[liberationtech] Tragic News: Aaron Swartz commits suicide

[Peter Gutmann]

Eugen Leitl <eugen at leitl.org> quotes:

>Why Young Hackers Are Killing Themselves

There's a far more likely cause: Security geeks/hackers tend to be INTP/INTJ
MBTI personality types.  This personality type is far more susceptible to
depression than other types (see e.g. "Myers Briggs Type Indicator personality
profiles in unipolar depressed patients", David Janowsky, Elliot Hong, Shirley
Morter and Laura Howe, World Journal of Biological Psychiatry, Vol.3, No.4
(October 2002), p.207), as is the related Aspergers type (see e.g.
"Psychological Disorder in Adolescents and Adults with Asperger Syndrome",
Digby Tantam, Autism, Vol.4, No.1 (March 2000), p.47).  So it's not so much
the environment (any number of non-hacker environments are also not exactly
warm fuzzies and hugs), it's a straightforward mental health issue.

Peter.