Bloggingheads.tv - The Economy of Attention

In this episode, Will Wilkinson and Tyler Cowen talk about a lot of things, but in particular, they raise the question of whether certain “disabilities” like Autism or AD(H)D might in fact be useful manifestations of “neurological diversity.” The idea is interesting, and it coincides well with other propositions (including Sotomayor’s famous “wise Latina” remark) to the effect that being marginalized allows for (without guaranteeing or even making especially likely) the possibility of greater insight through the overcoming and utilization of one’s handicaps. The idea that strength comes from weakness has a good pedigree, being as how it is mentioned in both the New Testament and the Daodejing. One thinks also of young Teddy Roosevelt, determined as he was to overcome his weakliness through a strict regimen of physical training. Malcom Gladwell claims that in the Horatio Alger-era, non-old money’d employees and managers were preferred by fancy corporations which

stressed the value of compensating for disadvantage. If you wanted to end up on top, the thinking went, it was better to start at the bottom, because it was there that you learned the discipline and motivation essential for success. “New York merchants preferred to hire country boys, on the theory that they worked harder, and were more resolute, obedient, and cheerful than native New Yorkers,” Irvin G. Wyllie wrote in his 1954 study “The Self-Made Man in America.”

On the topic of neurological diversity, Gladwell points out that, “When the business-school professor Julie Logan surveyed a group of American small-business owners recently, she found that thirty-five per cent of them self-identified as dyslexic,” and he suggests that “Because of their difficulties with reading and writing, they were forced to develop superior oral-communication and problem-solving skills. Because they had to rely on others to help them navigate the written word, they became adept at delegating authority.”

Still, one wants to say that there’s a reason that “handicapping,” “disabling,” and “marginalizing” are called “handicapping,” “disabling,” and “marginalizing.” Very few would choose to be born poor or a minority or with a “neurologically diverse” brain condition, since, on average, these things do tend to hold one back rather than giving one the edge. Still, as hippie-dippie as it sounds, there is much to recommend in a truly diverse society, in which different kinds of people are able to bring their unique strengths to the service of all.