There are many things Hollywood SciFi fails to do well. A great many. Some of the SciFi vids that do (more or less) well on the screen wouldn’t even get published in the legitimate SciFi industry (literature, dig?). Ok, fine. Two different standards, live with it.
There is one thing that the all of SciFi fails to do well at all at all: Age & Health & Medicine.
They can imagine Aliens both believable and unlikely.
They can imagine faster than light travel.
They can imagine Civilizations of 1,000’s of planets, trillions of beings.
They can imagine robots and computers that actually become self-aware (i.e., conscious, real “AI”).
Star Trek continues to think 100 is old, maybe 120 is something that can achieved in 300 years, and it looks really old even by today’s standards (thinking of the cameo “Dr McCoy” had on the pilot for TNG, for example). Star Wars, even with “magic answers” such as The Force can’t imagine a long life span, either.
They don’t seem able to imagine life-long health, and a significant increase in life span, or easy replacement of worn out or damaged body parts (arms, livers, what ever).
Why is that?
There is no technology to account for AI as commonly portrayed, nor for faster than light travel, not even the remotest extrapolation of known science right would allow for either one. Artificial gravity is even more unlikely. Doesn’t stop them from being used over and over and over and …
We DO have technology right now that should grow into easy organ and limb replacement, life prolongation with perfect health, replacement of lost or damaged nerve and brain tissue and on and on… yet mainstream SciFi seems unable to even consider such a thing.
Not all authors have had this blind spot. Robert Heinlein for instance did a great series of stories about near-immortals. Roger Zelazny also conquered death in many different ways. Isaac Asimov, on the other hand, thought 40 was old and 60 was decrepit.
Star Wars goes from a fairly young Obi Wan (played by Ewen McGregor in the prequel trilogy) to, 20 years later (more or less) an Obi Wan who seems an old, old man (Sir Alec Guiness), and it seems reasonable. A Jedi Master can’t prevent himself from aging at any thing but the 20th century norm we’ve all been taught? Even when that “norm” just isn’t the truth any more (if it ever was)?
Odd…
I suspect there’s a lot that could be said about the social / cultural underpinnings of people’s expectations concerning Health and Life Span here. Something buried deeply in the common thinking.
One day we’ll explore this further. But let me leave you with this final thought (for the moment):
Isn’t it SciFi that is the one that constantly explores the Possible? That even extends what we think might be possible? Isn’t that SciFi’s job? How can they even stand to leave all our current thinking and expectations about age unchallenged?
Just a thought, hopefully the seeds for some thoughts of your own.
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