Some cold equating

Without question, the difficult life-and-death decision making in “The Cold Equations” qualifies the story as a modern moral parable, forcing its protagonist to weigh the lives of many against the innocent mistake of a child. For this reason, it is easy to agree with Robert Sawyer’s assessment that the story is “a thought experiment about morality,” since it demonstrates the ways in which the most ethical route of action often conflicts with legal and logical necessities. Gunn’s assertion, however, that a “reader [who] doesn’t understand [“The Cold Equations”] isn’t likely to appreciate science fiction,” is a bit more difficult to support. Is the moral dilemma in “The Cold Equations” really all that archetypical of all science fiction stories? Are the basic conflicts the story presents—man versus a harsh environment forced to make inhumane decisions to complete his mission—really all that universal when it comes to other science fiction, and to the concept of science fiction? I would argue that because this hypothetical moral parable presents elements of the human experience grounded in reality but altered in significant ways by the presence of science fictional elements—interstellar travel, extrasolar colonization—the story not only epitomizes the best deployment of science fiction but also can stand, as Gunn suggests, as a litmus test for those unsure if the genre interests them.

The sort of problem facing Barton is not one isolated to the imaginary travels of some emergency dispatch spacecraft. This sort of issue has faced historical people based in reality, most directly during the exploration and colonization of new lands in the Americas—a period of history which serves as a common analogue for the interstellar travel which saturates science fiction. In these days, explorers and colonists were often forced to make dire sacrifices in the interest of their missions, whether they strictly rationed food during the interminable voyages across the Atlantic or chose to cast out those with diseases which could threaten every person in a given colony. Those on the edges of civilization throughout history have been forced to make life-and-death decisions in real life, and for this reason the moral dilemma in “The Cold Equations” is very much grounded in the history of those who have chosen utilitarianism in these circumstances—that which benefits the most people while harming the fewest is the best course of action. It would be hard to argue that Marilyn’s life was more valuable than those of the endangered colonists, no matter how much innocence or naïveté was involved.

Since this problem of utilitarian ethics is a common thread in our species’ history, “The Cold Equations” demonstrates the ability of science fiction to cast believable moral agents in fantastic and impossible situations, like an interstellar rescue craft hurtling through space at some phenomenal speed. Science fiction rarely concerns itself with the idiosyncrasies of its invented universe—or, if it does, my opinion is that it isn’t any good—rather opting to explore the lives of those ordinary humans who inhabit it. Whether it shows us an agent of the law forced to hunt down those whom society views as less than human (Blade Runner) or a rebellious son fighting off his father’s pressures to join the family business (Star Wars), science fiction is best when it’s telling us not about hyperdrives or zap guns but about ourselves. The chrome and plasma trappings of whichever fantastic environment in which the story is set often only serve to demonstrate the universality of the lesson the science fiction author aims to convey. The aim of many, but certainly not all, is to show that a person in starkly different circumstances from the reader still possesses the same moral imperatives under which we operate in reality. They are people, same as us. So, no, if someone doesn’t at the very least appreciate the moral dilemmas present in “The Cold Equations,” as Gunn states, they’re very unlikely to appreciate science fiction in general. Or humanity in general, for that matter.