The fantasy and future of health care
Mar. 23rd, 2010 02:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kestrellThat's the title of an interesting post written by Rose Fox to the Genreville blog which asks the question of which SF stories have seriously addressed the issue of health care I was going to post, but that blog uses a captcha so I failed the human test again.
Thoughts:
my experiences being on convention panels indicates that most people who want to discuss this subject at SF conventions have no idea about the reality of medical care for most people, or at least health care for those with chronic health conditions or disabilities which require regular care. Does it mean anything that most of these panelists are white middle-aged men? I know I was pretty boggled by the recent Arisia panel which was supposedly discussing real prosthetics and some panelists began discussing hwo int he near future prosthetics would become the equivalent of body piercings--a fashion statement for teenagers. What an amusing way to trivialize both teenagers and people who have no choice but to use prosthetics. As a parallel, the last story I read about a person with a prosthetic involved a blind gril who, given the chance to use an expensive, in-development prosthetic device which would provide her with vision, she opted instead to switch it to the setting which allowed her to become best friends with the Internet. Remember my mantra: stories about disability are rarely--if ever--about disability. What I would like to add to that statement: but they do offer some fascinating insights into the minds of the white het males who write those stories.
Yes, I'm using the word disability to talk about health care, but really, who better than someone who has been spending a significant amount of time over the past year in doctors's offices and operating rooms? I can think of a couple of stories with implications regarding health care which I felt resonated: Larry Niven's Gil "The Arm" Hamilton stories (written how many decades ago?) " and John Varley's "Blue Champagne" (again, written how many decades ago?). This last one in particular seems more and more possible.
But frankly, I don't expect to be reading any hard-hitting fact-filled SF stories that seriously discuss health care, because SF with real facts are kind of a downer, and SF stories that are downers rarely--if ever--win any awards. Much better to stick to the wish fulfilment stories which have happy endings and keep winning those awards.
Thoughts:
my experiences being on convention panels indicates that most people who want to discuss this subject at SF conventions have no idea about the reality of medical care for most people, or at least health care for those with chronic health conditions or disabilities which require regular care. Does it mean anything that most of these panelists are white middle-aged men? I know I was pretty boggled by the recent Arisia panel which was supposedly discussing real prosthetics and some panelists began discussing hwo int he near future prosthetics would become the equivalent of body piercings--a fashion statement for teenagers. What an amusing way to trivialize both teenagers and people who have no choice but to use prosthetics. As a parallel, the last story I read about a person with a prosthetic involved a blind gril who, given the chance to use an expensive, in-development prosthetic device which would provide her with vision, she opted instead to switch it to the setting which allowed her to become best friends with the Internet. Remember my mantra: stories about disability are rarely--if ever--about disability. What I would like to add to that statement: but they do offer some fascinating insights into the minds of the white het males who write those stories.
Yes, I'm using the word disability to talk about health care, but really, who better than someone who has been spending a significant amount of time over the past year in doctors's offices and operating rooms? I can think of a couple of stories with implications regarding health care which I felt resonated: Larry Niven's Gil "The Arm" Hamilton stories (written how many decades ago?) " and John Varley's "Blue Champagne" (again, written how many decades ago?). This last one in particular seems more and more possible.
But frankly, I don't expect to be reading any hard-hitting fact-filled SF stories that seriously discuss health care, because SF with real facts are kind of a downer, and SF stories that are downers rarely--if ever--win any awards. Much better to stick to the wish fulfilment stories which have happy endings and keep winning those awards.
no subject
Date: 2010-03-23 07:08 pm (UTC)Fantasy, OTOH, seems to be big on mystical healers and magical potions.