Science? Psshaw. Give me Good Ol' Magic Any Day.

I enjoy science fiction quite a bit. I have recently come across two things in some science fiction that have caused reaction in me - one negative and frustrating, and one interesting and intriguing.

The first thing is the frustrating thing. Why is it that humans are the most diverse, the most unique, the most individual species in the universe. The aliens are all basically the same. They all look almost exactly the same, they all have the same beliefs, they are all of the same mind in broad ways.

But not humans. Humans are very diverse, with many diferent ideas about the universe. Some are pro-war, and some are anti-war; some are brave, some are scared; some believe in science, some belive in God, etc. It seems like humans are treated as being the best species in the universe, and the others, though advanced enough to be in space, are less rounded than humanity. Aliens are very one dimensional.

It bugs me. I just have trouble believing that if there are as many diverse alien species in the universe as are in most sci-fi that humans are the paragon of enlightenment and diversity. Yet the Klingons are all angry warriors, the Vulcans are all peaceful logicans (ooh, new word allert!), the Wookies are all tall, hair warriors, and it goes on. And when there are some who show diversity, they are viewed as rebels or outcasts.

Sure they try to show that humanity has its problems - there are divisive factions and goons and murderers and all sorts of nasty things. But even for all that, it is our differences that make us unique, that make us truly human, like it is inherently better than the alternative. It drives me nuts, I tells ya. Nuts!

An example of this is in the show Babylon 5, a series that ran in the mid to late nineties that I am currently watching on DVD. It is about a space station (called, conveniently, Babylon 5) that is a place where aliens and humans can live together in the hopes of building a lasting peace for the galaxy after years and years of war. There are the regular folk who live and work there, and there are also many ambassadors, sort of like the UN. In this one episode they are having a religious festival of sorts - each species is encouraged to celebrate their homeworld's religious convictions. The ambassadors, of course, give demenstrations of their world's religion, ceremonies watched (and in some cases participated in) by the other ambassadors. Sinclair, the head of the station (a human - it is a human station, so that makes sense) is not sure how to demonstrate Earth's religious beliefs. So what he does is get a representative from all of the religions from Earth (including native tribes and every little group possible) and introduces them to the ambassadors on the station. The line of religious leaders is something like thirty or forty people long, and maybe longer. It is supposed to be a touching scene of how special, diverse and unique people are, and all I can think is 'What the heck'. Are we really supposed to believe that humanity is the only species in the Universe that has diverse beliefs about God? Are you telling me that every other alien species in the universe has only one, or in some cases two views about God? I don't buy it.

That does lead nicely into my next thought though - the intriguing one. You see, in most sci-fi, humanity has grown beyond the need for religion, at least the serious minded people have, and most people are totally reliant on science. Religion is viewed as a quaint tradition or a silly superstition, but science is the way forward (the new god perhaps?). That is how we were able to come together as a race, the human race, and reach the stars.

So why are so many alien races as advanced or more advanced than humans and yet still intensely religious? Why were they able to make it to the stars and still believe in something greater than themselves while humanity has dismissed the very same idea as silly superstition? I don't get it, and I don't think most science fiction writers think about it quite like that. It seems to be a bit of a mixed message, and when the shows try to deal with religion I often feel like they aren't quite sure what they are trying to say, and they are trying to be so careful to not offend people that they don't say much of anything.

I do have to give Babylon some credit, though. They had an episode where the doctor on board was tasked with healing an alien boy but the only way to do so was to perform surgery, a procedure which was prohibitted by their religious convictions (like Jehovah's witnesses (or is it Mormons) refuse blood transfusions), so the boy was going to die. The doctor did one of those 'you aren't fit to do what is best for your own child' things and asked the commander of the station to rule that the surgery had to be performed. The commander, after talking with the aliens and considering, actually rejected the request. And then the doctor performed the surgery anyway. And when the boy was recovering, the parents saw him and rejected him because they believed that by performing the surgery the boy's soul had been lost. He was no longer their son, he was an empty shell, a walking demon, basically. They eventually 'forgave' the doctor (their religion forbade them from actually forgiving the doctor, but they would have if they had been allowed...) and prepared the travelling robe for the son. After they had left, the doctor was looking at some of the history of the alien race (they were not a well known or particularly well travelled species) and he saw something about the travelling robe that made him run to their quarters. There he found the parents beside the child's bed. He was laying in the bed, wrapped in a robe, and dead. The parents had destroyed the empty shell, as they saw it, killing what they no longer believed was their son.

I thought it was interesting to see them do that on the show. On Star Trek they would have had many philosophical discussions while Dr. Crusher did everything in her power to keep the child alive. They would argue and then in the end of the last act, they would come across a Deus ex Machina, an obscure treatment, or a realligning of the posotronic core to send healing waves that occur at a frequency that will only affect that particular alien's physiology or something like that. There would be no real resolution, no real consequences, and no real substance to their philosophical tangents. So kudos for Babylon 5 for having something actually happen, even if they reject the aliens' beliefs as silly superstition.
On an unrelated note, why do people on the run on Babylon 5 never disguise themselves. You're on the run and you have a moustache and long hair, then shave the 'stache and trim the hair and dye it! Not so hard.
I just realised that I sometimes forget the fiction part of science fiction. The aliens are not real.
Or are they...