2013-10-09

Socionomics and Space Ships

Guess what? Even space ships are impacted by social mood.

A nerd compiled all the space ships in science fiction into one giant poster, and another nerd calculated the size of all the ships. He found that the size of the ships changes over time.

What The Nerdiest Chart of Sci-Fi Ships Says About Our Dreams of Space
From Dirk’s chart, the average length of a spacecraft in the 70s was 1,487 meters. In the 80s and 90s it was 3,273 meters and 3,383 meters, respectively. Most recently, the average ship length for the 010s was 1,736 meters. Like our universe, the size of sci-fi ships looks to have gone through a period of inflation before making it into the 21st century. But why?
Social mood is the why. When people are optimistic they dream big. This is why sci-fi is more popular during rising social mood, and fantasy, with its roots in history and myth, is more popular during negative social mood.

Additionally, consider the economic growth projections needed to build a spaceship out of a sci-fi movie or novel. Today, only the United States, the European Union, and soon China, have economies large enough to build and support large passenger jet manufacturing. One needs a very optimistic long-term population and economic growth forecast in order to have an economy large and complex enough to support this type of industry. During negative social mood, sci-fi turns dark and dystopian, with many stories filled with Mad Max post-industrial wastelands.

No comments:

Post a Comment