THE VIEW FROM MY INTERSECTION
Mad max or Star Trek Future?
(justice) I grew up watching Star Trek. I’m told I saw the original series when it first aired, but it was watching the reruns, and then the continuation of the series, that deeply shaped who I am.
Star Trek teaches us over and over again that cooperation, respect, and diversity make life better for all beings. We learn that you don’t have to be a human to have humanity. And that struggling with morally ambiguous questions is a never-ending privilege that come from exploring borders. Star Trek teaches me that working together we can solve the toughest problems of our time. Food, energy, tolerance, respect, and justice are all abundantly possible. The future I see in Star Trek is the future that I want-- and the future I’m working for.
I often despair at the futility of that kind of hope. But the alternative is entirely unacceptable. The alternative leaves my descendents in a Mad Max world: a society without empathy, resources, and trust, in a world full of fear and scarcity?limitations.
I’ll never know which future we humans will get. Likely it will be somewhere in the middle. But I’ll do my part, however small, to bring about the world I’d want to inherit.
(justice) I grew up watching Star Trek. I’m told I saw the original series when it first aired, but it was watching the reruns, and then the continuation of the series, that deeply shaped who I am.
Star Trek teaches us over and over again that cooperation, respect, and diversity make life better for all beings. We learn that you don’t have to be a human to have humanity. And that struggling with morally ambiguous questions is a never-ending privilege that come from exploring borders. Star Trek teaches me that working together we can solve the toughest problems of our time. Food, energy, tolerance, respect, and justice are all abundantly possible. The future I see in Star Trek is the future that I want-- and the future I’m working for.
I often despair at the futility of that kind of hope. But the alternative is entirely unacceptable. The alternative leaves my descendents in a Mad Max world: a society without empathy, resources, and trust, in a world full of fear and scarcity?limitations.
I’ll never know which future we humans will get. Likely it will be somewhere in the middle. But I’ll do my part, however small, to bring about the world I’d want to inherit.
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