Why ethicists needs to watch Star Trek

I have gotten grief over the years for my enjoyment of science fiction. Many see it as an art form devoid of maturity, suitable only for adolescent boys seeking wish fulfillment. But the fact is that science fiction is the story form of the moral dilemma. It allows one to put a character into extreme situations where ethics are pushed to their limit, and it works out the proper course of action. From 1984 to Star Trek (Guardian on the Edge of Forever) to The Matrix, it helps us to find the edges of our morality and find the human answers to hard questions.

The reason I bring this up is a new report from the American College of Chest Physicians which attempts to figure out how to properly triage patients during a worldwide pandemic. In an attempt to provide objective, universal guidelines, they have laid out an Orwellian nightmare where doctors are choosing which of us have more or less value. The old, the handicapped, and those with mental diseases are to be put to the bottom of the list. Is it reassuring to know that John McCain (old man), FDR (paralyzed from the waist down), and Abe Lincoln (extreme, crippling depressioN) might be left to die under these guidelines?

But science fiction has crossed this rubicon many times, in many different short stories, novels, television shows, and movies. The real human method of triage is simple and the same one used in battlefields all over the world. Treat the patient LEAST likely to die first, then the next, and so on. The only judgement required here is medical in nature, not ethical, and thus no doctor or medic is forced to make the impossible choices of whether a retarded boy, an old woman, or a seriously injured soldier is more "worthy" of treatment. The only question to ask is, "Who am I mostly likely to be able to save.

We need to send these people the DVDs to Firefly. Seriously.

R.I.P. Arthur C. Clarke

If you have enjoyed virtually any science fiction, you owe a huge debt to Arthur C. Clarke, one of the pioneers of the genre. The author of 2001, 2010, Childhood's End, and many many more novels and short stories has died at age 90. He was also one of the few science fiction authors to have done some real science.

In 1945, a UK periodical magazine “Wireless World” published his landmark technical paper "Extra-terrestrial Relays" in which he first set out the principles of satellite communication with satellites in geostationary orbits - a speculation realised 25 years later. During the evolution of his discovery, he worked with scientists and engineers in the USA in the development of spacecraft and launch systems, and addressed the United Nations during their deliberations on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.

Today, the geostationary orbit at 36,000 kilometres above the Equator is named The Clarke Orbit by the International Astronomical Union.

The world will miss this visionary.

Time Travel Mart

Connecticut can't even get a Wawa (technically, I think there is one in Hartford), so I have no hope that we can get one of these in my area. But the new Time Travel Mart in LA is the kind of place I would HAVE to shop, just to enjoy all the inside sci fi jokes. Click thru for more info.

Moral Complexity in Sci-Fi

I just can't bother to comment on anything political...It's all so boring to me. But I do finally have something to say again =) It's always struck me that considering that science fiction is supposed to be morally complex and supposed to point us to our own humanity, it is often times terribly shallow. And no where does this show up more frequently than in the 'bad guys' in science fiction. Having a cardboard cutout baddie might be sufficient for a summer action flick. But when it comes to science fiction, it always struck me that the evil characters should really drive a lot of the moral issues. But this hasn't been the case, by and large. Instead, they are often times virtually just parodies. They are mostly corporate leaders of some massive conglomerate of the future, or alien invaders simply bent on taking over earth, or some other cheap and easy story.

But I've seen some changes recently. One of the first places I saw it was in Farscape. Scorpious was easily my favorite villian ever. He never did anything unless there were several reasons for it. His background story was compelling and his evilness came not from some desire to rule over the universe in some cliche manner but rather, to secure the saftey of his people. His evilness ultimately spawned from a misguided selfishness that allowed him to use anyone and everyone for his own means. For an alien, he was one of the most human bad guys to ever show up on the sci-fi channel.

Then came the remake of BSG. For whatever complaints there can be about this show, the Cylons are so well written that there are episodes in which they are my favorite characters. Especially in light of the season finale and the selection of who are apparently the remaining five, we've seen a "bad guy" that is equal with humanity in the ability to morally reason, to desire, and to act on those human impluses. And of course, there's Baltar who is consistently the best character anywhere on TV to watch. Many people hate him, but I believe that's as much a testament to the point I'm making as anything else. How many evil characters in science fiction have you really truly hated? Far too often, the evil characters in science fiction are just stock characters that are difficult to care about.

Heroes broke ground in this area as well. Fans across the globe fell in love with Sylar, many even rooting for him. His character is possibly the most compelling of the entire cast. I don't think I remember so many people rooting for the bad guy since the Empire Strikes Back when Darth Vader finally taught his brat son a lesson. (I know, I just had to fit that shot at Luke in) Sylar's motivation is so dangerous becuase of his faith in what he is doing. Having been given a vision of his purpose in life, he is carrying it out with deadly efficiency. Remind you of anything we've heard about in our world lately?

And this brings me to the character who really got this ball rolling. And it's in about the last place I expected to find any sort of deep moral complexity. Sci-Fi's newest show "Flash Gordon" has managed to create a character who I have felt instantly drawn too. The movie version's Ming was a terrible (And somewhat racist) shallow image of a villan. He was about as serious an evil character as Christoper Walken is in "Balls of Fury." But the Ming in the new version is immediately an incredible character. We find out early on that Mongo was in terrible trouble, billions dying and chaos everywhere. Ming alone is able to bring order back. He single-handedly brings his people back from the brink. He is a hero to his people. However, survival in this world is a harsh affair and Ming will do whatever is necessary to ensure that the society he has helped save continues. This makes him tyrannical. His daughter says in the first episode, "Sometimes being a hero means being a tyrannt." It's an interesting moral statement.

The show has already given several chances for us to see this played out. For example, in one episode, a man is caught smuggling ice (An offense worthy of death in this world.) When Ming finds out that the man was doing so to save his daughter from a terrible fever, he promises the family that the girl will have all the water she needs and he makes sure she is saved. However, he still puts the father to death. When questioned by his daughter as to why he would be so inhuman, he argues that to allow this ice smuggling to unpunished would encourage others to do the same, threatening the balance of the society. "I have taken one life, and saved thousands. You would have me save one life to sacrifice thousands." We might or might not agree with his ultimate logic, but at least he's actually displaying some. The Ming of old would have simply killed the man for the fun of it.

Perhaps it's the morally complex time in which we live, perhaps it's just that sci-fi writers are really focusing on character development over silly plots, or perhaps it's something else altogether. For whatever the reason, I've seen a real maturation of the genre recently and I hope it continues on.