page 4 2014 TECHNOLOGY TODAY LINCOLN DAILY NEWS.com September 30, 2014
Are we living in the “Next Generation?”
Far-fetched 20th Century science fiction
the norm in 21st Century communications
W
hen Gene Roddenberry penned the first episode of Star Trek in 1966, he created a
new way of looking at science and technology that baffled mid-century viewers.
The show introduced items such as Phasers and communicators. Was Roddenberry
experiencing ESP, or was he the inspiration for the next generation of technology.
While the Starship Enterprise was assigned to “go where no man has gone before”
did Roddenberry include technology in that assignment? While viewers sometimes
marveled at, and even wished for, the gadgets the crew possessed, how many ever
imagined that in 2014, we would have many of those gadgets at our finger tips.
In the show, the time
frame is the 23rd
century. But today in
the 21st Century, are
we seeing the results
of Roddenberry’s
“vision?” The
Treky Phaser
hugely resembles
the modern day
Taser. The phrase
“set coordinates”
might have been
the introduction to GPS. In a later
version, “Star Trek the Next Generation” when Picard
stood at the bridge facing a flat screen and conversed
with captains of other space ships, did Roddenberry
know he was the inventor of “face time?”
And finally, when he imagined a communicator
that could keep Kirk in touch with his ship when
he was looking for life forms on a new planet, did
Roddenberry know that he was the creator of the
“Smart Phone?”
Smart phones are a remarkable invention, designed
primarily to irritate everyone around you. With a
smart phone, you can strap it to your arm, plug in the
ear phones and listen to your favorite tunes, while
walking in traffic, oblivious to the car that nearly just
ran you over.
You can irritate your fellow shoppers by standing in
the isle at Wal-Mart and recounting your awful date
last night to your BFF, unaware his mother is the one
standing behind you waiting to get to the dish soap
that you’re parked in front of.
You can call your friends and tell them you’re
standing in the parking lot at Kroger….like they
really care.
You can anger you dinner companion by playing
angry birds while you wait for the entre’ to arrive, or
you can offend the friends you are with by ignoring
them in order to visit Facebook and see the kitty that
“likes cheezbugers.”
Continued
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