mharrington85 wrote:
One reason I brought up this topic was because I was trying to figure out if it's loony to want to have anything to do with anything that doesn't exist in reality, whether it's imaginary friends or made-up places (whether in books, movies, TV, video games, etc.) or coming up with alternate scenarios or just doing anything not bound to the laws of reality.
I think many humans have been known to benefit from associating with imaginary things. There are imaginary numbers that I gather have some application in the design of very real and practically-useful AC circuits. There's not much hard evidence for life after death, but I think it often makes it easier on people who are contemplating their deaths. Many people have enjoyed good fiction. Sometimes a lie is the best thing.
I suppose it's possible that autism tends to make people more geared up to concrete reality, but I don't know. Many Aspies enjoy fiction. Some believe in an afterlife without requiring it to be demonstrated via hard logic and the 5 senses. I'm often fascinated by dreams, even though the stories they tell are very far removed from anything that has ever really happened or will happen. Real, "concrete" stuff gives me some kind of a sense of security, probably because I usually know where I stand with it, but I think I'd be more miserable if I refused to associate with anything else.
14 Jan 2023, 3:59 pm
