Would You Believe?

One of my favorite concepts I learned in college came in a class on the Science Fiction novel. The Science Fiction genre uses plausible science and technology as the vehicle for the story, and, in almost all cases, the science and/or technology does not actually exist yet.

Take, for example, Star Trek, a very popular Science Fiction franchise with a number of television series, movies, and books. The main premise of Star Trek is that a future Earth based society goes flying around the galaxy in a star ship having adventures and pondering the meaning of life. The science involves such things as faster than light warp drives, matter teleporters (Beam me up!), phasers, and other cool stuff. Much of the technology or the science behind the story may seem far out there, even though much of it has some basis in current theory.

Some of the things that seemed too weird to be possible we actually do have now 40 years after the original episodes. When Star Trek first aired in the mid 1960’s it had ubiquitous talking computers, for example. In real life at the time, computers were rare, owned only by large companies and the government, filled entire specially cooled rooms, and couldn't say a word. Today we have more computing power in our cell phones than some of the most advanced computers back then. Speaking of cell phones, aren’t they suspiciously like the communicator thing that Kirk would pull out, flip open, and say into, “Scotty, beam me up!” (I think I read somewhere that in all the original episodes, Kirk never uttered those exact words.)

I digress.

The point is, to meaningfully read and enjoy Science Fiction, and Fantasy, too, the reader has to do a thing the professor called “suspension of disbelief.” I think that’s a cool phrase. That which I am reading is generally unbelievable from a reality perspective, so I must tell myself not to disbelieve it so that I can enjoy it. Millions of folks do it every day. I think that’s why millions more don’t like Sci-Fi and Fantasy because they have a hard time convincing themselves to disbelieve.

Suspension of disbelief is a requirement for all fiction really, but more true for Sci-Fi and Fantasy than any other genre. The difference between Sci-Fi and Fantasy by the way is that Sci-Fi deals with the scientifically possible even if sometimes improbable, while Fantasy deals with the magical, which is in many ways the opposite of science. The two genres converge at some point if you accept that magic may be scientifically measurable and reproducible. For example, the Star Trek Transporter (teleporter) is science based—they can really do some interesting things similar to teleportation with quantum states now—while a wizard who casts a spell to move himself to a different continent uses magic. However, they are both the same concept and at some point one could argue that what the wizard does can be learned and reproduced, and is therefore a subject of science.

I digress again.

So what is the difference between “believing” and the “suspension of disbelief”? If you tell yourself not to disbelieve aren’t you really telling yourself to believe?

I don’t think so. I think these are two entirely different concepts.

When I suspend my disbelief, I am making a deal with myself to forget temporarily that my disbelief exists. I am not agreeing to believe that the story, the science or the magic is real. I know they are not. I am just not going to let the fact that these things aren’t real get in the way. If Kirk pulls out a phaser and zaps some alien to a puff of smoke, then by God the evil, slimy, green and lecherous villain had it coming. I still know that the phaser and the alien and even Kirk himself don’t exist, probably never will, but I just won’t let that knowledge get in the way of the story.

Believing, now that is something altogether different.

If you believe Kirk is real, or worse that Luke Skywalker is, you probably have some other serious mental and emotional deficiencies or problems. Believing needs to be reserved for reality-based concepts, logic and reason, and, if you are so inclined, your religion of choice. I believe that 2 + 3 = 5 because there is a logic and system that makes it so, and I can repeat that logic and system whenever I want. I believe the USA is the best nation to have ever existed on this Earth. I can believe that because I can offer arguments laden with abundant evidence that many will accept as reasonable and true. Some might disagree with me and have their own beliefs. Though for you to believe that 2 + 3 <> 5 requires that you be a major nut job or are applying some mathematical system to the numbers other than the one 99.999% of us use.

Where this is going is that belief should have a basis in reality and should be reasonable. That is implicit in the concept of “suspension of disbelief.” We can’t and shouldn’t believe in that which is unreasonable, such as Captain Kirk smoking the alien, and so we have to suspend our reason in order to comprehend and enjoy the bad guy getting his comeuppances.

I briefly mentioned that you should also reserve belief for your religion of choice. I know that many folks would argue that believing in an all-powerful omniscient being or worshiping Jesus, Mohammed, et al, is unreasonable. They would say there is no proof that God exists. I won’t argue the point one way or the other, except to say that one of the things that make the USA so great is that we agree that we can believe and practice whatever religion we want. The deal with religion and belief is that when you get enough people together who share your belief that gives the belief legitimacy and makes it reasonable. In fact, we can believe whatever we want about anything we want, as long as we don’t hurt others or their property in the process.

If you think that there really was a Darth Vader and Princess Leia in a galaxy far, far away a long, long time ago, fine, knock yourself out. Just don’t try to pass a law that says I have to believe it too. Still, it is unhealthy to believe in too many unreasonable things. Living in a fantasy world may make you feel good, but it’s hard to be taken seriously by the adults at the table when you do.

Speaking of fantasy and health, I wonder how many folks really believe that Obama’s current health care reform will save all of us money. How many really believe that the government can make better health decisions for us than we can make for ourselves, or that we should let it? How many believe the government should have access to our personal medical records whenever it wants?

For those of you who really do believe these things, I will find it nearly impossible to suspend my disbelief that you are not a completely whacked out delusional idiot with less than the emotional and intellectual capacity of the 5 year old who still believes in Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny. If only we could have gotten you, and the rest of those like you, to go to that galaxy far, far away a long, long time ago.

Oops, I digressed again, but who cares?