Using the Programme
Guide of the World Science Fiction Convention in Helsinki Finland in August
2017 (to which I will be unable to go (until I retire from education)), I
will jump off, jump on, rail against, and shamelessly agree with the BRIEF
DESCRIPTION given in the pdf copy of the Programme Guide. Likely this will be
the last topic lifted from Helsinki as I’ll soon have access to the Program
Guide of the World Science Fiction Convention in San Jose California in August
2018. That link will be provided below.
As it is, this final entry will draw from the programme, whose link is provided
below…
Morality of
Generation Ships: Is it moral to send a group of colonists away on a generation
ship to colonise a distant world, knowing that the children and grandchildren
who will be born on board that ship (and on the destination planet when it is
reached) will not have had a say in the choice? They
will be forced to continue the mission, and try and make a life on a possibly
unsuitable planet, whilst the people who were willing to take on those risks
for their descendants will be long dead and not have to live with the decision.
Samuel Penn: development manager, amateur astronomer
and science fiction fan (also worked in AI), Irish
Geoffrey A.
Landis: American scientist
at NASA John Glenn Research Center, science fiction writer (two time Hugo award)
Sirocco: PhD
in physics, working as a fusion plasma physicist, (although was also a rocket
scientist for a time), after some casting around, seems likely that she works
for the Serbia-based Fusion Education Network…
Janet Catherine
Johnston: American Janet
Catherine Johnston is a scientist and fiction author (among other things)
I spent some time researching
the nationalities of the participants above to prove a point: at some time in
their past, some adult brought some child into the world in a place freshly
colonized entirely without the child’s consent or input into the decision.
In fact, unless
you currently live in the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, your ancestors (however
distant) forcibly brought one of your ancestors somewhere they’d never been before
and they bore children in a place they had no way of knowing more than in
passing. Even if they waited until they were the ripe old age of thirty (highly
unlikely that any person capable of passing on their genetic heritage would wait
that long; even less likely that a child born to such an aged parent would have
lived through childhood unprotected by them…)
This discussion seems
a rather…21st Century, liberal, “everyone must have a voice and a
say, and if there’s dissent of any sort, we don’t want to hurt anyone’s
feelings so we just won’t do it” kind of discussion.
I’m fairly certain
that none of the ancestors of the participants – or even the ancestors of the
person that proposed this session considered the morality of colonization. Of
course, that’s one of the reasons we have the world that we have today and
people who have no business having a say are attempting to pin their opinions
on others who have no idea what they’re talking about. Not to say that
colonialism is dead. I think one of the reasons the Brits are protesting the American
president (even the exceptionally popular Obama made a couple of embarrassing
mistakes and garnered a bit of protest from our Colonial Owners (https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/president-obamas-biggest-british-gaffes)
is because one or two of them think we should all be brought back under
Commonwealth Rule for a bit of finishing into fine, British Citizens (the first
thing they’ll deal with is lazy American spelling problems! https://www.quora.com/Do-the-British-consider-the-American-spelling-system-incorrect#),
so that’s nothing new.
It’s funny – or not
– I think the concern in this question is actually a fear that the children of
the mission will far outperform their parents and become perfectly adapted to
their environment. That the children born to the new world will adapt to it far
better than their parents.
Poul Anderson
wrote about this very issue in his story, “People of the Wind” (first published
in the February 1973 issue of ANALOG Science Fiction & Fact and collected
in a few other places up through 1981) in which the central point of the story
was that Human young adults were leaving their families and joining Ythrian
choths – right about the time Earth and Ythri were rattling sabers at each
other. Mom and dad were left behind, and unless they wanted to lose their kids entirely,
they had to adapt and adopt.
Closer to home, my
grandson and granddaughter are with my son and his wife in South Korea. They do
not go to American schools, rather both are enrolled in Korean schools. My
granddaughter, having arrived while she was still learning English, speaks
accentless Korean and doesn’t know several “standard” English words. My
grandson speaks and reads Korean and can effortlessly switch back and forth as
the situation warrants. They have a huge advantage over their parents who have
to cede control of several situations when dealing directly with Korean
shopkeepers and officials.
The “morality”
here – not necessarily of the panelists but of the person who initially
suggested the panel – may have been more about fear of adults losing control
than out of concern for the “poor children”. How touchingly disingenuous and
worried the person who wrote about the children who “…will be forced to continue
the mission, and try and make a life on a possibly unsuitable planet, whilst
the [incredibly brave, marvelous,
thoughtful, daring, visionary adult] people who were willing to [incredibly bravely, marvelously, thoughtfully,
daringly, visionarily] take on those risks for their descendants will
be long dead and not have to live with the decision.”
‘bout makes me
want to be violently ill.
It is the CHILDREN
of the adults who will dump their incredibly unprepared parents for the world
they will grow up on and instinctively grasp while those same parents cower, basking
in the memories of “better days” and apologizing to their children and begging them
to stay in with their [incredibly brave,
marvelous, thoughtful, daring, visionary] parents so that the children will
be safe.
I know I’ve been a
teeny bit sarcastic, but really? This is a panel discussion at a SCIENCE
FICTION, FANTASY, AND HORROR CONFERENCE for goodness sake!
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