Index
LGBTQIA+ Culture, Neurodivergence & the Technology of Human Identity
"LGBTQIA+ and neurodiversity" refers to the observed correlation between individuals identifying as part of the LGBTQIA+ community and those who are neurodivergent, meaning they have a brain that functions differently than the "typical" pattern, often including conditions like autism, ADHD, or dyslexia; research suggests that neurodivergent people are more likely to identify as LGBTQIA+ than the general population, potentially due to a shared experience of not conforming to societal norms and expectations around gender and sexuality.
From the first examples of coding and cryptography, to first human computers, and into the foundations of the information age and internet itself , folks belonging to the LGBTQIA+, neurodivergent and other historically marginalized communities have always been core contributors to the technological innovations that surround us. In this era of Big Data, when Human Identity and consciousness itself are ther raw materials fueling the global economy, a great debt is owed to those whose histories of divergent thought was more often than not, met with persecution, ostrasization, omission, abuse, theft, violence and murder.
We are at a unique, yet familiar crossroads, where we have the opportunity to repair legacies of shared trauma by honoring the salient truth that technological innovation is the shared birthright of humanity. Not only this, but at the core of the current technological transformation lies the most fundamental technology, human consciousness. By illuminating the true spectrum of human life and experience, by shirking the so-called “norm” and holding a mirror to the true reflection of the global majority, communities like these have shone a light on the boundless dimensions of identity.
Here are some notable footnotes in this shared history:
Alan Turing, one of the great pioneering minds in computing, from whom the Turing Machine owes its namesake, was persecuted and killed for being gay.
Some of the world’s first computers were Black Women in America.
Ada Lovelace was an English mathemetician and writer, often considered the world’s first computer programmer.
One of the earliest examples of industrialized computation is the weaving loom.
The brilliant physicist Albert Einstein, was also a human rights activist, did poorly in math during gradeschool and praised daydreaming. Albert Einstein used daydreaming and thought experiments to develop his theories, including special and general relativity.
Disco and House music, both predecessors to Techno, owe their existence and flourishing to Black and Brown LGBTQIA+ communities in urban America.
Ḥasan Ibn al-Haytham was a medieval mathematician, astronomer, and physicist from present-day Iraq who is often attributed with developing the first camera obscura. This pivotal innovation led to the development of the modern camera, television, and contemporary technologies like VR and computer vision.
Wendy Carlos is a trans musician and composer known for innovation in electronic music.
The logic of computation can trace it’s roots to pre-industrial Asia, South America, Africa and into the language of nature itself.
We have created a world that requires that we behave like robots, then teach robots to behave like us. In another world, we would wield the best of automation to free humans from coercive labor, enabling us the capacities to commit to collective healing, reconciliation, deep learning, and reaffirming fundamental rights for all human and non-human beings. We would transition to a world that a robot would choose to belong to, and take seriously the task of creating the means by which they could make this choice.