From: hal@finney.org
Date: Sat Dec 18 1999 - 13:19:45 MST
Phil Goetz, <flick@populus.net>, writes:
> You're all aware that Bicentennial Man is based on a short story
> Isaac Asimov wrote about 25 years ago? One of his most famous.
> Though I'm disappointed it was never done as a Star Trek episode;
> it would have been good for Data. (Too late now. People would say
> it was ripping off the movie. :P)
Yes, I think the story was motivated by the U.S. Bicentennial celebration
in 1976, hence the name. Asimov had many good traits, but it did
seem throughout his writings that he viewed death positively. He was
a typical 1970's liberal, worried about overpopulation, pollution,
exhaustion of resources, etc. For a lot of these people the only
comforting fact about the upcoming extinction of humanity was that they
couldn't imagine a species that deserved it more. (I'm not sure Asimov
went quite that far...)
As someone who lived through that time, I find it tremendously positive
that the mainstream response is moving towards Extropian philosophy.
Back in the 1970s I don't recall anyone complaining that the ending was
immoral, actually celebrating the loss to the world of such a gifted
individual as Andrew as though it were a good thing. It was an award
winning story, widely admired as one of Asimov's most brilliant and
moving.
It's amazing to see the New York Times objecting to the assumption that
mortality = humanity. Wouldn't it be great if the next Star Trek series
would take on this modern philosophy as well, with a society that values
life and intelligence, where every individual is treasured and protected.
I think people are ready for a visionary story about individuals who
don't want to die, who don't want to preserve their limitations, but
who want to burst through those boundaries and are actively striving
to do so. Any fiction has to speak to the era in which it is written,
but this is an optimistic age, and we deserve an optimistic Star Trek.
Hal
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