As did I, as well as other science fiction, as well as PBS documentaries and science programs… I was so sure that with all of these hopeful, positive influences and messages going into the world, that the future would be brighter and people would be more caring.
Holy shit I misjudged the way people interpret media. Most of the same people who were promoting peace and love are now threatening to kill other people over vaccinations and skin color.
One other point about the Star Trek universe though, is that in addition to almost dying to war, we also managed to create replicators that ended our scarcity-civilization. There was no more need for money and anyone could basically have whatever they wanted from then on. In our world, if you invented a machine that could solve all our problems and make all humans equal, someone would assassinate you because of it. Maybe many people would.
It used to seem there would be this universe without money or religion, and then we got to DS9, and saw the Bajoran religion, the Ferengi obsession with profit, and the gambling at Quarks.
The contentious, almost impossible dilemmas being portrayed in DS9’s themes were a reflection of the times. By the time we got to DS9, we were on the tail end of a sudden recession, race riots in LA, police brutality coming into sharp focus as more and more people started carrying video cameras, Mike Tyson went from hero to convict for rape, and the world started to shrink and become scarier. The cocaine-fueled optimism of the late 80’s was morphing into the technicolor international stage of the 90’s, increased media exposure was showing a lot of people the darkness we spent decades trying to pretend wasn’t there. Terrorism, plane crashes, wars we saw in full color on the ground, dictatorships rising and falling. We’re still feeling the effects of this reconciliation/confrontation with our actual history and social norms.
As did I, as well as other science fiction, as well as PBS documentaries and science programs… I was so sure that with all of these hopeful, positive influences and messages going into the world, that the future would be brighter and people would be more caring.
Holy shit I misjudged the way people interpret media. Most of the same people who were promoting peace and love are now threatening to kill other people over vaccinations and skin color.
One other point about the Star Trek universe though, is that in addition to almost dying to war, we also managed to create replicators that ended our scarcity-civilization. There was no more need for money and anyone could basically have whatever they wanted from then on. In our world, if you invented a machine that could solve all our problems and make all humans equal, someone would assassinate you because of it. Maybe many people would.
It used to seem there would be this universe without money or religion, and then we got to DS9, and saw the Bajoran religion, the Ferengi obsession with profit, and the gambling at Quarks.
The contentious, almost impossible dilemmas being portrayed in DS9’s themes were a reflection of the times. By the time we got to DS9, we were on the tail end of a sudden recession, race riots in LA, police brutality coming into sharp focus as more and more people started carrying video cameras, Mike Tyson went from hero to convict for rape, and the world started to shrink and become scarier. The cocaine-fueled optimism of the late 80’s was morphing into the technicolor international stage of the 90’s, increased media exposure was showing a lot of people the darkness we spent decades trying to pretend wasn’t there. Terrorism, plane crashes, wars we saw in full color on the ground, dictatorships rising and falling. We’re still feeling the effects of this reconciliation/confrontation with our actual history and social norms.