Episode 160: Science Fiction is a normalization machine (with Rob Cameron)

A detail from the cover of Daydreamer by Rob Cameron, featuring Glory, a dragon disguised as an older man, protecting Charles, a neurodivergent child, from a strange monster on a rooftop.

Science fiction is great at helping people get used to strange concepts — or people — and making us see them as more "normal." But what does "normal" mean, and is it always a good thing? Later in the episode, we talk to Rob Cameron, author of the new novel Daydreamer, about writing neurodivergent characters.

Notes, citations, & etc.

Rob Cameron on Bluesky, Instagram and X

Rob Cameron's new novel Daydreamer

Psychologists Adam Bear and Joshua Knobe wrote in the NYT about what people consider “normal”

Swedish doctors were using what they called “the normalization principle” in 1959

A good article about normalization

More about the concept of the Overton Window.