I've read suggestions that polygraphs probably give more false positives than true positives. I think that was in Innumeracy, and assuming about 5% of the subjects were actually lying.
There's no consensus on whether autism is actually increasing. I do think it's hard to deny that people with Aspergers have been much more likely to have the opportunity to reproduce for the last 15-20 years than before that. 150 years ago, someone with Aspergers would have been that weird guy who sweeps the stables and barely talks; today he's just as likely to be a successful programmer or engineer. But no one really knows whether Aspergers parents are more likely to have fully autistic kids.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-05-17 07:26 pm (UTC)There's no consensus on whether autism is actually increasing. I do think it's hard to deny that people with Aspergers have been much more likely to have the opportunity to reproduce for the last 15-20 years than before that. 150 years ago, someone with Aspergers would have been that weird guy who sweeps the stables and barely talks; today he's just as likely to be a successful programmer or engineer. But no one really knows whether Aspergers parents are more likely to have fully autistic kids.