Sci-Fi Whys

[Rynn]

Regarding baldness: They clearly had the technology to cause hair growth in the federation. Their medical technology was so advanced that they could change what species people appeared to be, let alone reverse some hair follicle die off. But I do think that the point was that baldness wasn't really cared about. Which is entirely understandable given that the culture was supposed to present one in which arbitrary fads and obsessions were largely a thing of the past. It's an idealistic culture in which educated personal choice is valued. If someone wants to add hair because the like the way it looks? No problem. If someone doesn't mind that they're naturally balding. Also no problem. If the decision is made to affect it either way to to a destructive need to seek validation through following trends? That is a problem.

I think SciFi where everyone is a beautiful twentysomething is a bit unimaginative. I'm sure that if medical technology dropped in our laps now where every aspect of the body could be safely and cheaply changed then by friday everyone would look like an athlete model. But a society that's had the ability to do that for a while will inevitably value appearance in very different ways to us. How you physically appear will be far more of a personal choice, and would likely become as widely varied as fashion is IRL (the variety of which scales with the decreasing cost of new items).