When my sister and I were growing up, we were lucky enough to live in a neighborhood with a lot of kids our age. It didn't always happen, but there were a lot of times when all of us would play together. I remember a couple of times playing "Star Trek" in our garage. The garage didn't have windows, and of course the garage door was closed, so it was always dark (and frequently hot, since most of the time we were playing over summer break). We would set up table and chairs to recreate the command deck of the U.S.S. Enterprise. The older kids would usually get to play Captain Kirk, Spock (he was always the most popular among us kids), and Scottie, the Chief Engineer. I would usually get stuck playing Mr. Chekov or one of the other minor characters. It was still a lot of fun!
Now this all occurred before all of the Star Trek movies and spin-offs - the original TV series aired from 1966 to 1969, so we were only familiar with the show because it frequently played after school in syndication. I'm not necessarily a huge Star Trek fan (I wouldn't call myself a "Trekkie" at all), but I still enjoyed watching the show back then. My interest in the science fiction genre really took off after the release of the movie, Star Wars in 1977. That's when my world really changed.
One of the really great things about the science fiction genre is the fact that, in a way, we get to see a glimpse into the future (well, technically, the "Star Wars" universe occurred "a long time ago" but you get the idea). Just think of all the cool gadgets and advances in technology that we first saw in science fiction and have since become reality. Remember the final battle scenes in "Star Wars" when the Rebel Base Commander nervously asked Luke Skywalker if things were okay because he had switched off his targeting computer (Obi Wan tells him to "Use the Force, Luke! Let Go. Luke, trust me!"). I thought that was the coolest thing ever, but now just look at modern fighter pilots and how they use a "heads up display" (which is way more advanced than Luke's targeting computer).
Captain Kirk's handheld communicator was pretty cool too. But did you know that the communicator inspired Motorola to develop the cellular phone. Have you ever used telemedicine for health care? Do you remember this episode of the animated television series, The Jetsons? Do you have an Apple Watch? Thank the comic strip Dick Tracy for the inspiration for that device. Do you wear ear buds? Thank Star Trek (again) and Lieutenant Uhura for that one. Tablet computers, self-driving cars, 3D printers, voice-activated computers (e.g., Alexa), even submarines (think Captain Nemo's submarine, the Nautilus from Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea) - they were all inspired by science fiction.
It's no wonder that technology and computer companies are looking to science fiction writers for inspiration, even now. As Tom Standage, a science writer and deputy editor of The Economist writes in an article appearing in the magazine's annual edition, "The World in 2020", "Science fiction can play a useful role as a forward-scanning radar for technological, social, and political trends - but in the near term, not the distant future in which it is often set." Just consider in the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode, "The High Ground" which first aired in 1990, one of the crew members is trying to defuse a hostage situation and draws an analogy to the fictional "Irish Unification of 2024" - it may have been far-fetched back in 1990, but with the looming Brexit, a re-unification of Northern Ireland with the rest of Ireland doesn't seem that far off now.
Eliot Peper wrote an article in the Harvard Business Review and argued, "Although we tend to assume that science fiction is about the future, it’s actually about the present." Science fiction challenges us to think differently. We may see a different solution to current problems. Or we may even be challenged to create the future we see in a science fiction movie or novel (think again about the cellular phone). Peper goes on to say, "Science fiction isn’t useful because it’s predictive. It’s useful because it reframes our perspective on the world. Like international travel or meditation, it creates space for us to question our assumptions."
It's all about broadening your horizons. As anyone who reads this blog knows, I read a lot for pleasure. Most of the books I read are non-fiction, and there's a good bet that at any given time, I am reading a book about history. However, I've tried recently to incorporate reading from a variety of genres - science fiction, dystopia novels, poetry, classical literature, and even historical fiction. They all have something to teach me. Who knows, maybe one day someone will be inspired by the television show, Star Trek to create a teleportation device so we can really say, "Beam me up, Scottie!"
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