Friday, 27 November 2015

Has the spacing between generations lengthened in the Star Trek universe?

If we assume, as stated in the question, that a generation is 25 years (perhaps even 30 or so), we might see some evidence that generations have increased in length somewhat by the time of the 24th century.



One of the best examples of this is the O'Briens. We know Molly was born in 2368 (Source). We also know that Miles was 40 then (he was born in 2328 [Source]). We don't actually know how old Keiko is, but let's assume she's a similar age to Miles. So that's a 40-year gap right there. Another interesting aspect about Keiko that is brought up on Memory Alpha is the following:




It's also interesting to note that Keiko's mother was apparently around the age of 60 when she had Keiko (assuming Keiko was not much older than 40 in 2369).




(Source)



Considering the age of Miles, the assumption is quite reasonable. Now, it would be quite unusual by today's standards for a woman to give birth at the age of 60. That's a 60 year gap in the generations there.



The only other major character with a child I can think of off the top of my head is Dr Crusher. Now, she was born in 2324 (Source), whilst Wesley was born in 2348 (Source). This makes Beverly 28 when she had Wesley, which fits in with current ideas of what a generation is.



The other important factor to take into consideration is average lifespan. In the 22nd century, 100 years was the expected lifespan (Source). It's not so farfetched so expect that by the 24th century this might have increased a bit (we see Bones aged 137 in 'Encounter at Farpoint Pt 2').



So, in light of all this, I would conclude that perhaps, the 'age' of a generation has increased somewhat by the 24th century. As people are living longer, the age they can no longer biologically have offspring becomes older, allowing for a given generation to be longer.

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