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Alternate Universe In the Absence of Trek?

I've watched a few of these documentaries and read some of the books speculating and documenting the huge influence Star Trek has had on culture and even inspiring the advancement of technology and certain careers.

I think it would be a very interesting project for someone to reverse engineer that and write an alternate universe story about what early 21st century Earth would look like if Star Trek had never existed.

How many inventions might not have been made...or would be fundamentally different and how would that change the world?
What repercussions would occur if there were significantly less people inspired to be doctors and engineers etc. as a result of their fascination with those characters in Star Trek?

As much as we like to point out that Star Trek is pretty "middle tier" when it comes to outright popularity in the genre space...there's no way to argue that there were many other franchises that potentially influenced the course of history like Star Trek did.
Did you watch the one called "How William Shatner Changed the World"? There are a lot of people there who made major contributions to science directly because of Star Trek.
 
I like to think that in the Star Trek universe, that starting in the late 1960s there was a different science-fiction franchise that began and filled the void left by there being no actual Star Trek series. They could even still call it Star Trek or Galaxy Quest, or whatever. That would have had all the same "influence" as Star Trek.
I tend to think otherwise, because then we get loads of "Hey, this reminds me of an episode of Star Trek!" moments (which I'm sure will happen in season two of The Orville)

I suspect that in Trek's universe there was no Star Trek equivalent series and that sci-fi kinda died out after Captain Proton's Flash Gordon-analogue. Like how there are no zombie movies in the world of The Walking Dead. Zombies are an entirely new concept to Rick and his gang (hence them being called Walkers), and weird space alien shit is new to Kirk and company.
 
I tend to think otherwise, because then we get loads of "Hey, this reminds me of an episode of Star Trek!" moments (which I'm sure will happen in season two of The Orville)

I suspect that in Trek's universe there was no Star Trek equivalent series and that sci-fi kinda died out after Captain Proton's Flash Gordon-analogue. Like how there are no zombie movies in the world of The Walking Dead. Zombies are an entirely new concept to Rick and his gang (hence them being called Walkers), and weird space alien shit is new to Kirk and company.
I LOVE the Orville but pretty much every episode has been a game of "which Trek episode have I seen this in?"
 
I tend to think otherwise, because then we get loads of "Hey, this reminds me of an episode of Star Trek!" moments (which I'm sure will happen in season two of The Orville)

I suspect that in Trek's universe there was no Star Trek equivalent series and that sci-fi kinda died out after Captain Proton's Flash Gordon-analogue. Like how there are no zombie movies in the world of The Walking Dead. Zombies are an entirely new concept to Rick and his gang (hence them being called Walkers), and weird space alien shit is new to Kirk and company.

I would strongly disagree with that because that 's basically stating that without Star Trek that you can't have creative sci-fi on television. I could easily see shows such as Battlestar Galactica or Time Trax or a series version of Star Wars very easily coming into life from creative minds. Maybe even a spin off of a movie like Forbidden Planet--which appeared long before Star Trek or based on a Twilight Zone or Outer Limiits episode. Plenty of room for creativity in pre-Star Trek sci fi that would lead to a Star Trek equivalent.
 
Walkie talkies were invented prior to the Second World War and Hedy Lamar developed much of the electronics technology that made such things as cellular phones possible when she invented wifi and much of spread spectrum technology in the 1940s. Sorry, but Star Trek had little to anything to do with those inventions.
Heddy Lamar did invent spread spectrum but she did not invent cell phone repeater systems, which can and formerly did work without spread spectrum.
 
I can't imagine a world without STAR TREK: The Next Generation in it.
... I wouldn't want to!

I can't say that STAR TREK inspired me to be an Artist or the kind of Man I am (and I'm pretty awesome!) but, you know what? Whatever mood I'm in, TNG always manages to lift my spirits. If you want to call that "inspires" then I accept your definition: STAR TREK inspires me. Great entertainment with the kind of rewatch value TNG has is very hard to find, indeed. And, as strange as this might sound, I'm actually grateful for it that people came up with it and shared it with the world. I don't care what the motivations were, really: money, fame ... women. STAR TREK's been there, in some form or another, for all of my life. They say that as long as your parents are alive, you're still a kid. And that's kind of how I feel about this franchise. It re-energises my sense of wonder, if you like ... and my enthusiasm for The Human Adventure.
 
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Heddy Lamar did invent spread spectrum but she did not invent cell phone repeater systems, which can and formerly did work without spread spectrum.
True, but without her, you might not have had cell phone repeater systems. She paved the way and did so long before Trek.
 
True, but without her, you might not have had cell phone repeater systems. She paved the way and did so long before Trek.
Her inventions weren't necessary for those networks. the enhanced and gave it what we have now, but the earlier generation networks did not have ss
 
I do suspect it might have accelerated the development of small touchscreen devices and talking computers, just by it planting the seed in people's mind. Sure, lots of different people can have the same idea independently, but the influence of Star Trek might have nudged things along, in the same way that you could argue that early science fiction may have gotten the right people thinking about how to get into space.

Charles Babbage had designed a general purpose mechanical computer in the early 1800s, but it was never completed and was forgotten about, so when the first electronic computers were being designed a century later, it actually took longer because people had to work out the concept on their own, instead of being able to study the work Babbage had already done.

Other than that I don't think it's made any difference. People's interest in space travel has taken a huge dive since the 60s.
 
I would strongly disagree with that because that 's basically stating that without Star Trek that you can't have creative sci-fi on television. I could easily see shows such as Battlestar Galactica or Time Trax or a series version of Star Wars very easily coming into life from creative minds. Maybe even a spin off of a movie like Forbidden Planet--which appeared long before Star Trek or based on a Twilight Zone or Outer Limiits episode. Plenty of room for creativity in pre-Star Trek sci fi that would lead to a Star Trek equivalent.
Yeah but then you're stuck with bizarro situations where TV shows from the late 20th century have exactly predicted the kind of stuff the Enterprise, Voyager and the rest are gonna run into. From bumpy-headed aliens to temporal phenomena to Harry piping up during Voyager's "Workforce", "Hey, this is just like that episode of Stargate SG-1!"

It makes Trek adventures seem silly to me if their real life so closely follows the tropes of sci-fi TV from their own past.
 
I know that Gerry Anderson was planning a third series of Space 1999 and also a show about Maya, the alien woman from the second series that became their version of Mr.Spock which would have run concurrently together! What if that had happened instead of TNG, DS9 and VOY? TOS would have still run it's three seasons though...:hugegrin:
JB
 
I simply can't fathom a world without Star Trek's influence. I'd imagine it'd be like something out of a Mad Max movie, wherein those who hadn't become physicists, ethicists and engineers were perpetually pillaging petrol barons - kinda MU-esque.

Star Trek is an awesome statement of humanism.
 
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