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Gene Roddenbury's Vision Is Probably Not Realistic Enough to Be in Our Future

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I think in it's most distilled version, Gene's vision was simply an idea that there we will have a future (rather than not) and that it'll be a time when a person won't be discriminated by what they look like. Everything else is kind of sci-fi window dressing, some of it by Gene, some of it not--but he gets the credit/blame for them regardless.
 
I have to disagree.

Darkness and gloom is a trend right now, much of that because what is going on in the world today.

But will it be a trend in, let's say 10 years?

Not to mention that we really need something uplifting in these days too. A hope for the future and that is what Star Trek stands for.

There are a dozen or so boring "doom and gloom" series going on right now which will be forgotten in a few years.

But there's only one Star Trek and may it continue to stand for hope for the future and a better life.
Based on the low on the radar casting of writers CBS is drafting from Rick Berman's dried up well of talent for the new Trek series, my hopes for an uplifting Star Trek series is waning rapidly. The darkness and gloom trend is dead, but I doubt CBS will ever get it.
 
I don't know if the future will be anything like the Trek future but I certainly don't think moving in that direction is impossible.
 
In some ways, Gene's "vision" gives itself some leeway, by the implication that before things go all optimistic and utopian, humanity basically has to pull itself through the shit pile first. So, there's some realism in the prediction that we nearly wipe ourselves out as a species, have an epiphany of sorts, and (post-first contact) begin to slowly drag ourselves towards what we see in Star Trek's 23rd and 24th centuries.

From that perspective, therefore, there is every possibility that the sad-sack world we all currently live in could still evolve into Star Trek's optimistic future. But it isn't going to happen seamlessly, nor without significant loss of life in the meantime.

In practical terms though, I've often wondered if the happy-go-lucky Star Trek universe is actually our alternate, and that we have the misfortune to be living in what will ultimately become the Mirror Universe instead. :p :D :devil: ;)

If not a realistic vision, it's at least hopeful.

This. :techman: :techman:
 
In practical terms though, I've often wondered if the happy-go-lucky Star Trek universe is actually our alternate, and that we have the misfortune to be living in what will ultimately become the Mirror Universe instead.

That's entirely up to us, how we raise our children and thus how they raise theirs. We have the choice to make now. What principles and philosophies will we consider important to nourish in our children?
 
We're not the Mirror Universe. By now in the MU humanity was already a united race, as indicated by the fact Neil Armstrong planted the flag of the Terran Empire on the moon as opposed to the US flag. Granted, they were likely united through conquest, but still, there you have it. MU humanity banded together at leas a century before Prime Universe humanity did.
 
The Federation seems very unrealistic for example there would be a huge rift between manual workers like miners and higher society like Starfleet, what the pay gap between them? Another issue would be the lack of democracy, how would member states have democratic representation in the Federation? What happens if a member wanted to leave?
 
Based on the low on the radar casting of writers CBS is drafting from Rick Berman's dried up well of talent for the new Trek series, my hopes for an uplifting Star Trek series is waning rapidly. The darkness and gloom trend is dead, but I doubt CBS will ever get it.

Come on, even Berman isn't into the doom and gloom trend. These are HIS WORDS from the Yahoo article on the 10th anniversary of TATV (which didn't live up to the vision of a hopeful future but that's a topic for another day). See for yourself here.
https://www.yahoo.com/tv/a-decade-without-trek-part-2-boldly-going-into-118951416590.html
We started in 1987 with a science fiction TV show when there were none on the air and hadn’t been for some time. Over the last 25 years, there have been dozens of sci-fi shows on the air. I can say that we were, in some way, responsible for that. Star Trek is unlike virtually any other science fiction show on television; it deals with a very positive, hopeful notion of the future. Gene believed that mankind was going to continue to evolve in better and better ways. That’s always made Star Trek unique, especially today when you turn on the television and so much of it is so dark, especially the stuff with elements of science fiction in it. The positive attitude that he insisted on is one of the things that has made Star Trek so endearing to so many people.

As for whether Gene's vision can work in real life, well some of it is completely unrealistic. The idea of United States of Africa sounds laughable when there's always a civil war in at least 1 African country. But some of it has already come true, like the emphasis on diversity that wasn't there in the 60's. Or at the very least, most major institutions giving it lip service. It's really all about what he believed we should strive for.
 
