If
it is the lot of the specialist to `know as much as possible about as
little as possible', then perhaps mine has been to know as little as
possible about as much as possible. I dropped out of university back in
the 1960's, when it was fashionable to do so. Having studied science
for a year, I had then rebelled against that to go to art school, but I
then rebelled against the formal study of something as `free spirited'
as art (rebellion was popular in the 1960's). But all through this, I
knew that I was really more inclined towards science and science
fiction. It would be two decades however before I began writing. In the
meantime I continued my interest in the `straight' arts and sciences,
reading Scientific American and New Scientist while attending art
exhibitions and trying to be a hippie, which I wasn't very good at.
Perhaps it was the underlying conformity of hippiedom which put me off.
What was the point of `dropping out' only to conform to another set of
social values? For instance, every one of those kids, boy or girl
alike, wore jeans. In effect, a uniform.
Most would-be artists tend towards a particular theme around which they
build their works, and although I had most enjoyed the kind of science
fiction that explored the possibilities of contact with alien cultures,
it was the nature of consciousness that underlay even this essential
theme that came to engage my own. Hence Future Realities, the website attached to Meriden which contains these early works.
But it wasn't all fun. I was diagnosed as having Asperger's Syndrome in
my mid-fifties, which meant that all that had happened in my life
before, the alcholism (which resulted in epilepsy and diabetes) , the
unstable relationships, the inability to cope socially, finally had a
simple explanation. But, just as important, I had learned a lot
about all the sciences which were vital to my recovery. And this is
exactly what Miriden is all about: if it worked for me, it may work for
others, though of course there can be no gaurantees. There is no cure
for Asperger's anymore than there is for diabetes, but both conditions
can be managed if one stays within certain boundaries: Minimal fat and
sugar for diabetes, minimal social contact and emotional involvement
for Asperger's. |
