Fiction: Mind readers and the mentally impaired

Page 1 of 1 [ 6 posts ] 

beneficii
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 10 May 2005
Age: 40
Gender: Female
Posts: 7,245

24 Mar 2014, 7:28 am

There are 2 works of fiction that I know of in which both mind readers and mentally impaired people appear, and at least one mind reader has problems reading the mind of the mentally impaired person. It's like because of the way the mind is differently structured when it is impaired, the mind readers have a harder time with.

The first work of fiction is The Stand, in which 3 spies are sent into Randall Flagg's territory. (Randall Flagg is capable of reading minds and is the villain of the story.) Somehow, Randall Flagg is able to read the minds of each of the 3 spies without even knowing who they were to begin with or without being told that spies were coming his way. For 2 of the spies, he is able to read their minds to discern who those spies are and where they are and to have one killed and to try to interrogate the other. For the third spy, however, who is intellectually disabled and is preoccupied with the moon, he can discern neither the identity nor the location of the spy, because when ever he tries to read the third spy's mind, he just keeps seeing a moon.

The second work of fiction is Star Wars: The Approaching Storm, which takes place just before Episode II, where 2 Jedi Knights and their Padawans (one pair of which is Obi-Wan and Anakin) are sent to the planet Ansion to persuade it from seceding from the Republic (which secession which trigger a storm of other secessions because of the various treaties Ansion is a part of). As you know, Jedi Knights and their Padawans (to a lesser extent) are able to read minds through their use of the Force. Well, there is a Hutt (like Jabba the Hutt) that lives there and doesn't want the Jedi to succeed, being a Separatist, and he's willing to resort to violence to cause the Jedi to fail. One of his plans for capturing the Jedi is to send 2 mentally impaired beings to sneak up on them and capture them. Normally, the Jedi and their Padawans, when they are about to be attacked, can sense the attacker's malice through the Force and attend to the threat much more quickly than a non-Force user can, but the mental impairment of these 2 abductors prevented the Padawan other than Anakin from picking up on the threat, and she was captured. (She had been the first one targeted.) However, she managed to turn her abductors by healing through the Force their mental impairments and, grateful, the 2 beings accompanied the Jedi as guides.

Has anyone else seen this sort of thing in fiction?


_________________
"You have a responsibility to consider all sides of a problem and a responsibility to make a judgment and a responsibility to care for all involved." --Ian Danskin


Wind
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 23 Jan 2014
Age: 33
Gender: Male
Posts: 526
Location: UK

24 Mar 2014, 7:33 am

I don't believe in mind reading for a start,it's all about consequence and probability, but I guess it's fun to think about. I like sci-fi stuff so I would love it if mind reading was a real thing.

I've not read any fiction books though where this has popped up. I find it hard to read books, my attention span is awful.


_________________
Your Aspie score: 187 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 25 of 200
AQ: 43
Empathy Quotient: 8
I have ASD, ADHD, Hypermobility Syndrome.


Willard
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 23 Mar 2008
Age: 64
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,647

24 Mar 2014, 1:33 pm

M-O-O-N, that spells "You can't read a mind that's written in a different language." Laws yes, everybody knows that. :mrgreen:



LostInSpace
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 16 Apr 2007
Age: 39
Gender: Female
Posts: 2,617
Location: Dixie

24 Mar 2014, 2:27 pm

There was an episode of Alphas like that. Alphas are people with special abilities, and on this episode there was an Alpha with the ability to perfectly read other people's body language, so that he functioned as a human lie detector. One of the series regulars however (who is also an Alpha), is autistic, and the body language guy said that he couldn't read him because his body language was all over the place.


_________________
Not all those who wander are lost... but I generally am.


Sethno
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 23 Nov 2012
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,077
Location: computer or tablet

24 Mar 2014, 10:10 pm

Can I ask what in the world this has to do with autism?
This is the Autism Discussion forum.


_________________
AQ 31
Your Aspie score: 100 of 200 / Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 101 of 200
You seem to have both Aspie and neurotypical traits

What would these results mean? Been told here I must be a "half pint".


LostInSpace
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 16 Apr 2007
Age: 39
Gender: Female
Posts: 2,617
Location: Dixie

25 Mar 2014, 3:48 pm

Sethno wrote:
Can I ask what in the world this has to do with autism?
This is the Autism Discussion forum.


It's talking about one aspect of how people with autism (or other disabilities) are portrayed in the media. This is kind of a variation of the theme of people with autism having some kind of super-power/special ability. In this case, their disability makes them immune to someone else's super power.


_________________
Not all those who wander are lost... but I generally am.