• Replies 28 replies
  • Subscribers 89 subscribers
  • Views 3368 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
Related
Hints and tips
  • To quote someone's message, first select/highlight the relevant text, and then use the Quote button that appears
  • To "mention" someone, type @ followed by the start of the forum name, and choose from the list; that person will get a notification of being mentioned

Science fiction

Deleted User

Something I’ve been thinking about for  while but was just reminded by Pixiefox: why do so many of we autists like science fiction?

It just seems to come up again and again and, perhaps unusually, it’s not just us blokes (sci fi is usually stereotyped as a male interest).

I’ve been an avid sci fi fan almost since I could read. I started with classics like Bradbury, Asimov, Heinlein and moved on to make a pretty good stab at reading the entire sci fi section of my local library and book store, all while avidly watching Doctor Who, Star Trek and Blake’s 7.

So why do autists connect so strongly with it?

  • and fantasy too.
    i think its due to it being another world, different world, different place, different rules. not same boring earth with boring earth rules and boring earth politics and peoples that we likely want to escape from.

    its like what elder scrolls games used to try and live up to, live another life in another world.

  • It is possibly because SF is very plot driven, with interpersonal relationships playing a background role, unlike in most fiction. Ironically, my favourite SF author is Jack Vance, whose science was mostly comparative anthropology, there being very little 'hard science' in his fiction.

  • in reply to Pegg

    I never found Disney to be a special interest, BSG was very good, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century was a favourite and still is. I don’t think I ever missed an episode of Quantum Leap. 
    Just realised I’m a fossil, I meant BSG 1978 version.

  • in reply to Deleted User
    Deleted User said:
    Disney isn’t one of mine).

    No, it didn't interest me much as a child, it was more Xena Warrior Princess than Disney Princess for me. 

    I've watched a few now (5 nieces) some are ok, good even. 

    But I don't love Disney like some of our kindred seen to do. 

    I'm watching BSG atm, having finished Star Trek TOS. Slight smile

  • I love science fiction as well. For me, science fiction has been an endless source of inspiration, in my creative writing and also inspires me as a person. Like a lot of the characters in Doctor Who and what they say is so inspirational and a lot of it I live my life by.

    Like never be cruel, never be cowardly, and never ever eat pears! Sweat smile 

    I think our autistic imaginations are so strong and vivid as well that science fiction is so appealing. Also a lot of it offers a wonderful escape, like a portal that takes us to an impossibly incredible place. Like the world of Star Trek, a ship travelling across the stars...That for me is a amazing and I've always been inspired and fascinated by it.

    I think that's why I'm such a big Disney and animation fan as well. It's pure escape and my imagination can really make me feel I'm part of it.

  • Good question! Maybe it’s because we (maybe not all, but many of us) have rich imagination and we perceive world more intensely? Maybe it’s also because we find “normal” topics not interesting? I remember I worked in a bookstore. Most of my female colleagues gave me strange look when I told them I like science fiction. 

  • in reply to Pegg

    Yes, and Disney. There do seem to be some very common interests amongst us (although Disney isn’t one of mine).

  • I've never really thought about it as a male thing. Actually I'm not sure it occurred to me that it was meant to be. 

    Like Lego.