<
https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20240109-star-trek-the-deep-space-nine-episode-that-predicted-a-us-crisis>
'It's tempting to view fictional stories set far in the future as visions –
dystopian or otherwise – of what might come to be. But the most successful
works are able to survive and reach new audiences even after their predictions
have been proven untrue. For instance, the perpetual war of George Orwell's
Nineteen Eighty-Four never came to pass by the year of its title. Nor did the
interplanetary travel of Stanley Kubrick's
2001: A Space Odyssey exist by the
new millennium. Nonetheless, these stories remain relevant, decades on from
their predicted dates, thanks to their broader insights on timeless themes –
from authoritarianism to human evolution.
With 11 television series and 13 films, produced across seven decades,
Star
Trek has inevitably seen several predicted events on its timeline proven
untrue. In the original 1960s series,
Star Trek's most famous villain, Khan,
introduced viewers to the "Eugenics Wars", a massive conflict arising in the
1990s due to experiments in human genetic engineering. Later instalments
predicted more tough times ahead, with World War III scheduled to begin in
2026, followed by an era of "post-atomic horror".
These forecasts of doom are key to the franchise's backstory, sketching out
humanity's difficult road to the idealistic 23rd and 24th Centuries, where
Star Trek is primarily set. Although these predicted catastrophes seem
overblown, they speak to a truth which may account for the franchise's enduring
appeal: that suffering through grave mistakes can eventually lead humanity to a
more egalitarian and peaceful future.
According to 1990s series
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, one of humanity's worst
mistakes comes to a head in 2024. But unlike
Star Trek's other predictions of
global disaster, this mistake exists at a more relatable level. And, as we
enter the real 2024, it remains a challenge that is just as urgent as when the
episodes aired.
The challenge in question is homelessness, and humanity's mistake is to hide
from the problem, rather than solving it. The issue is addressed in the
two-part episode
Past Tense, which aired in January 1995. This instalment
sees series protagonist Commander Sisko and his crewmates accidentally
transported back in time from their 24th-Century starship to San Francisco in
2024.'
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
