Friday, October 05, 2012

Why Star Trek's Vision of The Future Is Out Of Date - A Response

This is a response to the article on Io9, found here:

http://io9.com/5906586/why-star-treks-vision-of-the-future-is-out-of-date?tag=crap-futurism.

I have one major issue with this article.  The writer talks about the "Eugenic Wars" fought in Star Trek's canon/history, where 30 million people died due to wars about genetically enhanced human beings, which led to Eugenics being outlawed in the Star Trek Universe.  (For the end result that Star Trek does not have genetically enhanced human beings, which he says is implausible if we want to colonize the galaxy.)

The author scoffs at this idea, and says, "The idea that the presence of smarter, fitter, and happier people will result in a war that causes the death of 30 million people is a bit of a stretch."

The author is discussing how the future of humanity is different than Star Trek, but he draws the line at imagining how genetic enhancement could create resentment leading to war.

I find THAT implausible.

Eugenics and genetic enhancing is HERE....NOW.  The rich and powerful will soon have access to things people have always dreamed of...superior levels of intelligence, strength, health, longevity, and more, over their fellow human beings.

I can easily see how entrenched masses living in squalor would revolt against their overloads who live like District 1 in The Hunger Games.

I'm not quite sure why this author can't see that either, but it seems clear to me that creating a race of super humans could lead to disastrous war.

Anyway, the commenting on that article was closed, since it was written in May of 2012, so I just had to get out my response.  Thanks for checking it out.