I think the most glaring atypical-for-people-with-Asperger’s trait among the Less Wrong and especially SIAI community is the lack of an “all-absorbing narrow interest”; I and many others had such traits as children, but these days a lot of what I see among SIAI Visiting Fellows and my vague impression of folks here on Less Wrong are academic generalists, or even true renaissance man generalists.
I read a pertinent comment on that criteria, probably by Attwood. He noted that sometimes the ‘all absorbing narrow interest’ can be ‘the universe’ or ‘life’. For the purposes of identifying the type of personality in question the absolute scope is not the deciding factor. It is whether the interests happen to be approximately optimising social status in the local environment, being fully engaged in the social reality. Practically speaking ‘knowing everything’ is a narrow interest.
I read a pertinent comment on that criteria, probably by Attwood. He noted that sometimes the ‘all absorbing narrow interest’ can be ‘the universe’ or ‘life’. For the purposes of identifying the type of personality in question the absolute scope is not the deciding factor. It is whether the interests happen to be approximately optimising social status in the local environment, being fully engaged in the social reality. Practically speaking ‘knowing everything’ is a narrow interest.