SF quote of the day

[roseembolism]

Nicked from rec.arts.sf.written:

        "One of the things SF has taught me is that in the future,
people will be frickin' morons when it comes to solving day to
day problems (In fact, they will forget things that we know now)
but this will not prevent them from building near-C or FTL starships."
- James Nicoll 

Given that this was a discussion that involved tho old "There's a water shortage because the space settlers have to get water from Earth?" cliche, this quote is especially appropriate.  But the sad thing is there's an entire subgenre of SF that involves leaping through hoops to solve A Major Thorny Problem, while the reader sits there and mutters "why don't they use (technology that's available now), or gripes "Given the technology they have in the setting, why don't they (obvious use of tech)". 

Does anyone want to bring up their favorite versions of SF stupidity?

Comments

[roseembolism.livejournal.com]

I saw two possible explanations for how the aliens react in Signs:

1) It's actually a coming of age ritual: "You will not be a true adult until you go down to the Planet of Watery Death naked and barehanded, and return with the head of one of the Water Monsters"

2) They aren't actually aliens at all, they're DEMONS. After all, they never self-identify as aliens, and they don't act like technologically aware aliens. They do however, act like imps or demons. Which explains why splashing them with water works- it's actually sanctifying them.