The Expanse's Realism Makes It Unique Among Sci-Fi Shows
A great deal of, if not most, science fiction media tends to fall on either end of a specific spectrum: optimism versus pessimism. Star Trek famously depicts a utopian future, one where humanity has united to explore the universe. Many franchises created in the modern day, meanwhile, lean towards the dystopian and the bleak, weaving cautionary tales about future technology and what it can do in the wrong hands. And in either case, the technological advances that take place in sci-fi universes tend to be ones that we today can only dream of. Traveling hundreds of lightyears in mere seconds; human cloning; suspended animation for hundreds of years — all of these are far beyond our grasp right now.
Of course, that's part of the fun of science fiction: to imagine a universe so different from our own. But it's equally intriguing to wonder: looking realistically at the trajectory we are on, where will humanity be a few centuries from now? What technologies could we feasibly develop in the next three hundred years, and how will they affect our society? That's the approach that The Expanse takes in its speculation on the future of humankind. Not only is it one of the most scientifically realistic shows on TV, but the characters and their actions throughout the story lend it a sense of believability that make it feel uniquely immersive.
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Many purists would argue that it would be a mistake to call The Expanse hard sci-fi, and they're not wrong. Hard sci-fi deals only in what we know is possible, according to the laws of the universe as we understand them. The protomolecule, the alien substance at the heart of all the conflict in The Expanse, is uncharted territory. Speculating on the behavior of
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