Then maybe I'd make international news and give the world a morbid laugh on my way out.
(I'm in no hurry to leave. But, like they said in Men in Black, some days you're the windshield; some days you're the bug.
)
How do we get to the Star Trek future?
- Thread starter wildsulu
- Start date
(I'm in no hurry to leave. But, like they said in Men in Black, some days you're the windshield; some days you're the bug.
)
Okay the very first thing we need to do is reinstate funding to NASA. That is a given, and why it was taken away still perplexes me.
Once you do that it's all a matter of collaboration and partnership. If we ever even hope to achieve a future of intergalactic travel we need to come together as a planet to find ideas that will work. We are so focused on "beating" other countries that we lose sight of the true goal and that is exploration and science.
After we achieve that we need a generation of kids who will have the intelligence to achieve these goals. We need a better school system that focuses on things that are useful in the real world rather that things that will be on SAT or ACT tests. Right now all we are doing is teaching children what they need to know to pass a test that will determine their entire future. When instead we need to be teaching kids skill-sets that actually carry over into careers out in the real world.
Then once you have that done you have to pay off the insane debt our nation has accumulated over the years in order to be able to fund such projects. If we don't have the money then all these other things will have been for nothing.
lastly we need to heal our own planet. it's a wonderful idea to travel the stars seeking out new life, but we also can't forget about the lives back on earth. We need more conservation plans and clean energy resources. Not only is it better for the Earth but it's cheaper, allowing more money to be put into programs like space travel. Not to mention if we hope to travel to new planets we need to learn how to take care of the one we already have.
Bottom line there are a vast number of things we need to do in order to get up and running with a great space program. All the things I mewntiond are all gears in a machine, if one is missing or broken the whole machine fails to function, that's what people dont seem to understand.
Once you do that it's all a matter of collaboration and partnership. If we ever even hope to achieve a future of intergalactic travel we need to come together as a planet to find ideas that will work. We are so focused on "beating" other countries that we lose sight of the true goal and that is exploration and science.
After we achieve that we need a generation of kids who will have the intelligence to achieve these goals. We need a better school system that focuses on things that are useful in the real world rather that things that will be on SAT or ACT tests. Right now all we are doing is teaching children what they need to know to pass a test that will determine their entire future. When instead we need to be teaching kids skill-sets that actually carry over into careers out in the real world.
Then once you have that done you have to pay off the insane debt our nation has accumulated over the years in order to be able to fund such projects. If we don't have the money then all these other things will have been for nothing.
lastly we need to heal our own planet. it's a wonderful idea to travel the stars seeking out new life, but we also can't forget about the lives back on earth. We need more conservation plans and clean energy resources. Not only is it better for the Earth but it's cheaper, allowing more money to be put into programs like space travel. Not to mention if we hope to travel to new planets we need to learn how to take care of the one we already have.
Bottom line there are a vast number of things we need to do in order to get up and running with a great space program. All the things I mewntiond are all gears in a machine, if one is missing or broken the whole machine fails to function, that's what people dont seem to understand.
Not to turn this into a political or economic thread, in part because I know pretty much nothing about economics (as evidenced by the fact that I'm about to cite a Cracked article), but I once read that:
"For every dollar the U.S. owes a foreign country, it is owed 89 cents in foreign debt. America actually makes more money off of buying other people's debt than other people make buying theirs." (Cracked)
What I do know, however, is that we have a very severe income and wealth distribution problem. The common citizen might not lose sleep over NASA's funding woes or foreign rainforest loss when they can barely pay their own bills.
Sadly even if we may not be in as much debt as some people think, that debt is still there is is very crippling. I'm in the Navy and we were (as always) one of the first things to have funding cut from. We try to reducing funding to so many organizations in order to pay off our debts but each day the debt raises more and more so no matter how much we cut it will never be enough. Sadly that's the nature of the beast and why until it is fixed our minds will be preoccupied by our nations woes rather than shaping bright minds for future exploration.
First to win Vietnam (we all know how well that worked out) and then to eradicate poverty (which didn't work either, since - since the Great Society programs - poverty tracks with economic growth.)
Fortunately, there are signs we're entering a Maslow Window, which may allow a rapid, large development in exploration and growth... assuming we don't screw it up by getting into too many wars.
I pledge myself to Gene Roddenberry's teachings.
Oh, no ... I wasn't taking a draconian attitude about his lifestyle. Gene Roddenberry was a Man Amongst Men. Not unlike FDR, who did even greater things for the Common Good. And you know what else he did? He, too, cheated on his wife. As did JFK. As did Bill Clinton ... and all down the line. Sometimes, you just have to cut a Man Amongst Men a little bit of extra slack. GR's a good case in point. Because, in his later years, he took his reputation as a Visionary, Promoter of Peace and Inspiration to Youth much more seriously. Perhaps, too seriously. Maybe that's why he sold it so well?
I think Roddenberry wanted to be Jubal Harshaw.
To understand the Man fully, I would have to read the OFFICIAL account of his Life:
Star Trek Creator:
The Authorized Biography of Gene Roddenberry
by David Alexander
Hardcover (June 1, 1994)
http://www.amazon.com/Star-Trek-Creator-Authorized-Roddenberry/dp/0451454189
Otherwise, everyone from Jesus to Buddha, to Ghandi, to MLK, to Angelina Jolie, to Bono ... and so many unsung heroes inbetween have all attempted to Light Our Way. Gene Roddenberry did not light that fire, nor did he offer any clear path in the STAR TREK franchise to his own vision for Humanity.
In fact, what STAR TREK's told us is that the Human species did NOT $ave itself from disaster. That we "were" only too happy to incinerate ourselves (and did) and that it took aliens from Outer Space to collectively hand-hold us and spoonfeed us the proper way to live and grow ...
