Star Trek: A Vehicle for Imagination & Hope

In this entry, I look at the world of Star Trek and consider some ideas the shows have portrayed over the years. Some of these ideas epitomize and perhaps transcend the very ideologies that make us human. That is where the magic of Star Trek takes over and holds cultural value. Especially to the die-hard fans of Star Trek called ‘trekkers’ (I’m proud to consider myself a trekker!).

What is the world that Star Trek helps us foresee? I look at things like imagination, dream, survival, visions, progress, knowledge, overcoming barriers, unity and briefly the idea of heaven/reincarnation.

“These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before.”
-Star Trek: The Next Generation

starship-enterprise-earth-moon

Essence of Star Trek

Yes, I have heard the argument “Who cares? It’s only a sci-fi tv show” countless times, but the truth is there is much more to Star Trek. Some of the technologies may seem unrealistic or too far into the future for us to dwell on now. The sheer number of alien civilizations intertwined into one single united Federation may seem improbable as we have yet to find a single such civilization out there. The physics may be more theoretical than practical in the sense that certain ideas such as warp drive or the instant transporter (teleporter) defy our current understanding of physics.

What people forget is Star Trek is less about the technology and search for alien life as it is about ourselves. I don’t want to come across as anthropocentric, which is the belief that humans are essentially the center of everything (I don’t agree with that belief as it tends to be a narcissistic belief), but I believe there is much more to humans than we give ourselves credit for.

We may think our technology is what defines us. We may think our social culture or our customs is what defines us. We may think our beliefs and religions are what define us. We may think of a plethora of various things that define us. I believe what defines us is the ability to find ways to overcome in this dangerous vast universe we live in. To survive. We are simply a minuscule dot on this tiny speck of dust floating around a medium-sized white blotch of dot we call the sun (side-note: our sun is actually white if we looked at it from space outside the bounds of our atmosphere — particles in Earth’s atmosphere scatter shorter light wavelengths like blue so the sun appears yellow). It would be easy for us to kill ourselves into extinction, and I discussed in past entries of various instances when we came close to such points of no-return. We always seem to find our way back! That is the very idea that Star Trek encapsulates within its complex multi-faceted scenario. It is an idea that transcends politics, science, technology, religion, race, gender, ideology, philosophy, creed, any belief.

Human nature has enough flaws that we could easily fill up an entire library of books and research studies if we wanted to. We can talk all day about how power-hungry we humans tend to be, how easily we corrupt, the dangers of propaganda and every other topic of negativity under the roof, but instead, it is more important to recognize our limitations and flaws without harping on it for too long. That is where Star Trek, in conjunction with our imagination, comes into play.

That is a future we envision. We dream of a day when the Star Trek that we imagine today will be a reality (or at least some resemblance to it). All of our visions of tomorrow are encapsulated within the world of Star Trek. That vision is where my focus will be in this blog post.

star trek

Starship Enterprise

A couple years ago, History channel ran an interesting documentary on the world of Star Trek. One of the intriguing notions they presented in there was the idea of the spaceship representing the whole of humanity. For a moment, put aside the science and think from broader scope. If we send a spaceship out there, the people on-board would represent humanity back home on Earth. They would be the representatives of everything we stand for. In order to do justice to that idea, we would need truly global representatives that symbolize humanity rather than individual nations. What defines the term ‘human’ is not individual nations but rather our collective species.

Star Trek does a great job of showcasing that very idea. We can see people of different cultures, races, genders, religions, etc all interacting with one another and working together towards a common goal of advancing human civilization. It is an idea that we are all in this together. Here’s a cool image I found of somebody’s figurines of both good characters and villains from Star Trek (notice that it is a conglomerate of people with obvious differences such as gender, race, color, ethnicity, etc):

Photo by enigma63 / CC BY

Photo by enigma63 / CC BY

Starship Enterprise crew faces off against many adversaries, potential threats, and issues along the journey but they overcome together as a team. They risk their own lives to help each other in times of need and to escape or fight against the threats. They inspire each other to hold onto their morals and morale to overcome the odds. They often disagree but they always accept their differences.

That is the world that I envision in the foreseeable future. I actually believe that such an united global human civilization is possible today if people truly wanted to. You don’t need fancy 28th century technology or space travel or advanced physics/science to have global unity. I may simply be a dreamer, but I don’t believe differences should separate civilization or stop/slow down our search for wisdom/answers of the universe. I often say that our journey has only begun. The search for answers never stops, but in reality, we are trying too hard to resist progress that we end up taking a step back for every 2 steps forward. If we are truly serious about “one step forward, one giant leap for mankind” (Neil Armstrong said that the moment he set the first human foot on the moon) then we must embrace the idea of Starship Enterprise, the placeholder for global unity.

united1

Conclusion

Final thought.

It is easy for me to sit here and say “We must unite this, unite that like in Star Trek”, but it’s hardly easy. Many people would resist unity unless if they get things their way. Even if they get things their way, it still might not be enough for them. Many ideologies exist that bring out the worst in each of us, but there are also many ideas that bring out the best in us & showcase hope for a better tomorrow. That is where Star Trek comes shimmering through into the light. It is a medium of sort for our vehicle of imagination, which brings life to a full circle. It is an idea bigger than any of us, bigger than any nation, bigger than any continent, bigger than any Earth. It is an idea of our species.

While some say the kingdom of heaven is out there somewhere & some believe in reincarnation, I believe the kingdom of heaven dwells within ourselves through our ideas. We have the power to travel the stars and technology to define our future. Reincarnation also exists within ourselves as generation after generation of humans continue what started previously before. It matters not whether it is a literal place or literal concept here, there, somewhere, anywhere, or nowhere. What matters is we control it through the ideals we strive for, and our vision of what we see ourselves as.

That is my view of why Star Trek matters.

Harsh Shukla
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