(This post is part of the Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge. You can find links to other writers' answers over at Long and Short Reviews.)
Prompt: something from Science Fiction you wish was real
I was going to think through any number of intriguing science fiction devices and technologies -- lightsabers, transporters, nanite-based super-surgery -- but y'all, I'm tired. This week is getting longer as it goes. So I'm going to look at Star Trek, and go with the one element of that particular bit of science fiction that I think would do absolutely the most good for the most people:
A post-scarcity economy. No more poverty, no more wage slaves, no more fighting over resources; everybody has enough to live a comfortable life, and do the things that make them happy.
Everything else follows from that.
Heck yeah! That would eliminate so much suffering.
ReplyDeleteback to the basics... good idea
ReplyDeleteWe could have had it by now--our grandparents' generation looked forward to it--if the immediate reaction of our parents' generation hadn't been to produce us. So *many* of us. No sooner does it become possible to save more lives, produce more food or whatever, than people have more babies to gobble up all the benefits.
ReplyDeleteThat is not strictly true. The post WWII baby boom was an anomaly. Arguably the kids born during that period would have been similar in number but spread out over a longer time period if the men hadn't gone off to war.
DeleteWhat actually happens is that as medical care improves, infant mortality drops. This results in a population explosion because families keep having babies at the rate they did prior to the drop in infant mortality and more of them survive to adulthood. Over a generation or two, kids who used to be an economic asset to their families become an economic liability due to the expense of caring for and educating them. At that point, the birthrate drops.
Generally, better health care follows industrialization and not all regions industrialize at the same time. Many regions that industrialized early have birth rates that have fallen below replacement. The population of the US is only growing because of immigration. In the meantime, those regions which are currently industrializing have populations growing due to reduced child mortality.
There been a lot of answers that relates to Star Track.
ReplyDeleteGene Roddenberry really did believe in an altruistic society. Isolated societies have been successful at this, but then they get gobbled up.
ReplyDeleteThis would be my answer as well, and it's still the world I dream of living in
ReplyDelete