I agree with you, Warped9, that the concept of Star Trek is certainly not outdated, but that the choice of execution taken back then has become obsolete. It started getting rather stale in TNG, was somewhat improved upon with DS9 (although it suffered from too many soap-opera toned episodes), but stalled with Voyager. Enterprise tried to recapture too much of what came before and ultimately failed.
Look at "Babylon 5". Now that was a show which explored the depths of alien races far more than Star Trek ever did. Humanoids still dominated but didn't ultimately rule. And although it did become immersed in traditional human issues/conflicts, there was some straying outside the box. This is what DS9 should have been like.
Anyway, as far as society's perspective goes, I think it's hard to place any long term judgment right now. Our economies have been shaken mercilessly, casting out many into the ranks of the unemployed (I'm one of them). We have seen our leaders of finance really screw things up, from touting that "business can take care of itself", to the scandalous self-serving activities that took place between banks and trading institutions during the housing market boom. It's hard to be optimistic. We're in a MAJOR mess right now. The US government is corrupt (key people have said it numerous times) and will not change fast enough in the short run. Our national budget is deep in the red. The ambition of going back to the moon and planning for a lunar colony (because there's the essential ingredient of H2O there) has been dashed. Essential resources are starting to run thin. Our climate is changing for the worse and we're not sure if this is going to be temporary or if we can influence it by cutting back on emissions.
Where are we going? The future does not look so very bright right now. So of course, optimism is not in fashion. You look like a naive schoolboy if you speak with doe eyed optimism. And maybe that's a good thing. We need to feel the pain of our situation, so that it may inspire change. It needs to become a mantra, the mindset to rebuild and start anew. But it's very hard to do that when people are struggling to make ends meet. When the now unobtainable opulence of the past is still fresh in mind. Our schools are seriously lacking good leadership and teaching talent, not to mention essential social workers/therapists for struggling children. Bad parenting is the norm these days and we're churning out people who worsen society and burden our prisons. OK, enough said, I'm getting myself sick.
I grew up with STTOS. I had high hopes that I'd one day see our society marching strongly in that direction. But I've come to realize that it's pure fantasy. We are still the beast, and have a long way to go before we can become truly civilized. Benevolent, intelligent, compassionate, and wise... so that we may one day return to our ambitions for the stars.
