What's so good about people who are "normal?"
I'm a software guy. As in hard-core programming for decades. Many of the great programmers I've known aren’t "normal," Managers usually don’t like them. They don’t “fit in.” They’re not “team players.” And so forth. Society puts labels on such people, and thinks they need “treatment” to “fix” them. Would such programmers have been "better adjusted" had they been diagnosed early in life and given all sorts of therapy?
https://blackliszt.com/2012/03/nerds-autism-deficiency-advantage.html
Great programmers aren’t perfect, of course. But then who is? If you want great software, you should want great programmers. You should also want software development methods that fit their preferred way of working, instead of the usual MBA-style project management that is dictated, resulting in the near-universal disaster of software development.
The way things work, all the criticism flows from the world of the “normal” to the small group of outstanding programmers. It’s long overdue to turn the tables. As a start on that project, here are some of the highlights of how many "normal" people act:
Loads of "Normal" people:
lie a great deal.
rarely say what they really think;
sow misinformation and confusion constantly;
can't remember much or focus on anything for long;
are hopelessly vague and consumed with generalities;
are incapable of paying attention to details, or remembering them;
constantly try to trick others into doing things they wouldn't otherwise do, or thinking things they wouldn't normally think;
are emotionally cruel and bullying;
form cliques and feel superior, while trying their best to make others feel inferior;
become masters of incredibly complex, ever-changing games involving interpersonal relationships;
use their ability to manipulate others to advance themselves;
associate success at this game with personal superiority;
pride themselves at shaping their opinions and behaviors to the situation, thinking of this as being adaptable and flexible, instead of untrustworthy and without moral fiber.
This list might strike some people as being a description of people who are psychopaths or sociopaths. I wouldn't disagree. The elites of academia, business and society are heavily populated by the highest-performing “normal” people in terms of the list above.
Isn’t “normal” wonderful? Normal people run the world. Do you think it’s possible that many of the things that are screwed up about the world have something to do with the domination of “normalcy?”
Hey, "normal" people — if you actually want what you say you want, which is software that works and does what it's supposed to do, produced quickly, then maybe you should think about getting software people who are good at producing that and let them have at it in the way they think best.