Expansive

I had a sheet of paper with my eyedrop schedule printed on it. I stopped referring to it as I memorized what it would be until Tuesday, when things changed. On Tuesday I went to look at the sheet was gone. I have no idea what happened to it. I had kept it handy to the chair where I always take the drops. I called the eye doctor to find out the new schedule. This proved as unsuccessful as the first time I called him with blurred vision. I called again yesterday morning. I left another message. I still didn’t hear back. Fortunately I live near the eye clinic and walked over there. Things were resolved quickly. The receptionist tried to find the schedule on her computer but it wasn’t there. So she sent me back to talk to a nurse. She handed me a preprinted sheet. I had it in table form and this wasn’t but I didn’t care about that. All I wanted when I called was for them to email me the sheet which they could have done. They would have been happy to do it. They helped me quickly and eagerly. The entire problem is with the messaging system. I can’t call the people I need directly. I’m having my other eye operated on Monday and have a follow-up appointment the next day. I’ll ask then how I can contact them directly.

I finished watching The Expanse on Prime. It is the best science fiction series I’ve seen in years, one of the best, possibly the very best ever. The authors of the books it is based on, Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, clearly read a lot of Arthur C. Clarke and the producers and directors watched 2001: A Space Odyssey. Like Clarke and the film there’s a great attention to scientific detail. Unlike virtually every Science Fiction TV show and movie, I did not want to throw things on the screen. Like Kubrick they managed to show the science without explaining it; down to small things like the Coriolis Effect. Inertia and gravity are practically characters in the story, as they affect everything the people do. Things look right within the limits of budget.

It’s not all nuts and bolts. The characters and their motivations are realistic. What it does better than any show, science fiction or not, is portray people not as good or bad but complex mixtures of both. It shows how people who have noble objectives can still be in conflict. That’s a lesson the real world needs to learn. Just as I was thinking that one of the characters said it. Imperfect people acting with imperfect information, will make mistakes; that doesn’t make them bad.

The characters grow and change. The governments grow and change. It does this without being morally ambiguous. There are characters that act as the moral center. They always want to do the right things. There are some that are not quite as committed to that but rise to the occasion, others fall. Some are truly villainous but even they are trying to do right by their own judgement. They are just arrogant and lack empathy. One of the protagonists lacks empathy but he realizes its value. He wishes he had empathy, he knows he should care about other people, so he works at acting as if he did. That’s a juggling act I’ve never seen portrayed in fiction.

I have finished the third season and can’t wait for the fourth. The expanse is expanding. There are no challenges while progress has been made. The show created a world worth exploring. I’m on board for as long as it lasts. Now that I can see well enough to read I’ll tackle the books. It’s my favorite discovery since Game of Thrones.