Make Science Fiction Futuristic and Remove Bad Science and Technology Tropes

This is an initial article about science and technology for science fiction and even the broader genre of speculative fiction / science fantasy.  A great deal of  writing these days is very imaginative, but lacking in the science and technology department.  Science fiction on TV or in the movies also suffers in this area, but they very influential on writers as they will write what they have familiarity with. Bad tropes get perpetuated this way and they pull me out of my immersion in an imagined world.

Space War

Let's talk about space opera first. Space opera flaunts the fantasy element to make it over the top, so strap yourself in for the ride. I'm in for the ride if it is well done for the story and characters, but not if the premise is kind of lame. Star Wars did it well in their world building, Rebel Moon did not as the Magnificent Seven theme in space was not well framed due to the agrarian village vs space dreadnaught setup.  In Rebel Moon, it would have worked better for villagers against space pirates which would have been the bandits in Magnificent Seven or Seven Samurai.

I can enjoy a good space opera such as Dune or Star Wars, but this is because they are fantasies with a thin veneer of science. They can have spaceships swooshing through space and fleets of space cruisers dueling it out at point blank rather than out of visual range. You could strip the science away from these and put them into a fantasy setting with magic and it would work. E.g. stormtroopers = orcs. jedi = mystic knights. By the way, I like fantasy as it is all about magic, imagination, and escapism.

Other kinds of science fantasy do have well thought out world building. Dune, Star Wars, Hunger Games, and even Avatar are examples of this. If you think about the science bits too hard it becomes not quite so solid, but it is more than enough to carry a book or a series of movies or books. The time-travel reset element of Edge of Tomorrow works well for the storyline, but nothing in the world building yanks you out so it is successful. This is the kind of science fantasy I like.

However, all too often science fantasy pushes me over the edge these days, causing my suspension of disbelief to fail. It is a writing rule that you can get away with almost anything as long as you present the world or concepts consistently - e.g. if you're going to tell a lie, tell a consistent lie. However, too many inconsistencies occur now that blatantly hurt my intelligence. I think most of the blame comes from science fiction becoming more mainstream. It is more drama than science these days and writers are in it for the speculative part only. The science fiction on TV and in the movies is mostly science fantasy / speculative fiction now and it has influenced SF writers to write what they have seen. Science, standard operating procedure, and technology are background pieces to any story, but they are often ignored or misapplied because of this.

Gundam Battle Pod in Tokyo.  Looks futuristic to me.

So here are a few examples of science and technology misapplied or not applied at all.

Space Battles. The Battlestar Galactica reboot falls into this camp. You can't have space battles without networked computers unless it is made for TV as humans cannot react fast enough for coordinating battles or flying a ship. Battlestar Galactica cannot have any kind of network as the Cylons can hack it so they're technologically crippled and can't coordinate combat in space where space is vast and the ships are moving quickly. You're talking millisecond or lower response time to track and shoot. They're stuck with USB sticks and paper. Neat show, but I didn't like the premise, even though I enjoyed the original series as space opera.  

Ships fight too close together in space too.  You need this for the cinema or TV to show it on the screen, but in writing - don't do this.  The Expanse series does space battles better than most with more realism for just about everything I'm discussing in this article.  Star Wars is okay as it is space opera and I don't expect realism.

Cheap and Powerful Computers. Any SF where someone says it is cheaper to put an organic human in a dangerous situation rather than a robot. With technology, robots are always getting cheaper and better. This is why we are currently developing robots for space missions, to work in hard radiation environments, combat, fire fighting, and rescue. Bladerunner had replicants to fight wars in deep space. Robots don't need all that pesky life-support that fragile humans have, and even limited AI can work wonders. This means that writers have to be innovative in a smart way to put the human in danger. Why should your main character run into a burning building if they are a fire fighter?

Medical Related. There should be artificial limbs, limb and organ regrowth for people who suffer nasty injuries. The lowest tier of support would at least be support exo-skeletons for mobility and dexterity. Basically, medicine should be more advanced and better than the bacta tank in Star Wars. There should be a cure for cancer or most diseases. Advanced multi-spectral drugs and nano therapies should exist for the masses, not just for the rich. The only eyeglasses anyone should be wearing should be smart glasses or sunglasses.  Most people shouldn't be vision impaired or blind, psychologically traumatized, walk with limps, cosmetically disfigured or scarred, or even be missing an eye or a limb. These are common current medical problems, not future ones.

