Everything I Needed to Know in Life I Learned Watching Star Trek
The Philosophy of Star Trek is a Roadmap For Our Future
Born in 1969, I literally cut my teeth on Star Trek, The Original Series. The opening gave me goosebumps (and still does). Spock was my first crush, and I learned to take interstellar space travel and extraterrestrial life as obvious possibilities for even our future. And yes, at this point, I have seen every movie and many, many episodes of all of the various incarnations of Star Trek, a universe that I have come to love. I’ve been to conventions, to the Star Trek experience in Las Vegas, and I’ve seen most of the documentaries (like Trekkies), too. I have not donned a Starfleet uniform and worn it to work every day, but I understand why people do. That’s how powerful Star Trek’s philosophy is: It’s a vision for a reality worth aspiring to.
The lessons I learned and am still learning:
Girls can do things, too
This seems obvious now, but in the day there was still an idea that there are certain things girls do, and those things would not include being a military officer on a starship. But that was my childhood dream, and led to my interests in astronomy, physics, the big, seemingly unknowable questions, space travel, and progress. I also joined the U.S. Army at 17 (as a linguist), I think because Star Trek made me comfortable with military structures and operations and whet my appetite for all things exotic. I wanted my life to be a journey of exploration, and it has, for better and for worse. Role models are a big deal in our culture, and Star Trek has had, by far, the best (arguably) female role models of any movie/tv franchise.
Infinite diversity in infinite combinations
This is the Vulcan philosophy, also called the Vulcan IDIC. We know that diversity, more than anything, promotes innovation and creative thinking in teams, so I love this statement. The more diversity a culture has, the more possibility it has, and we need to embrace diversity instead of chafing against it.
Peace works, but you also have to stand up to tyranny
In the Star Trek universe, Earth is peaceful and they have largely eliminated poverty and the diseases of poverty. Their society is built on principles of individual rights, equality, respect for difference, and prosperity. They do still run into bad guys quite a lot, though, and they are the same kinds of bad guys we have in this world: those who want to conquer, dominate and exploit. But there are rules of engagement and values that must be adhered to.
Logic, reason and science are key to decision-making
Captain Kirk was the hot-head, but he was teamed with a logic and science-driven first officer who kept him balanced. Sure, they still got into a lot of scrapes, but it was obvious to me that the Vulcan way of prioritizing rational thought over purely emotional responses was the way to be.
My heroes have always been vulcans. Ever since watching Star Trek at the age of 12, it was obvious that Spock was everything I wanted to be. Brilliant, capable, a science hero, and almost totally unfettered by emotions. He dealt with every situation with a cool, calm logic that it was clear, even at that early age, was the best way to deal with things. — Geoffrey Widdison
The future is potentially very bright
Sure, there are a lot of bad guys in Star Trek and horrible things are always happening, but there is also a pervasive sense of optimism about our future. Things can and do get better, as long as you have smart, committed people fighting the good fight. We might all ‘live long and prosper’ and that is something we should all aspire to.
Teams matter and cooperation strengthens leadership
The diverse points of view of the various characters are critical both to the drama and to the success of crew endeavors. While there is a command structure and leaders to follow, the crew members are at liberty to offer their advice and opinions, and there is the occasional mutiny. But for the most part it works and each of the Star Trek captains demonstrates a diverse leadership and collaboration style. Also, Star Trek has main stars, but it’s really about the assembled cast of characters and the professional and personal interplay between them.
Technology can make things better, but…
I am a technophile, but I do believe that technology and its unintended consequences are things we need to be very aware of. For instance, as of now, the technology we have could allow us to destroy ourselves a bit too readily. But with reasoned consideration we can benefit greatly from technological advances. We just need to spend more time working on social-good technology and less time inventing more weapons of mass destruction.
Which future would you prefer? Well, it is up to us.
Humanity is more complex and pervasive than we realize, and equality, tolerance and empathy should be paramount
Data, an android, taught us all a lot about what it means to be human. There are also several characters in Star Trek that challenge conventional thinking about bad guys. Worf and Jadzia Dax (Deep Space Nine) were both Klingon, and Seven of Nine (Voyager) was previously a Borg. There were also a number of characters and story lines that challenged our most basic assumptions.
That there are universal themes and universal truths
There is a sense in the Star Trek universe that goodness, justice and truth prevail, and that with the right intentions we can create a better reality. Star Trek reflects and immortalizes a lot of important thinking from the 1960s, about peaceful revolution, human and civil rights, tolerance and acceptance of those different from oneself, and unity.
Star Trek has inspired many of us to devote our work lives to the science and technology industries, and that is an incredible thing. But when I think about Star Trek, I think about its heart and soul and how they drive my personal spirituality and hope for our collective future. Also about how it embodies principles that are sometimes lost in our short-term-profit fueled society: love is important, passion and determination win, technology can save us, and we’re all in this together.
As a child in the ’60s, watching Star Trek led me to believe that the future would be a steady march towards recognition of human rights, equal opportunities for all, and the obsolescence of violence as a means of resolving disputes. No matter how often I encounter evidence that such a steady march is not in fact taking place, I still experience cognitive dissonance with each new encounter. Somewhere deep within my consciousness is the belief that the future should and will be better than the past, for all humanity. My perpetual disappointment that it’s not playing out that way is all Gene Roddenberry’s fault. — Steven Clark
I will leave you with this rallying cry. The future is ours to create.
