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TheTraditionalFrog
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21 Aug 2007, 11:38 pm

From having know people on the spectrum, and from having scanned this forum board, I have to ask this question...

I noticed that a good majority of AS/spectrum people seem to love or be obsessed with Sci-Fi. I am wondering why this is?

Personally, I can not stand Sci-Fi for the most part. It gives me the creeps (yes, I know it is fake)!



Chuchulainn
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21 Aug 2007, 11:47 pm

Perhaps it's the idea of living in a different world, since many of us don't particularly like this one. That's the draw of fantasy for me.

Another theory is that a lot of Aspies feel like they're a different species, living on a "wrong planet"--at least for me.



iceb
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22 Aug 2007, 12:02 am

I'll go with what Chuchulainn said!

I just always have loved both science and science fiction.


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LKL
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22 Aug 2007, 12:40 am

Good Sci-fi takes 'what is known' and extrapolates outward. It shows the possible consequences of both natural laws and newly developing technology, and gives researchers new ideas of places to look both for discovery and for technology to develop. Would we have developed cell phones a decade later if Star Trek hadn't popularized the idea of hand-held communication devices?

Bad Sci-fi is just fantasy wearing a pseudoscience mask.



SleepyDragon
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22 Aug 2007, 1:28 am

SF was, and is, a spawning ground for cutting-edge concepts and technologies. The idea of communications satellites was first conceived and written about by Arthur C. Clarke. Remotely-controlled robots to manipulate objects or perform surgery, etc., were an idea of Robert A. Heinlein's. He called them "waldoes."

More recently, the cyberpunk genre has opened up new vistas in thinking about virtual reality, and in the fusion of personal technology with human biology.



MrMacPhisto
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22 Aug 2007, 2:17 am

I watch Star Tek and Doctor Who the reason I watch them is because my Dad use to watch when I was young and from that I started watching Sci Fi I don't see any connection with me personally with Sci Fi and aspies.



dumbgenius
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22 Aug 2007, 2:20 am

I think it is because of the technical data that is included in science fiction and the amount of detail compared to other types of writing. It is also a way of learning a possible future world.



wayfarersgirl
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22 Aug 2007, 7:16 am

It's an interesting question. I guess part of it is that scifi fans are, and have been historically, very vocal about their fandom. Someone who is a die-hard scifi fan will not hesitate to share that information with you; in fact, in their very thinking and interacting, they embody the spirit of science fiction. I think the comparison of aspie scifi fans to aspie historical fiction fans, for example, is probably pretty close to aspie technical geeks to aspie history buffs. But aspies who considers themselves an avid fan of historical fiction are probably not as likely to take over the intarwebz with talk of their love, and thus we're not as likely to take note of them. I think there may be a correlation between aspie and scifi, but I don't think it's any more than the connection between tech/science and aspie. Art reflects life, etc.



Aspie_Chav
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22 Aug 2007, 7:46 am

I probably denounced science fiction along with most movies and DVDs. I am not willing to pay single dollar watch them. I will watch science fiction if it is on TV though.

I didn’t go to the star-track show in London the other day, but the geek girl in the office went.



SleepyDragon
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22 Aug 2007, 8:15 am

***



Last edited by SleepyDragon on 29 Aug 2007, 5:25 am, edited 1 time in total.

Graelwyn
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22 Aug 2007, 9:14 am

I have loved Science Fiction and Fantasy since a child. It allows me to escape, it allows me to see possibilities that I would wish to exist and I always had a fascination with any Android or Spock-like character, and these seem to turn up in the majority of mainstream Sci-Fi... look at 7 of 9, Spock, Data...Batty in Bladerunner etc etc. Of course, back then, I had no idea why these characters interested me so much but nevermind. I just always loved the escape these things offered. Doctor Who and Lost in Space were my earliest Sci-Fi interests, followed be Star Trek and Bladerunner when I was 10/11.



alphacent
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22 Aug 2007, 10:15 am

I think that I enjoy Sci-Fi for the same reason that I enjoy other cultures and ethnicities--namely, because the people in those distant cultures (or star systems) might not criticize me for my problems with conversation and naivety, as they would not notice them! I have never liked people like myself--a typical "WASP". I even dislike all of my relatives because they remind me of me and my problems! So, I seek people from other cultures and other planets!

This might seem like an odd admission, but I have actually had many experiences in my life that can only be regarded as "alien abductions (or visitations)". In one of the houses that I lived in (in Western New York) I was frequently seeing alien-like heads peeking at me from around corners, followed by a period of "missing time" or missing memory. So, maybe the short, grey aliens are interested in visiting us Aspies because they know that we are logical and fair--that we will not attack them. Or, we might just be their most recent creation, as some people think! The idea of "Homo Aspergius" that I see posted occasionally might not be so far-fetched!



LKL
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22 Aug 2007, 1:54 pm

Star Trek is interesting sci-fi wise in that it pushes the boundaries of social constructs, rather than the boundaries of technology or biology. A lot of the technical science on Star Trek isn't so good, but it was (iirc) the first show to have a white man kissing a black woman, and has addressed totalitarian rules, gods, sexism, racism, homophobia, etc. It gets away with challenges to the status quo that mainstream shows would not, because the people involved are 'alien' and therfore non-threatening.



Bart21
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22 Aug 2007, 2:16 pm

I can't stand anything fiction myself.
If there is a movie with something in it that doesn't excist or hasn't excisted i can't stand there.
The only exception i have made was LOTR because it was just so dam good.
Anything fake simply doesn't interest me.



serenity
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22 Aug 2007, 2:31 pm

Bart21 wrote:
I can't stand anything fiction myself.
If there is a movie with something in it that doesn't excist or hasn't excisted i can't stand there.
The only exception i have made was LOTR because it was just so dam good.
Anything fake simply doesn't interest me.

Same here. No one likes watching movies with me, because I rant on and on about how this or that cannot happen, that's its physically impossible, ect...



WildMan
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22 Aug 2007, 4:44 pm

I prefer "heroic fantasy" (you know, elves, dwarves, orcs, big swords, etc.) over "sci-fi", but I have a sci-fi geek's 'anality' about it and will scrutinize it to death.

Case-in-point:

http://www.sfwa.org/writing/thud.htm