Star Trek killed astrophysics?

Hmm. Is science fiction the enemy of real science? Buzz Aldrin seems to think so:

Apollo 11 astronaut Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. told SCI FI Wire that fantastic space science fiction shows and movies are, in part, responsible for the lack of interest in real-life space exploration among young people.“I blame the fantastic and unbelievable shows about space flight and rocket ships that are on today,” Aldrin said in an interview during an ice cream party held by the National Geographic Channel at the Television Critics Association press tour in Beverly Hills, Calif., this week. “All the shows where they beam people around and things like that have made young people think that that is what the space program should be doing. It’s not realistic.”

“….if you start dealing with fantasy and beaming people up and down and traveling seven times the speed of light, you are doing damage. You’re not helping. You have young people who have got expectations that are far unrealistic, and you can’t possibly live up to the expectations you have created in young people. Why do they get bored with the space program? That’s why.”

All due respect to Mr. Aldrin — a great American and beloved Monty Python character — but this is an incredibly dumb thing to say, and it betrays a deep ignorance of what science fiction is and, more importantly, what its fans take away from it.

With rare exception — and legions of costumed, Klingon batleth-wielding Star Trek fans notwithstanding — most people approach science fiction with the understanding that it is, well, fictional. At best, it is a glimpse of what the future might some day be. It’s ridiculous to think that children are turned off from real science and spaceflight because the current incarnations of these don’t match up with that vision. If anything, it’s the opposite that often holds true: the sense of wonder and possibility that science fiction can engender often leads children to become scientists, astronauts, builders of tomorrow. If they’re disappointed to learn that beaming and light-speed technologies don’t exist, they’re more likely to puzzle out why — to try to figure out how they can be made to exist — than to throw up their hands and walk away from present-day science altogether. Those who do walk probably weren’t all that interested anyway.

The American space program, after all, was arguably at the height of its popularity when shows like the original Star Trek, Lost in Space, and their like were on the air. It seems like that wouldn’t be the case if Aldrin’s argument held any water.

There are lots of problems with our current space program — most of them relating to lack of funding — but science fiction isn’t one of them.