Strange New Worlds
When I was a kid I was fascinated with science fiction. My first memories are of shows like Flash Gordon, Space 1999, Star Blazers, Star Wars and Star Trek.
The future wasn't always pretty but it was the tech and the stories and the people. There was hope. Friends. Better possible future.
It was a huge factor in my getting involved in the tech industry. I've been in the electronics and computer world for over 40 years. SciFi and the lessons taught by many of them, is a huge part of who I am and helped shape my ideals and my politics.
Nothing had more of an impact on me than Star Trek. No TV or movie or even a person, can claim to have had as much influence on technological and social development than Star Trek. Even the original series short run of only three seasons, inspired more engineers and technology thinkers than any single university ever could. The spin offs and movies would continue to inspire engineers and thinkers for generations to come.
Socially, Gene Roddenberry turned the TV industry and the world upside down. In November of 1968, in an episode titled "Plato's Stepchildren" (Season 3 Ep10) Nichelle Nichols and William Shatner kissed, the first time a Black woman and a white man had a scripted kiss on a US TV show. It would also be one of the most racially diverse shows on TV at the time.
It gave us a galaxy which still had its challenges but offered the most hopeful vision for humanity then any SciFi show ever made, past or present.
That vision, Mr. Roddenberry's vision, shaped my hopes and dreams for a better tomorrow. That this world, with its pollution and racism and war, was not to be our lot in life. That future was possible. We could make that real. And I know I wasn't the only person that thought that.
That is why, here, today, in the year 2025, I am beyond disappointed. In fact there is no language to adequately express my feelings about this.
Thing is, it's easy to blame an orange narcissist and a host of badly acted bond villains as the reason. Yes, they do share some of the blame but I'm really disappointed in all of us because we let them.
We let them fuck us over. They didn't give us Galaxy-class starships with photon torpedos and artificial gravity or a classless society in which nothing limits you but you and all your earthly needs can be met by walking up to a device and saying things like "Earl Grey tea, hot" and bobs your uncle, you have tea and you don't even have to wash the dishes later.
My point is this is not the future I hoped for or dreamed about for decades. This future sucks.
I am never going to see that future. That is enough to make me cry...and sometimes it does.
All I can hope for is maybe, one day in a future beyond my time that my kids or maybe my grandkids, will utter the phrase "beam me up Scotty" and they will.
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All humor aside I am with you. Deeply disappointed.
