Speaking about science fiction, what do you guys think about Jack Vance? His science fiction work (Alastor, The Dragon Masters, The Planet of Aventure...) is very much concerned with human plasticity, cultural as well as physical. He is a tolerably good stylist too, although at times his characters suffer from some of the flatness typical to sf that was mentioned in the post . 
 
By the way, here is a nice article about autism and science fiction, written by a critic and aficionado of the genre who suffers from Asperger's.

"Assuming this is correct, it reminds me a great deal of aspects of the Ottoman or Chinese interaction with the West when these societies were in relative decline, down to the lack of interest in foreign arts & literature as well as the need for middlemen to translate because of linguistic ignorance." 
 
Why does a presumed lack of interest in foreign arts and literature imply a decline in local culture? Those were the centuries of the Spanish Golden Age, after all. 
 
In fact, that claim about lack of interest in foreign art seems a bit suspect to me. It's certanly false in the case of painting, see for example El Greco.