Star Trek Creator:
The Authorized Biography of Gene Roddenberry
by David Alexander
Hardcover (June 1, 1994)
http://www.amazon.com/Star-Trek-Creator-Authorized-Roddenberry/dp/0451454189
Otherwise, everyone from Jesus to Buddha, to Ghandi, to MLK, to Angelina Jolie, to Bono ... and so many unsung heroes inbetween have all attempted to Light Our Way. Gene Roddenberry did not light that fire, nor did he offer any clear path in the STAR TREK franchise to his own vision for Humanity.
In fact, what STAR TREK's told us is that the Human species did NOT $ave itself from disaster. That we "were" only too happy to incinerate ourselves (and did) and that it took aliens from Outer Space to collectively hand-hold us and spoonfeed us the proper way to live and grow ...
No, better still to hold people responsible for their freely choosen choices.
Official as in sanitized, I wonder if there's a chapter where the author interviewed the actresses who did time on Roddenberry's cast couch in order to simply get work?
Like I said, we need a Surak.
Or maybe our Surak was named Jesus or Buddha or Gandhi, but we were just too stupid to listen.
Or maybe our Surak was named Jesus or Buddha or Gandhi, but we were just too stupid to listen.
When I wrote about cutting Gene Roddenberry some extra slack with regards to his "cheating," I was actually referring to Susan Sackett, Roddenberry's assistant - and lover - for 17 years. She was the only "other" woman of his that I was aware of, mainly because their relationship endured.
Sackett's even written her own book about him, in which it is claimed that she "paints a true portrait of Star Trek's creator - the first biography by someone who knew him well - and reveals his challenges, successes and failures, and the self-destructive path that would lead to his death."
http://www.amazon.com/Inside-Trek-Secret-Creator-Roddenberry/dp/1930709420
Contact equal or greater extraterrestrial intelligence. Necessity is the mother of invention. Until we have a reason to do a thing, we won't. Until we must accept something outside of us as being as important or more so, we'll always be blind, self centered, little monkeys
Sadly, if I were an extraterrestrial intelligence and I knew anything about us, I'd consider this place a hazard zone, & would go to every length to make sure I never got discovered by us. Sometimes I imagine that to an intelligence elsewhere, we must look like a horrific cancer on this world
When I think about the amount of time & effort that's gone into finding other intelligence in the universe, without a single inkling of anything coming back, I sometimes consider it not wanting to be found is as likely a reason as there being none
Sadly, if I were an extraterrestrial intelligence and I knew anything about us, I'd consider this place a hazard zone, & would go to every length to make sure I never got discovered by us. Sometimes I imagine that to an intelligence elsewhere, we must look like a horrific cancer on this world
When I think about the amount of time & effort that's gone into finding other intelligence in the universe, without a single inkling of anything coming back, I sometimes consider it not wanting to be found is as likely a reason as there being none
Possession of ability would help too. If the closest ET is a thousand light years away, communication might have to wait until we (or they) obtain the ability to physical travel the distance.
Brie, "simply" put the things that you want the children to learn on those same SAT tests, and the teachers will then teach those things. Work inside the system.
While some might point to globalization as a plus, when it come to basic food, staples like grains and vegetables, the goal should be regional self sufficiency. Sure, have your flower, banana, car or entertainment system come from the other side of the planet. But your region's population should be fed from your regions farms and ranches.
A world without passion and desires? These are things that cause us to advance, they drive us to want what we don't have.
Which unfortunately is happening in one area, but isn't a worldwide occurrence.
Rare enough to be news worthy.
One type of plant (trees) is being replaced with another type of plant (food and fodder). Yes, a small percentage of the rain forest comes down for roads and mining, but the majority is so people can eat, and that water can build up behind hydroelectric dams.
A future where we're a part of a vast interstellar community of hundreds of species? That's what "Star Trek Future" means to me, certainly not this socialist wonderland that some seem to get from the show.
Never lose sight that it is their money.
Possession of ability would help too. If the closest ET is a thousand light years away, communication might have to wait until we (or they) obtain the ability to physical travel the distance.
Brie, "simply" put the things that you want the children to learn on those same SAT tests, and the teachers will then teach those things. Work inside the system.
While some might point to globalization as a plus, when it come to basic food, staples like grains and vegetables, the goal should be regional self sufficiency. Sure, have your flower, banana, car or entertainment system come from the other side of the planet. But your region's population should be fed from your regions farms and ranches.
A world without passion and desires? These are things that cause us to advance, they drive us to want what we don't have.
Which unfortunately is happening in one area, but isn't a worldwide occurrence.
Rare enough to be news worthy.
One type of plant (trees) is being replaced with another type of plant (food and fodder). Yes, a small percentage of the rain forest comes down for roads and mining, but the majority is so people can eat, and that water can build up behind hydroelectric dams.
A future where we're a part of a vast interstellar community of hundreds of species? That's what "Star Trek Future" means to me, certainly not this socialist wonderland that some seem to get from the show.
Never lose sight that it is their money.
I think you and I probably would find a lot of common ground. It's those who refuse to listen to the other side's point of view who are the big roadblock to making real inroads to a mutual understanding.
Mutual understanding is the first step toward what some would call the "Star Trek Future."
That said, I'm a grumpy old dude. Proceed with caution.
Just the knowledge that they're out there would make a difference. It's the difference between spending life alone in a cell believing no one is beyond it, vs. knowing that someone else is on the other side of the wall. Whether you can see, hear, or touch them is a separate issue. You still tend to behave completely differently, because it's your perception that's different
