Star Trek’s level of medical care is far more advanced than today’s. As Beckett says in LD, “Doc will wave a light over it.” Yet, in Star Trek people aren’t shown doing hobbies and pastimes that are much different from what’s done now. Still, I wonder about differences in a society where people know they won’t be laid up for months for doing or trying something that some folks of today might look at and say, “nope, too dangerous.” Injuries will still hurt, there’s a big difference between say, a broken leg taking months to heal and possibly multiple surgeries, and Star Trek’s healing of a broken leg in a matter of hours.
I’m trying to think of what I’d do differently if I had access to Star Trek level medical care. There are things I want to try, but I look at sideways because of the possible injuries. It’s mild, but one thing I think I’d try again is skating. I injured my knee roller skating at a rink years ago, and that knee is still a problem. That injury left me skittish of skating. If I knew an injury from skating (within reason) could be an easy fix, I would have given it another go.
Is there a pastime you’d be more willing to try, or try again, if Star Trek level medical care was available?
If people want to try more dangerous stuff, there’s a holodeck with safety for that. So there isn’t much reason to risk more pain and injury than necessary.
Like now, medical care is still just a backup if the normal means of self-preservation fail. You can never be sure if that stunt will end up with a broken leg or neck, and there’s a thin line between those, even for ST-level docs.
But then there are species that will always push to the brink of survivability, like Klingons or Hirogen.
Ed: but specifically for mild things like skating, that’s more about having your past injuries healed so they don’t “remind” you to not do it again. But again with a hoodeck that’s less of a problem.