To Boldly Go Where No One Has Gone Before
If you’re like me, tlhlngan Hol dajatlh’a’. For those of you that don’t speak Klingon, that’s my way of letting you know that I do.
From a young age, I’ve enjoyed science fiction stories of all sorts, Star Trek chief among them. More than other space stories, Trek has always tried to depict an optimistic view of where humanity could end up. Trek makes a point of showcasing a society based on diverse ways of life and intellectual pride all founded in a spirit of bold exploration.
“To explore strange, new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no one has gone before.” The preceding quote is the ongoing mission statement for The Enterprise (the original ship followed in Star Trek adventures), and the theme behind Starfleet as a whole, (the organizing space agency of the show). Before anything, Star Trek is about exploration and the understanding that “new life and new civilizations,” are primarily opportunities for growth and enlightenment. That expansive exploration promoted since 1966 has had some real-world results.
Star Trek being a science fiction show, has always had a strong emphasis on scientific, and more broadly intellectual, capability. Some of the top scientific and creative minds of the past century, (Sagan, Ellison, Asimov, Hawking, deGrasse Tyson,) have lauded and contributed to the degree to which Trek stories encourage pride in intellectual ability. Intelligence wasn’t something to be ridiculed, as it is often depicted on television, but encouraged and utilized.
The number of doctors, engineers, scientists, and various other careers of high intellectual capability that started because Star Trek presented a positive view of “nerdiness” is a documented phenomenon. The best minds of our time were inspired by, are still taking their cues from, and constantly reference Star Trek. That’s why our first space shuttle was named “Enterprise.”
There is also the social and cultural paradigm that Star Trek presents, which was part of Trek creator Gene Roddenberry’s vision from the first episode. Roddenberry wanted Star Trek to be a tool for social change and to that end populated prominent roles with various genders, ethnicities, and cultures. There was even a regular Russian character and remember this was in the late ‘60s in the middle of the Cold War.
Martin Luther King Jr. claimed Star Trek as one of the most powerful civil rights images on T.V. at the time due to Uhura, the female African American communications officer. King went so far as to persuade Nichelle Nichols, the actress who portrayed Uhura, to stick with the show when Nichols was having reservations about returning.
That spirit of exploration, that pride in intelligence, that emphasis on diverse ways of life, all of that is why Star Trek continues to resonate more than 50 years since it first came out. And if that’s what President Trump’s “Space Force” is going to found itself on, I’m 100% in support of it. But its not, and we all know it.
Trump’s “space Force” is in no small part a distraction tactic. Eventually though, we will need a unified presence in space, not exclusively for our country, but for our entire species. N.A.S.A. has been pursuing an international presence in space for decades. (Check out the accord the U.S. and Soviets signed in 1972.) We don’t need a space force because space is not a military theater. Space is an opportunity for human flourishing. If a presence in space is the goal, give N.A.S.A. more than a sliver of the budget. N.A.S.A., like Star Trek, is all about boldly going where no one has gone before.
