Who among us doesn’t dream of space in their youth?
asserted
Who → dream → youth
While you were out playing hopscotch with little Jimmy and Susie, I was locked in my room mainlining episodes of Star Trek or the weird, sanitized version of Aliens that aired on broadcast TV.
asserted
that → play → TV
Fantastical science-fiction adventure seemed to offer more than playground games and actual human connection.
asserted
adventure → seem → games
Star Trek, celebrating its 60th anniversary this month, offered a utopian vision of the future.
asserted
Trek → celebrate → future
It was a vision of Earth that had overcome greed and selfishness to pursue a more peaceful world Kirk and Spock.
asserted
that → overcome → world
In the second film, Aliens, which coincidentally is turning 40 this year, the characters are mostly brain-dead killing-machine soldiers and venal corporate stooges.
asserted
characters → turn → film
This one sounds a bit more familiar, doesn’t it?
asserted
it → sound → ?
The entire known universe is controlled by a diabolical company whose only aim is profit at the expense of the average person.
asserted
aim → control → person
Both Star Trek and the Alien films offered the requisite thrills and whiz-bang action to titillate a young boy like myself back in the 1990s, but they were also diametrically opposed visions of what the world might look like when I became an adult.
uncertain
I → offer → what
Would it be along the lines of a lush beige carpet and colorful pajamas or a soaking wet murder machine covered in KY Jelly grinding the working class into the ground?
asserted
it → soak → ground
It took a few decades, but I think I found my answer.
asserted
I → take → answer
The US air force announced on Monday that it had deployed weapons into space, thumbing its nose at the unwritten rule that space is for peace, not for war.
asserted
space → announce → war
The US rationale is, well, everyone else is doing it!
asserted
everyone → do → it
Officials point to the increased militarization of space, including a 2024 Biden administration report claiming Russia was developing the capability to detonate nuclear weapons in space to disable or destroy orbiting satellites, which are crucial pieces of global infrastructure.
asserted
which → point → infrastructure
The air force secretary, Troy Meink, referred to the deployment as “on-orbit space control weapons capable of defending the joint force against hostile adversary action”.
asserted
secretary → refer → action
He wouldn’t say what they were, what they could actually do, or even what they look like.
uncertain
they → say → what
Which is always so comforting when futuristic space guns are involved.
asserted
guns → involve → ?
A claw that can grab satellites out of the sky?
asserted
that → grab → sky
A Trump-shaped robot gollum that could swallow the International Space Station with the ease and gusto of the real person chowing down on a Big Mac?
uncertain
that → shape → Mac
My imagination, stoked by years of sci-fi television, is running rampant.
asserted
imagination → stoke → television
At the very least, I hope it has a series of blinking lights all over it.
asserted
it → hope → it
Back in the 1980s, when Star Trek was at its creative peak, the idea of weaponizing space was considered such a joke that President Reagan struggled to amass a consensus around his Strategic Defense Initiative (derisively nicknamed “Star Wars”), which would have created a US orbiting missile deterrent.
asserted
which → weaponize → deterrent
But now, Donald Trump is making fantasy space battles a key element of his rapidly deteriorating legacy.
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battles → make → legacy
The US space force, his absurd brainchild, presented new uniforms that look like they were leftover from a Paul Verhoeven movie.
asserted
they → present → movie
If one wants to conquer a lifeless galaxy full of dirt, rocks and little else, one must be wearing the shiniest black boots possible.
asserted
one → want → boots
The space force uniforms are certainly lightyears away from the ones on Star Trek, where everyone wears bright colors that immediately make the viewer think they’ve accidentally stumbled onto a rather unique discotheque.
asserted
they → wear → discotheque
The Star Trek creator, Gene Roddenberry, made sure that the phaser weapons depicted on the show had a non-lethal stun setting.
asserted
weapons → make → setting
I think if anyone proposed a non-lethal weapon for the US space force, they’d be A) fired immediately and B) called woke to their face (and on Fox News in front of millions of people).
asserted
they → think → people
Looking back six decades at the world Star Trek was born in, there was optimism in the world, mixed in with the chaos of political assassinations, riots, a war in Vietnam, and the ever-present threat of nuclear annihilation.
asserted
Trek → look → annihilation
The idea of going to space and landing Apollo 11 on the Moon was inspiring to a world that needed more cheering up than Ed Sheeran trying to find an opening act for his tour.
asserted
Sheeran → go → tour
Star Trek posited that life on Earth might be bad now, but fear not, the good guys would win in the end.
uncertain
guys → posit → end
Humanity would overcome itself.
asserted
Humanity → overcome → itself
Countless modern scientific achievements – cellphones, tablets, the internet, medical advancements – can be attributed to Star Trek beaming ideas of benevolent futurism into homes around the globe for 60 years.
asserted
Trek → attribute → years
But did society actually learn anything from Star Trek?
asserted
society → learn → Trek
The Federation and the Klingons made peace in the film Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, but could their real-world analogues – the United States and Russia – be any further apart?
uncertain
analogues → make → film
Of course, if you know anything about the future-history depicted on Star Trek, you know utopia doesn’t occur until after a global nuclear holocaust, in case you want to be even more depressed today.
asserted
you → know → holocaust
Star Trek’s impact is immense, especially for a TV show that only lasted for three years and often deployed styrofoam rocks, wobbly models, and dodgy rubber aliens in its design.
asserted
that → last → design
That impact is a testament to the writing, acting, and film technique that grabbed millions of people and changed their lives.
asserted
that → grab → lives
But I’ve never been more pessimistic about humanity achieving the beautiful dream of Gene Roddenberry.
asserted
humanity → achieve → Roddenberry
With every fascist-looking spacesuit or space laser, I feel like we’re progressing backwards, step by step.
asserted
we → feel → step
…and 3 more, not listed.
The Aporia
