[dlwj]

I don't really agree on the hard-wiring. I do think programming is more of a mind based pursuit rather than a socially based pursuit though. "Autistic" tendencies are for the most part due to lack of experience or disinterest in social aspects rather than from actual neurological hardwiring preventing you from picking up and acting on social cues.

Other pursuits that are so interesting that the social factor isn't required include physics, mathematics, etc... These people aren't necessarily programmers.

[bad_user]

Given that autism is a mental condition characterized by difficulty in communicating and forming relationships with others, involving an atypical brain development for some reason or another, I believe that this is evidence enough that social skills or lack thereof are influenced very much by the brain. We really shouldn't place so much faith in free will :-)

On mathematics and physics - if you'll notice, they share common traits that go beyond the lack of social interaction. Creativity is also required (well, not if you think about math or physics as learned in school), focus and juggling with abstractions as well. In fact mathematics is even more extreme, because with software development one usually gets much faster feedback from normal people. And it's not like you see mathematicians and physicists everywhere.