Have you ever noticed that no one needs to work in Star Trek? They do work, but it is more about finding their niche, their slot, their tribe, their aim in life and following that path. All of their decisions are backed up by the huge resources of their ship’s computer, able to answer their questions and develop strategies and plans for complex survival problems. They have replicators for their needs. They have surpassed prejudice and racism and there are no ghettos in the federation. The warm, animated spaceship is hurtling through space, peopled by a cohesive, diverse crew. Why can’t I live in Star Trek World, steered along by a noble and principled captain in partnership with AI?
Spaceship Earth
Imagine now, that the earth is this spaceship. Not so different really is it? In fact “Spaceship Earth”is already a concept. Furthering this thinking has been the shift in the perspective of mankind, as we have had the opportunity to see our planet from space.
As we hurtle through space on our planet that is teeming with unique life, our perspective has shifted from ‘we are everything’ to ‘we are a small blue dot of finite resources’, an accident of evolution, a confluence of coincidences, a miracle. Spaceship Earth. This spaceship has a hold full of everything the passengers need and the ability to make more. Yet, on Spaceship Earth, the economy is faulty, the captains are unscrupulous, and the people provided for according to accidents of birth.
I want to live in Star Trek World instead.
Voyager II
I was at a discussion group at a festival recently, talking to a fabulous environmental scientist about climate change and what we can individually do to preserve the planet from depleted resources and the death of its inhabitants. I confessed to him that I was fascinated with space and space travel. I often think of Voyager II chugging its way through lonely space, as well as the amazing tenacity and adaptability it and its human team have shown in keeping it going on, feeding us information, through the last 50 years. I love Voyager II. I wish I could talk to that little tyke. I wish I could tell it that it was not alone, but that we are all still here cheering it on. I heard the other day that for a few months it could only send back information, but could receive no answer. Arrrrgh my breaking heart. Anyway, I digress…
I asked the scientist if it was actually a betrayal of environmental beliefs, using the precious resources of the earth in pursuing our knowledge of space. And he replied, “No!”. He said commercial space travel aside (which is obviously just building another shed to shove the clutter and shit that will no longer fit into your house), that the pictures from space, from Voyager and from space travel have enabled humans to accept the fragility of their position. These images have illustrated the precarious position humanity is in, that the world is dying, and no one is coming to help. He said it is galvanising the environmental effort, not hindering it. Phew! Guilt free space porn for me from now on! Spaceship Earth seen from another spaceship.
Star Trek Equality
And this is my point about Star Trek World. Our world is a spaceship. A small pocket of life in a very cold and very dark place. However, unlike The Enterprise we have finite resources. Anyone looking at our spaceship from the outside would see that you cannot protect the ship and help the crew to work together if some of the crew are in poverty and despair.
In Star Trek there is no poverty or despair. Everyone contributes and is respected. Everyone chooses their niche, no one is forced to work where they don’t really want to, just where they feel useful and where their passion is. No one has to sleep outside, or be cold, or hungry. Everyone is helped in this task by the ship’s AI, that takes on all the grunt work, like maths, and making Earl Grey Tea, Hot. Which means humans can save dwindling stars or learn the cello.
I want to live on a Star Trek-led Spaceship Earth and work in harmony with the crew and AI. In 1965 Adlai Strevense made a speech to the United Nations in which he said that until all humans are committed to the safety of Spaceship Earth and the resolution of its conflicts, then we will not survive. In 1971, the then United Nations Secretary General, U Thant, wrote that Spaceship Earth “continues to spin and circle in frigid space with its warm and fragile cargo of animate life”.
It’s all about priorities
It sounds so precarious. Yet, it makes sense that we can’t save a pangolin when someone starving needs to feed it to their children. You can’t save a tree when someone needs to chop it down and burn it to save their children from freezing. You can’t save the Earth when people are preoccupied by boiling or freezing because they have no protected space to sleep in.
In 1927, Buckminster Fuller designed the geodesic dome as a way of improving human shelter, making it more economically available to more people. He also invented the Dymaxion House, which is suitable for all temperatures, all environments, and is lightweight and portable. Why am I just finding out about this? It would be an end to homelessness and the terrible living standards of displaced people.
Unlike The Enterprise, Spaceship Earth is faulty. Although there are plenty of resources, there are too many people guarding the cargo bay hold.
I wish we had the moral code of the Star Trek crew and access to their ship’s computer:
“Computer, give me the schematics of easily assembled, cheap housing.”
“Schematic provided.”
“Computer, please replicate the parts needed.”
“Replicating…”