist. They have their cliques - jocks, nerds, cheerleaders etc. but they're more accepted for who there are. And they realise talented people will make an absolute fortune because it's a free for all where ability gets a very high premium - there is also the pressure to work in the USA, the number of autistic people in the UK not in full time work is over 80% (off the top of my head). Also in this country the vending machine repairman will get more money than an award winning scientist.