Delicious Deja Vu

For those of you who haven’t already heard me rant about it, there’s this book series and accompanying TV adaptation called “The Expanse” that I’m a huge fan of. The premise of the series, at least for book/season 1, is that Earth, Mars and the asteroid belt are all competing for the dwindling resources that remain in the solar system. In the midst of this political tension, a detective from the Belt and his partner from Earth investigate a murder that is connected to a series of events that has the potential to change the fate of Earth and its colonies forever. As you can probably guess, the creators of this story were heavily inspired by Asimov’s work. While there are many differences as well, “Caves of Steel” feels familiar enough for me to be well-disposed to it, but also new and fresh enough to be intruiging despite the fact that it came out long before I was born. I think there’s a degree to which Asimov’s work deals with concepts that are persistent throughout history, and that’s why the way in which “The Expanse” mirrors it is so successful. In a lot of science fiction, there are aliens or robots or whatever trying to destroy humanity. But while robots do exist in “Caves of Steel”, the real threat is ultimately found in the way humans find themselves at odds with each other. I think one of the things that appeals to me most about these works is that there is an underlying sense that the greatest threat to humanity is itself.