Will We ReWrite Science Fiction? Or, When Will We, About Crystals and Polymers?

I've been watching Star Trek (various incarnations), Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis (I won't insult these shows by including them in the same pack as Stargate Universe, eventhough I liked Dr. Rush), and now I am watching Babylon 5, and what I consistently see in these shows is that information (from computer programming instructions, as in the various Stargate series, to information media, to messages, as in Babylon 5, for example) -- and even energy (as in Star Trek's Lithium crystals for the ship's engines) -- is stored in crystals. Now, all that is great, but all that also feels ancient (no pun intended about the Ancients from the Stargate series), in that these shows indicate yester-years' infatuation with crystal technology, from back when the transistor was invented, since that invention was followed by tremendous technological development that almost entirely depended on the use of crystals to control the flow of electrons (and holes) for the various purposes of information technology.

Some time since the invention of the transistor, however, humankind has come up with using various organic technologies: technologies that have led to the development of organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) and other devices that are grown from organic materials. Even photonic materials and photonic crystals can me made (at least partially) using organic materials. Sure, devices made with organic materials need hermetic sealing to prevent their degradation, and they tend to have lower damage thresholds than crystalline material technologies, but they also have the advantages (like lower power consumption in OLEDs) that entice researchers to develop their uses further and further. Far more importantly, of course, organic materials have the advantage that devices can be grown using molecular self assembly, opening up possibilities for engineering materials and devices with tremendous versatility. I, for example, make quantum dots (yes, they are crystalline, inorganic quantum dots, but bear with) that are spherical only because they are grown inside organic chambers: not only do organic materials provide growing chambers that are easily controlled (and difficult, at best, to produce otherwise) but they allow for the molding of the external extent of my quantum dot crystals. Back when I was working on OLEDs, to give another example, I found a paper whose authors used organic chemistry to deposit a single layer of molecules at the interface between two OLED layers. Now, that level of control over how a device is made -- down at the molecular level -- is something of a holy grail of materials and devices engineering, and a dream of researchers worldwide. I remember a piece of science fiction in which this dream is mentioned: in one of the clips from the computer game 'Alpha Centauri' there is mention of a material that acts as a nano factory that grows battle tanks if left alone. I do not remember that clip mentioning organic technology, however, and I have not seen organic technology being widely prevalent in science fiction.

Sure, I have observed the mention of organic materials (polymers, in this case) in the computer game 'Deus Ex,' but even that was a bit dissatisfying in that the game mentioned organic materials in the contexts of locks, medicines (though the game's concept of the 'Ambrosia' vaccine is reminiscent of how I use organic materials to make quantum dots), and biomedical engineering: my gripe is that even this game did not mention the tremendous possibilities that organic technologies open up for my field of electronic and photonic materials and devices. The only piece of fiction where I found anything satisfying, in this regard, is the mention of organic matrices being used as high density memory devices (computer storage) in the fan made mod of Deus Ex, called 'Zodiac.' That is a singular case, however, and I am yet to see the possibilities that organic materials and devices can render to information technology being expounded in a major TV show.

I can understand that Babylon 5 came out perhaps thirty years after the invention of the transistor, and so it might be another thirty years before organic technologies are talked about in a science fiction show, but I think that that would be very limiting, as by then the scientific community might be working on something else (don't ask me what that something else might even be). Personally, I would rather that the science fiction writers write shows that talk about what is being developed now, since their shows may very well influence the career choices that their younger audiences make. I don't want the kids growing up thirty years from now getting into college, all excited by the possibilities of developing OLEDs, only to find that their Dads saw OLEDs at Times Square (in New York) when they were young. Sure, the information technology aspects of crystalline technologies being shown on the modern sci-fi shows are still nowhere completion, but if you are going to influence the kids, it might be nicer to give them something that they can look forward to in the foreseeable future.

Wouldn't it be nice to get the kids interested in molecular self assembly, organic electronic and photonic devices, and the like so that the kids can look forward to these things when they start college? I certainly think it would broaden their horizons more than if the major sci-fi shows stayed fixated on crystal based technologies. Just a thought.

~Faissal