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Outrider
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30 Jun 2014, 2:28 am

I am wondering if there is some sort of correlation between individuals with Autism or Aspergers, and the portrayal of science-fiction robots.

I remember as a young kid at around age 4-12 years old I was obsessed with a movie called "I robot".

It takes place in 2035 Chicago and is about a robot named "Sonny" - a robot programmed with real emotions and feelings, unlike the logical and mathematical minded other robots.

Detective Spooner, Robotics psychologist Dr. Calvin, and Sonny are on a mission to discover a mystery behind the death of the inventor of the robots.

I never knew why but I was always obsessed with this movie, everything about it was great.

But there was something particularly interesting about Sonny, the robot. His behavior. His questioning of human social behavior and conflicting thoughts of the emotions he experienced.

Am I alone here, or have other Aspies ever felt some sort of weird correlation/relation with the portrayal of robots in sci-fi?

Especially ones curious of human behavior?

Sonny isn't the only robot either. I was obsessed with the star trek character, Data, and his curiosity with human behavior. There was always something about him...



Jory
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30 Jun 2014, 2:43 am

You're not the first to make such a connection. There's been topic after topic after topic on these boards about Data alone.

With the increase in awareness of autism and Asperger's over the past few years, the creators of movies and TV shows are even pointing out the connections themselves. I just got done blowing through both seasons of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and at one point a psychologist mentions that the cyborg Cameron "shows traits of Asperger's," or something to that effect.



Outrider
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30 Jun 2014, 2:59 am

Something I just remembered is also the star trek species, the Vulcans.

The characters Spock and Tuvok I managed to relate to.

I remember the episode where Tuvok was given the ability to feel and experience emotions more strongly and at a more human level.

When I was watching it I was shocked by Tuvok.

I remember Tuvok had become very upset and childishly freaked out with sadness.

He acted how an aspie might act if they were overwhelmed at a few points during the episode. We're talking meltdown level behavior here. I can't remember the episode but it was amazing to see.



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03 Jul 2014, 4:12 am

I've often seen parallels between Aspies and the Replicants of Bladerunner. That is, Rachel, Roy Batty, Pris, Zora, and Leon were hardly devoid of emotion, but they simply didn't know how to express proper emotional responses much of the time.


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SorriorDragneel
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03 Jul 2014, 5:36 am

Outrider wrote:
Something I just remembered is also the star trek species, the Vulcans.

The characters Spock and Tuvok I managed to relate to.

I remember the episode where Tuvok was given the ability to feel and experience emotions more strongly and at a more human level.

When I was watching it I was shocked by Tuvok.

I remember Tuvok had become very upset and childishly freaked out with sadness.

He acted how an aspie might act if they were overwhelmed at a few points during the episode. We're talking meltdown level behavior here. I can't remember the episode but it was amazing to see.


Funny thing actually is that in lore Vulcans are actually HYPER emotional and use logic to suppress it..They are VERY much like humans just....More...

And yeah i too relate to Vulcans and data..My mom LOVES to use Seven on Nine as an example as well.



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03 Jul 2014, 2:01 pm

i may appear devoid of emotions, but robots and androids actually kinda creep me out. :?


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Outrider
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04 Jul 2014, 3:14 am

Kiprobalhato wrote:
i may appear devoid of emotions, but robots and androids actually kinda creep me out. :?


Which ones?? Can you give a movie or tv example?

And yeah some really did just creep me out as well. The more emotionless ones just seem...cold is all I can say.

Like an empty shell.



Prof_Pretorius
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08 Jul 2014, 6:16 pm

I'm presently struggling to write a story about a robot, and I have to keep reminding myself it doesn't have emotions.


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