There should be standard issue trauma kits for any police officer/soldier for gunshot or laser burns. First aid sucks in SF and in TV in general. Not having trauma kits is basically a convenient way to kill someone off and possibly have some touching last words. A trauma kit for gunshots is as simple as a tourniquet, blood-clotting dressing, and a pressure bandage (Israeli Bandage) that fits in any cargo pocket. Any ship would have an automatic medical bay or the equipment to do the diagnosis and possibly perform operations. I really don't like the movie Prometheus, but the automatic medical bay was awesome except for the fact it was only setup for men which was dumb. The technology for MRI, mass-spectrometry, biological contaminant and chemical sensors, ultrasound, X-Ray, etc., can be shrunk and made cheaper to be portable and combined with AI for diagnosis. Medical tricorders++ for everyone.

Genetic and Cybernetic Enhancements. Gene or nanobot therapies to cure hereditary disorders and other diseases or completely eradicate them. Enhanced genetics to prevent pre-disposition to cancer, acne, baldness, etc.  Augmented humans with bio-tech interfaces to the network or a supercomputer in your brain could exist.  Enhanced humans with greater intelligence, stronger bodies, or adaptations to certain environments could exist too.  Social contracts / established law are the only thing stopping this.

Alien Infection. Any time there is an autopsy of an organism, the people don't wear proper PPE or decontaminate as standard operating procedure. Alien did this mostly well, others did not. And for god sake, follow isolation procedures.

Poor Communications. Any planet that has spaceships will have a complete satellite network unless there is something that prevents it like intense radiation belts or solar activity. This is such a basic technology for spacefarers. Satellites will not be expensive and will come in all sizes for multiple purposes. After all satellites are only expensive to get into space, but if you have spaceships - they're a no brainer. Even if a colony ship can't take off again after landing, they would have deployed a satellite network prior to landing.  Besides, how else can you forecast the weather or look for changes in the environment.  No one would give up remote sensing and be limited to line of sight from the ground or limited aerial surveillance.

Space Food.  Space food seems to always taste bad which is a dumb trope. Food technology is already amazing and will only improve.  Some people say instant noodles suck - I say they just haven't had the good ones from Asia.  MREs and any food in space will taste good and existing military rations prove this now.  On any navy ship, it is important to have good food for morale, and this goes double in space.  Food will be good even if it is out of a pouch.  Food might not be as good as getting it in an Earthbound restaurant, but it isn't going to be tasteless goo.  Even survival rations today are made to taste somewhat appetizing. Seasonings and flavour / texture enhancers will play a crucial role in space food.

Bootstrap Colonies in Space. Great for space westerns, but not much else. A poorly prepared or low tech colony wouldn't start unless it is renegade or hiding. Any other scenario is like a death sentence to start as there are so many ways to fail. You either start with sufficient supplies, manpower, tech, or you don't.

I'm Missing Spare Parts. 3D printing by your engineers should be able to replicate most parts so you don't have to wait for them to arrive from Earth. They do this in the navy now. Obviously, you might not be able to replicate a fusion reactor without a larger facility or microchips, but many other parts and circuits could be done with a variety of materials.

Energy Should be Cheap. There should be cheap fusion and solar power. Power can be beamed from space from orbital collectors. This changes the economy when energy is cheap for everyone. Star Trek replicators for all.

Orbital Elevators. This is way better than rockets and it is so futuristic, so lets just say they have the materials tech to do this.  The Foundation series and Gundam use space elevators, but Foundation pretty much blew it up immediately to cause a big disaster.

Take Space Seriously. Anything that goes wrong in space kills you very quickly in the extreme cold / heat and vacuum. No breaking the safety rules unless you want extreme punishment. Fine for Han Solo, but not for anything serious.  There is no fun with airlocks or oxygen supplies.

Finally, Gun Battles. Any kind of futuristic firefight that looks like it would have happened during WWII or Vietnam hurts me (I like Halo, but it fails on this). There is no use of advanced sights where you hit what you aim at even if it is moving, no use of smart munitions that track the target, and please use grenades - they're really effective for clearing rooms. The use of small recon drones and networked sensors should be standard and organized on a display HUD of some sort. There should be many drones both flying and moving on the ground. The war in Ukraine has shown us that cheap drone swarms can be very effective - not the end all, but very effective, so they better be there in the future.

I mean to go into detail and explore these topics and more in the future, so stay tuned.