9/2/16

Smithsonian Special on Star Trek


The Smithsonian Channel will broadcast Building Star Trek Sunday evening (September 4th).  The program will highlight the "science" of Star Trek.  Here is a quick summary:

When "Star Trek" first aired in 1966, it expanded the viewers' imaginations about what was possible in their lifetimes. Today, many of the space-age technologies displayed on the show, like space shuttles, cell phones, and desktop computers, have already gone from science fiction to science fact. Other innovations, like warp drive, teleportation, and medical tricorders are actively in development. Join us as we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of "Star Trek" - a show that continues to inform, enrich, and inspire.

The key word is inspire.  For example, space entrepreneur Elon Musk (who admittedly is having a bad week) had this to say about Star Trek:

I love technology. So I, yeah what I mean, particularly when I was a kid, I'd just consume like all science-fiction and fantasy, you know, movies, books, anything at all, even if it was really shlucky. So - in terms of sort of key influences, I mean I certainly like 'Star Trek,' because that actually shows like more of a utopian future, like it's not like, things aren't horrible in the future. It's like there's so many bloody post-apocalyptic futures, like OK, can we have one that's nice? Just a few. So I like that about 'Star Trek.

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