(no subject)

[ursula]

Does anyone know if there's an actual correlation between reading science fiction as a child and choosing a scientific or technical profession? That is, is there an academic study out there somewhere?

Comments

[reasie.livejournal.com]

I don't know of a study, but I do know that the European space agency believes in the concept strongly enough to be currently opperating it's own science fiction contest.

[ursula]

Sure, lots of people believe it, but is it true? My anecdotal experience suggests that love for science fiction is at least as likely to make you an English major as a science major.

[ex-greythist387.livejournal.com]

That would be me (English), although all my career-wishes hitherto were scientific. I got as far as freshman year in college before realizing that I understood scientifically oriented things fairly well but had problems applying concepts on exams. (Organic chemistry was my bane.)

I read hard sf, both then and now, not just the lite stuff. That's where the admittedly limited anecdotal evidence splits, for people I know: the ones who went into sci/eng/math/cs now read non-fiction as well as sf "proper," while the ones who went into the humanities/soc sci either read fluffy fantasy or have edged into non-genre experimental stuff (hyperliterary fiction?). Perhaps I just don't know enough people. :)

If you do find a ref to a study, please post the citation.

[ursula]

I read artsy literature and historical fiction, and nineteenth-century novels, as well as the hard stuff . . . But I'm awfully humanities-y for a math person, so I don't know that I'm a good data point.

[ex-greythist387.livejournal.com]

Well, the two (other) math grads whose reading habits I knew were also active in the SCA--they taught dance--and fond of sf as well as historical fiction. That may have more to do with a narrow subset of "people serious about math as well as history" than anything else. (Both "grads" filed three years ago; unfortunately, I haven't seen them since.)

I'm rather tech-happy for a humanities person, so I'm not a good data point either. Most likely, any single data point in this context will turn out to be flawed for extrapolative purposes. No doubt that's why you requested refs for studies in the first place. :)

[ursula]

I'm actually thinking about women-in-science issues: if science fiction is effective as science propaganda, is it having a biased effect? In the best-case scenario, could I get the NSF to give me money to write female-centric science fiction? ;)

[ex-greythist387.livejournal.com]

Ah. :) Good luck with that; sounds like an interesting proposal.

[ursula]

I'm in a mulling stage, not a proposal stage . . . Though I bet I could write a very good proposal for something like a lecture series of female science fiction writers and female scientists or possibly students of scientific ethics.

Though I'm not sure who I'd invite, besides Nancy Kress.

[ursula]

Yes. I definitely like this idea . . . But because I am a sane human being, I will put it off till after I pass prelims.

[bloodorange.livejournal.com]

I read science fiction as a child and now I want to be a printer. ;)

[ursula]

Alas, my friends do not a statistical study make ; )

[bloodorange.livejournal.com]

Fair enough.

[ursula]

That, and it's possible that most scientists read (or have read) science fiction, even if most people who read science fiction don't become scientists.

[aelfgyfu.livejournal.com]

I read hard scifie, fantasy, bad romances, and mysteries involving art - I want to be an art historian/ sculptor. However, I have more chemistry and stupid stuff like that than the avarage art person, and more art than the average art history person, and more anthropology than all of the above. But a usual amount of Italian and German. Not that this helps you at all or makes for any sort of study. I would suggest that people who read sci-fie are probably just more weird than those who don't. I probably read a similar amount of scifie to most other jugglers...

[chresimos.livejournal.com]

Well, I don't know if I'm exactly a 'sci-fi' fan, because I've never read a lot of scifi for scifi's sake, but my favorite things ever are Star Trek and Dune. On the other hand, I really never got into the X-Files, I find Arthur C. Clarke just plain annoying, and have never read Asimov. And I am completely *not* a science or technical profession person - I am way, way over into the Arts side of things.

I suppose it depends, if you read or see things as what they are or as a work of fiction. So, if you are science-minded, you might watch Star Trek and it would make you think about all these possibilities, and this would make you want to get into a scientific field, whereas a humanities-based person like myself would be more about 'Good stories! Cool characters!' and appreciate scifi because it is(I think) an advanced form of extended metaphor that allows social and thematic commentary. Yep. :)

[ursula]

Arthur C. Clarke drives me up the wall, too-- it's that whole thing about being a sexist, racist bastard who thinks he's really progressive. So I think that just makes you a sane reader, who might be sensitive to social cues.