Social Distancing and The Asimov Universe

I'm sure many of the hardcore science fiction readers are probably amazed at what's is going on today due to the current pandemic COVID19. There are many science-fiction novels, stories, movies, etc where the plot is of a dystopian future because of a pandemic. The term "social distancing" is now the catchphrase of today. However, it reminds me of a story arc inside the Asimov universe. If you have read the Caves of Steel, you may recall that there is a difference between Earthmen and Spacers.

Spacers are the group of modified humans who descended from the first wave of colonists that left Earth. The term Spacer is very general and is primarily used by the people of Earth in a derogatory manner. Spacers prefer to refer to themselves by their planet of origin; that is, Auroran, Solarian, etc. Of the spacer worlds, one that called my attention is the Aurorans. They live extremely isolated from one another and they are very afraid of disease. Spacers tend to look down on the “earthmen” as dirty, diseased, and lesser people, Earthmen do not live as long as Spacers. I think the spacers were the first ones to practice what we call today "Social Distancing". If I can recall properly they even wear gloves all the time even among themselves and have no physical contact except for reproduction. I can't recall if they wear Facial masks. They live for a very long time and their marriages may be short. There are other details but I wanted to focus on social distancing.

The Aurora society at its height had a population of 200 million humans and 10 billion robots. Each one has his or her own vast estate and kept their population stable and controlled. They communicate via technology and very rarely in person. Sounds familiar? I am always amazed at how Sci-Fi authors who are actual scientists in the real world have the foresight to see how human society moves forward and deal with adversity.

I think that after the COVID-19 crisis, new cultural mores will evolve and definitely humanity will not be the same. Our lives right now are not part of science fiction anymore. I am very curious about how future science fiction novels and stories by scientists will be written once the crisis becomes part of our history and our culture has changed.

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