I hope he gets the help and relief he needs. In someways a brain with a penchant for software causes more trouble during mental health crises than one who doesn’t. Especially if they’re into crypto.
Software people are just different from the normal person. Way different. I couldn't put my two friend groups together.
Are they "special?" Maybe, maybe not.
In my observations, the average software engineer is more likely to be persnickety, caught up in small details, and obsessive than the average person. We're more likely to split hairs than most people would care to, and proper labeling and categorization is much more important to us than average person.
It's not that software engineers are somehow magical or special, it's that there is a selection bias to become a software engineer. It's extra not special, because the same thing happens for virtually any specialized field. There are famous stereotypes about the personalities of psychologists, for instance.
It sounds like a fancy way of saying that people on the spectrum are more likely to become software engineers than some other arbitrary person.