The original Star Trek was genuinely predictive, simultaneously exploring social issues while offering glimpses of what the future might be liked based on both pure imagination and observance of the day's technological trends. So, we saw smaller computers, ones that responded to vocal commands, versatile communication and hand-held tools, and matter replicators. All of these have been created today, with the exception of tricorders and pure-energy replicators, but we live in a Star Trek world. We interact with our devices more intuitively than did the Star Trek crewman -- zooming and swiping with fingers -- even if vocal commands aren't quite as sophisticated as that of the Enterprise's. Through sources like youtube and Wikipedia, we can pull up varied content on virtually any subject we wish. Who needs the Enterprise databanks when we have the distributed network of the internet to draw on?
So, if a show like Star Trek were to debut today -- not an action movie in space, but one that had time and content enough to explore issues -- what technological envelope would it push? I think artificial intelligence and robotics would be much more addressed in a show created today, for instance. We've already seen that in movies like Her.
So, if a show like Star Trek were to debut today -- not an action movie in space, but one that had time and content enough to explore issues -- what technological envelope would it push? I think artificial intelligence and robotics would be much more addressed in a show created today, for instance. We've already seen that in movies like Her.
