Paediatric Department, Mater Dei Hospital, Malta.
Early Hum Dev. 2020 May;144:105024. doi: 10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2020.105024. Epub 2020 Mar 19.
Science fiction is all around us, manifesting in fiction, TV series, blockbuster movies etc. The Star Trek (ST) universe has become an integral element of popular culture and doctors play important roles. This paper introduces depictions of these individuals over the decades since the inception of the series in 1966. The doctors portrayed have reflected the shifting expectations of the general public in that medics have morphed successively from an old-style country doctor, to a single supermom, to a genetically engineered human, to a sentient, computer-generated hologram and to an alien who uses also uses natural healing methods. The doctor in the latest ST series has broken another barrier in that this is the first series to deliberately include homosexual couples within the Star Trek universe for the first time in its fifty-one odd year lifespan and the doctor is the first openly gay character. These doctors are expected to demonstrate total accessibility, the ability to utilise natural remedies when possible, compassion and unstinting commitment to their patients and their profession, infallibility and broad skills with flexibility that allows them to deal with virtually anything, in anyone/anything. These capacities appear desirable even if the traditional doctor is replaced by a machine, a warning for the medical profession. A second collection of papers will further explore the ST universe by analysing unethical medical experimentation, artificial intelligence (AI) and the institution of ethics in AI, the application of nanotechnology in biology and depictions of the nursing profession in this fictive future.
科幻小说无处不在，体现在小说、电视剧、大片等中。《星际迷航》（ST）宇宙已经成为流行文化的一个组成部分，医生在其中扮演着重要的角色。本文介绍了自 1966 年该系列首播以来几十年间这些角色的描绘。所描绘的医生反映了公众期望的不断变化，即医护人员逐渐从传统的乡村医生、单一的超级妈妈、基因工程人类、有感知的计算机生成的全息图，到外星医生，这些医生也使用自然疗法。最新的 ST 系列中的医生打破了另一个障碍，因为这是该系列首次在其 51 年的生命周期内故意在《星际迷航》宇宙中包括同性恋夫妇，而且这位医生是第一个公开的同性恋角色。这些医生有望表现出完全的可接近性、在可能的情况下使用自然疗法的能力、同情心和对患者及其职业的无私承诺、不犯错误以及广泛的灵活技能，使他们能够应对任何人/任何事。即使传统的医生被机器取代，这些能力也似乎是可取的，这对医疗行业发出了警告。第二组论文将通过分析不道德的医学实验、人工智能（AI）和 AI 中的伦理机构、生物技术中的纳米技术应用以及这个虚构的未来中的护理职业的描绘，进一步探索 ST 宇宙。
