The test doesn't follow the correct procedures for diagnosing autism and after a thorough reading of the DSM-5-TR I could find no mention of German a mental illness being and I challenge anyone to me wrong prove.
Question 9 imho is the most German one ("When someone says 'we should get coffee sometime,' you understand this to mean:").
It depends on context a bit obviously, but most Germans are sincere about it. You either propose coffee or you don't.
However, there's a subset of Germans who seem to propose coffee and then don't follow up themselves, but it's not just a phrase. If you are the one to follow up, they'd join you. Which, to say the least, is annoying, too.
From my German perspective, asking someone for grabbing coffee sometime and not meaning it is a completely stupid thing to say. Why would you suggest it? Why should the other person have to decode this as a "nice thing to say but not meant literally" if you could say a hundred other things that could be meant literally and are still nice, like "see you around" or something like that?
I lived in Germany for 10+ years, so unsurprisingly got Both (40/62) as result, although it was slightly frustrating sometimes to pick between answers where none really fit precisely (which in itself is probably a sign too, lol)
56/31. I'm really unsatisfied with the choices for Question 15, "The real problem with the world is...". None of them seem to capture "not everyone is playing by the same rules"
Posting my result here in case you want to see the different results without redoing the test:
German 47% - Autistic 47%
Wittgenstein was Austrian, which is close enough. He was also, by most accounts, someone whose relationship to social convention was at best functional and at worst a source of significant suffering to himself and everyone around him.
He rewrote philosophy twice. The first time by establishing what could be said with precision. The second time by dismantling the assumption that precision was the right goal in the first place. Both versions emerged from the same source: an absolute refusal to accept confusion as a resting state.
You have, apparently, both the cultural formation that produces systematic people and the neurological substrate that makes systematic thinking feel like breathing. This is either a significant advantage or an explanation for certain recurring difficulties in your life. Probably both.
Schopenhauer also fits here. So does Ramanujan, though he wasn't German. The category isn't German or autistic — it's people for whom the gap between how things are and how they ought to be is not an abstraction but a constant, low-grade irritation.
Share blurb:
I took the German or Autistic diagnostic. Result: Both. The Wittgenstein Result. I don't know whether to be proud or concerned. https://german.millermanschool.com/
I think the archetype does not work well. For instance, people in Bavaria are very different to people in the northern areas of Germany. This includes the language too. The first question was about punctuality; I don't think all germans are always on time, it totally depends on many factors, including age. Perhaps decades ago this was accurate, but nowadays it feels to me as if people living in larger cities, are often much more alike to one another. And I think this trend will continue.
Back in the 1990s I was in Hong Kong. The city was epic, cool and alien. Today I feel I could live there even without speaking cantonese (I understand the top-down control via Beijing being a huge problem; I refer to what a city may look like in 2026 and beyond though from a theoretical point of view. Naturally knowing the language helps insanely, but english works as a substitute in many modern areas, even in non-english speaking countries).
Having lived in Germany, the strongest cultural conflict I felt was inflexibility of plans.
The German way is to plan something very meticulously and the to follow through with the plan no matter what.
I am however of the persuasion of not planning too much beforehand especially when the input is lacking. But also to be flexible and reactive during execution.
Idk: Assuming you're just partially knowledgeable about psychology and the nature of human interaction (and don't consider yourself infallible) - How can you approach these kinds of questions even remotely genuine?
To express it conversely: Unless you're totally oblivious wrt social interaction some of these answers seem rather stupid.
So: This does not really test anything but knowledge.
I'm neither apparently, which I guess is a relief? Some of the questions I felt didn't have an answer I would select, like the inner monologue one. I generally don't have an inner monologue as I understand it described by people who do. Also, there's way more wrong with the world than those four answers.
You are, as far as this diagnostic can establish, neither specifically German in your cognitive habits nor particularly autistic in your neurological profile. You are something rarer in the context of people who take quizzes like this: apparently normal about it.
“The category isn't German or autistic — it's people for whom the gap between how things are and how they ought to be is not an abstraction but a constant, low-grade irritation.”
As a member of the German diaspora (who has faced the autistic allegations his whole life) who grew up with, and was heavily influenced by, his Oma, this is immensely reassuring.
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> German a mental illness
beingIf your comment is an attempt to run the game directly in the HN comments, I'm going to guess "German" by the placement of your verb here. :)
It depends on context a bit obviously, but most Germans are sincere about it. You either propose coffee or you don't.
However, there's a subset of Germans who seem to propose coffee and then don't follow up themselves, but it's not just a phrase. If you are the one to follow up, they'd join you. Which, to say the least, is annoying, too.
From my German perspective, asking someone for grabbing coffee sometime and not meaning it is a completely stupid thing to say. Why would you suggest it? Why should the other person have to decode this as a "nice thing to say but not meant literally" if you could say a hundred other things that could be meant literally and are still nice, like "see you around" or something like that?
This confuses me as I have never been to Germany and do not speak German.
But rules are rules.
„ Your patterns are cultural, not neurological.” - that’s for sure. My neurological ones were so terrible I had to resort outer sources.
Back in the 1990s I was in Hong Kong. The city was epic, cool and alien. Today I feel I could live there even without speaking cantonese (I understand the top-down control via Beijing being a huge problem; I refer to what a city may look like in 2026 and beyond though from a theoretical point of view. Naturally knowing the language helps insanely, but english works as a substitute in many modern areas, even in non-english speaking countries).
The German way is to plan something very meticulously and the to follow through with the plan no matter what.
I am however of the persuasion of not planning too much beforehand especially when the input is lacking. But also to be flexible and reactive during execution.
> I took the German or Autistic diagnostic. Result: Both. The Wittgenstein Result. I don't know whether to be proud or concerned.
It was 47% 47%. AMA!! I've got stories man, just give me a specific prompt. I can also tell stories about my PhD advisor (100% german, 70% autistic).
The test is broken, if you ask me.
To express it conversely: Unless you're totally oblivious wrt social interaction some of these answers seem rather stupid.
So: This does not really test anything but knowledge.
I chuckled twice, though.
You are, as far as this diagnostic can establish, neither specifically German in your cognitive habits nor particularly autistic in your neurological profile. You are something rarer in the context of people who take quizzes like this: apparently normal about it.
“The category isn't German or autistic — it's people for whom the gap between how things are and how they ought to be is not an abstraction but a constant, low-grade irritation.”
> You are difficult to work with in the ways all serious people are difficult to work with. This is not a diagnosis. It is a compliment.
I am convinced that the majority of Germans are on the spectrum. What other country builds viewing platforms for construction sites?
I somehow got a perfect 40%/40% balance, don't know if that's the most rare or the most common
Update: I scrolled down. Your share button is pretty good!
Both
The Wittgenstein Result
GERMAN 49%
AUTISTIC 40%
Been once to Germany, maybe twice. Can't vouch the other.
Completely wrong! I am neither German nor Autistic!
As a German the first part I can follow. Autistic was a bit of a surprise.
I didn't think I was that normal, but here we are.