Dissecting the Apple M1 GPU, the end

I am nowhere near an expert or even a particularly well-informed person here, but my idle speculation is that online technical spaces are a place where you can have much more freedom in comfortably choosing the outward persona you wish to present. In meatspace, if your physical appearances and your chosen persona don't match up in ways that some people find disagreeable, many people will go out of their way to let you know it.

Edit: I'm proposing a selection effect here, where people with these challenges gravitate towards spaces and communities where they don't feel confronted by them as often.

But by this logic roughly half of the population is trans, but the vast majority are afraid to present as such. The actual number of trans people is surely impossible to know due to these societal pressures but I find it hard to believe that almost half of the population is trans. I suspect there are other factors.

My read is that post is not arguing what you think (that it's caused by freedom to present how they feel and that it's a representative population) but instead that it's caused by a selection effect. But this argument is implied so I see why you mistook it.

That's correct. I suspect there's a selection effect where people who struggle with these challenges in their lives find comfort in a space where they can present as the person they want to be without constantly being questioned, attacked, or otherwise made uncomfortable. And that's not because this industry is more enlightened, but because it's much easier to contribute and participate only with an online persona that can be divorced from your physical characteristics.

I hope it's clear that I am not trying to speak authoritatively and that this is more or less a total guess on my part based on some pretty superficial analysis.

Post hoc ergo propter hoc. I think your logic is backwards. Parent isn't saying the freedom of online technical spaces turns people trans, but that trans people in those spaces are more likely to make themselves obvious because of the freedoms.

There's also high overlaps between trans and non-neurotypical types. I'd suggest there's the same crossover between non-neurotypical and tech circles so makes sense there's a higher instance of trans in tech.

I'd also suggest that on some level coming out as trans is basically hacker mentality. "This hardware/wetware doesn't look/perform correctly. Let me get a soldering iron/rewrite some code/clothing/hormones/surgery and change that."