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I couldn't disagree with that last sentence more, and theme of the thread,if I tried.

Darkness, pessimism, doom & gloom have been done to death. Hell, 80's Sci-fi was full of it [Cold War, recession etc]. What Trek has always brought to the table has been the best thing about it: optimism. In a world of negatives, where TV shows love doom and despair, Trek has always risen above those cliches and shown us a potential future.

And that is really the point. Trek's Utopian future is a possibility. 'Gene's Vision', or 'The Spirit of Trek' is a beautiful thing and I think it is part of why people are so fanatical about Trek: its message touches people in a very real, very deep way. It is easy for people to make the usual snide comments about Roddenberry in threads like this but he still gave the world a remarkable franchise, based on positivity, Humanism, tolerance, science, socialism.

And look at the West right now. All of those things are slowly on the rise. Humanism/Atheism is growing, socialism is growing, look at people's rights and how they have changed over the past 50 years alone, tolerance is growing... Human history has been nothing but progress. Slow, painful, progress.

So to cut my essay short: I can't say 'The Vision' is unrealistic. This planet will be ramarkably different by 2150...by 2250 it will be unrecognisable from now. You shouldn't be such a product of your time to call a utopian vision nonsense that will 'never' happen.

'Never' is an awfully long time.

I have to disagree.

Darkness and gloom is a trend right now, much of that because what is going on in the world today.

But will it be a trend in, let's say 10 years?

Not to mention that we really need something uplifting in these days too. A hope for the future and that is what Star Trek stands for.

There are a dozen or so boring "doom and gloom" series going on right now which will be forgotten in a few years.

But there's only one Star Trek and may it continue to stand for hope for the future and a better life.

Sorry, I meant TODAY is when the dark Trek is selling and being presented because of all the bad happenings in the world.

That's a Berman-era development though. Roddenberry was the guy who got angry at the whole Chariots of the Gods ancient aliens idea for belittling human accomplishment.

It was Berman-Era Trek to have the Vulcans take us under their wing??:wtf:

Oh yeah, they had a TOS episode where the original U.S.S. Enterprise met Zefram Cochrane. :vulcan:

Berman, Braga, and Moore have denied drawing inspiration from Roddenberry in regards to how Cochrane was depicted in FC. Still hard to overlook the similarities, though.

Didn't they basically scrap the TOS Zefram Cochrane?
 
It was Berman-Era Trek to have the Vulcans take us under their wing??

The episode "First Contact" implies that the Federation takes newly warp capable species under their wing. That was season four of TNG, not sure how much input Roddenberry had on the episode though.
 
If you're a white Christian male.

You know, even if you accept that 'whites have it easier', have you done a comparison with the rest of the world about how optimistic the people's prospects are - particularly for minority races?

But the one thing to destroy our future and our sense of an optimistic spirit? Becoming permanently mired in old hatreds.
 
You know, even if you accept that 'whites have it easier', have you done a comparison with the rest of the world about how optimistic the people's prospects are - particularly for minority races?

But the one thing to destroy our future and our sense of an optimistic spirit? Becoming permanently mired in old hatreds.

Apologies for bringing it up. But there's not a lot of tolerance for people who don't toe the line in the US. All one has to do is look at lots of reactions to Sunday mornings gay club shooting.

http://thoughtcatalog.com/jacob-gee...ople-applauding-the-orlando-gay-club-shooter/
 
Don't let the assholes on the internet convince you that everyone thinks like they do. They're loud precisely because they're NOT speaking for the people as a whole. Step back and look it... This was the single worst crime in fifty years of American history, brought to you by a foreign culture centered on hate.. and while our freedom allows us our assholes, it also speaks of how terrible and wrong this event was. Millions of people, including many who don't even support homosexuality, are sending charity, prayers, support, and love for the victims and their families... and there is a calm but firm cry for greater justice.

What we see in Star Trek, at least in TOS, is already with us. It just can be hard to recognize sometimes.
 
brought to you by a foreign culture centered on hate...

You do realize that the shooter was an American citizen? Born and raised here in the US. There are plenty of self-professed Christians out there that spew hate, all one has to do is look to Westboro Baptist Church.

Just because a group perverts a religions teachings, doesn't mean the religion itself is centered on hate.
 
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