Autistic Mental Schema and the Graphical User Interface circa 1968

Abstract

Evelyn Fox Keller calls the form of organisms a “devious” problem. How and why do such forms arise? Models, Keller argues, are necessary inroads to these questions. The speculative-propositional mode of computational and mathematical models permits scientists to question the physical and mental processes that shape matter into elegant form despite the “void” of certainty opened by the complexity of vitality. This article documents the use of the LOGO programming language in model-mind making as well as in experimental coding pedagogies for special needs students circa 1968. It provides a historical and philosophical background for interpreting clinical observations of two young autistic students, David and Joey. The article demonstrates that the designers of LOGO understood their design choices in terms of philosophical debates about the nature of purposive orientations in organisms. The author argues that cautious engagement with those debates—guided by Keller’s philosophy of models and Catherine Malabou’s understanding of Immanuel Kant’s concept of schema—can open for humanists an interpretive project aimed at elucidating the historical meaning of the graphical user interface. Insights into the aesthetics of resistance from autistic rhetorician Remi Yergeau and philosopher-poet Fred Moten allow neuroqueer ephemera, lingering in the archives of LOGO, to illuminate a politicization of mental variety nascent in digital screens.