There are a lot of comments about how the more recent Star Trek series have been less utopian, but it is more complicated than that. Two of the new Star Trek shows, Discovery and Picard, are about saving the Federation from threats from within and challenges to its ideals from its own people. Yet, there are a lot of Trek episodes and movies like that, and nobody seemed to think it made Star Trek dystopian before. Movies like Star Trek VI, Star Trek: Insurrection, Star Trek: Into Darkness. TNG episodes like "Measure of a Man" and "The Drumhead" to name a couple. DS9 episodes like "Inquisition", "Homefront", "Paradise Lost", "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges", among others. ENT episodes like "Demons" and "Terra Prime" and more, I think. The only difference between 1) the movies/episodes about this before and 2) episodes about this now, is scale. These are season-long arcs instead of individual episodes or two-parters. Discovery was darker in tone, but the Federation ideals were nonetheless present. That was what the finale of season one was about. Discovery right now is about saving the Federation in the distant future. Season three was about rebuilding relationships with Trill and Vulcan. In the distant future, Spock's dream of reunification between Romulans and Vulcans was achieved. The finale of season four had Earth rejoining the Federation. The trauma and darkness of season one is less prevalent. The mood of the season four finale was so upbeat that it may have also been a little cheesy. I loved it, though. Similarly, the first season of Picard is about Starfleet losing its way and the journey back there. The second season is about saving Earth from an alternate future in which the Federation never existed. I assure you, they succeed. So, why did this happen? In the mid-10's, Paramount clearly wanted "peak TV" season-long arcs, and season-long arcs need high stakes. That's also why Star Trek movies cannot have the stakes of a random Star Trek episode. The danger is heightened. "Earth has been assimilated by the Borg, and only the brand-new Enterprise-E can go back in time to save the future!" It's ridiculous, but it's also one of the better Star Trek movies. A Star Trek movie can't be Data's Day, even though that is a good episode. Similarly, a season-long Star Trek arc is probably going to have to be about a war, or a threat to the Federation, or solving a galaxy-spanning mystery, etc. The "save the Federation" is common and sometimes beloved. It's just that, out of necessity, these stories are being chosen for a season-long arc or two instead of one of the many types of Star Trek stories. It's not universal, though. Strange New Worlds is very much "classic Trek" as well, thus far. Ongoing character development but largely within self-contained, classic episodes. Discovery season four had a season-long arc again, but it was a very high-stakes first contact storyline. Prodigy does not take place in the Federation but teaches the teenage characters (and younger audience) about the Star Trek brand, err, about the Federation. It's pretty good, actually, but I am aged out of the demographic to enjoy it to its fullest. If you gave up on the new Trek series, I get it, but you might want to give it another go. Strange New Worlds is great so far, and the weird thing about Lower Decks is that by the end of season two, you will probably care more about Tendi and Rutherford as much as any other Star Trek character.
Thank you-- very well said. ENT was the Star Trek series that lost me. After being a dedicated fan since 1979 (from watching reruns of TOS and then tuning in weekly for every subsequent new show), ENT left me feeling empty a third of the way through its 2nd season and I stopped returning to watch weekly. I also gave up on the TNG movies after Insurrection, but Star Trek (2009) won me back and DSC cemented my Trek universe loyalty. I'm willing to put up with some clunkers (Picard S2) just to immerse myself in a universe that provides a potential future for humanity that isn't reflective of a Blade Runner or Mad Max world.
Been a Trekkie since birth, third generation. Loved most of it, recent ish DS9 convert. Voyager was my favourite. Discovery was a show I wanted to love. Great cast, cool looking ship etc. But then it was a prequel, why? OK, I can deal. I read the books so I know continuity isn't really a Star Trek thing. Then the Klingons were from the Kelvin Timeline but its set in Prime timeline. why? And then the fucking cameras. And the lack of hopeful storytelling. And I can't watch it with my young kids like most other Star Trek. They are younger than 10 and have seen all the original movies except the Motion Picture! And that's where new Trek lost me. I watched it with my Mum and my Grandma since before I can remember. Trek for me is about fun, sometimes scary, learning opportunities and enjoyable romps. After the election I am looking forward to showing my kids Past Tense so they can ask questions that will be hard to answer but will lead to them recognising some of the hard truths in our world that they will hopefully want to stamp out. But I can't do that with new Trek and frankly the pettiness of Picard and the unceasing darkness and camera idiocy of Discovery really turned me off them. I do not begrudge anyone who watches them and I want to check out LD some more and SNW. sorry, I don't want to be a hater. this just seemed like a good place to throw my feelings into the void. Great video as always.
I couldn't agree more regarding Lower Decks, especially where Boimler is concerned. I found the first season a bit up and down. It was enjoyable, but I wasn't waiting for the second season with baited breath. Further, I found myself uncertain with the early treatment of Boimler in season two. It seemed that Boimler was meant to largely be a stand-in for the audience (TOS/TNG fans in particular). He seemed a climber. He seemed pedantic. He was, very much, a wet blanket. And then the turn came for him. I was particularly happy that he stood up to 'the Redshirts', and proved himself newly capable to rise to crisis in multiple situations. I enjoyed that his encyclopedic knowledge of past Trek events has equipped him to deal with the situations in whichhe finds himself. Now I find myself excited to see the continued growth for each of the main cast. I can't wait for Mariner to come to terms with the expectations placed on her by both herself and her parents. I hope that Tendi doesn't lose her bright-eyed excitement as she comes to terms with the dangers her and her fellows face. I'm excited to learn more about the real history behind Rutherford's implants. Lower Decks quietly became one of my favorite series of Trek so far, and Strange New Worlds has yet to disappoint.
In the episode with Data’s daughter, Lal asks Data why he continues to try to emulate humans when it is not possible for him to fully be human. He says to her that even though he might not ever achieve his goal, the effort yields its own rewards. It’s one of my favorite episodes, and I always return to it when I’m feeling down, just for that line. It captures what I think is the heart of Star Trek - even if a future like this is impossible, there are only benefits to gain from believing in and striving for something greater than ourselves.
the ending of Paste Tense from DS9 makes me cry every time. Bashir asking about the 21st century "how could they let things get so bad?" and Sisko just saying "That's a good question...I wish I had an answer" and just looking profoundly troubled.
@@deaconlasagna8570 I used to think "Past Tense" was preposterous, but have since learned to appreciate it. Jadzia, as a White woman was saved, while Sisko and Bashir, as minorities, were dumped in the Sanctuary. Also at the time of broadcast, coralling the poor into districts cut off from the rest of the population, was something the local government was actually considering as a solution.
This is why I often say I'm a disappointed optimist rather than a cynic. I desperately believe (or want to believe) that a future like the one in star trek is possible, perhaps not technologically but at least socially. Unfortunately, this belief comes under attack pretty much every time I read the news or go on social media. We seem to be getting further from this future every day.
Doesn’t that mirror the Trek timeline though? Didn’t the Media deception and warmongering get so bad - brink of nuclear armageddon - before the nations of planet Earth said “enough!” and started toward the UFP?
If it makes you feel any better, most news outlets and especially social media exist to sell you ads, not to keep you informed. To this end they can be very sensationalistic and predatory, never the fact that they're owned by rich bastards.
maybe it's not for us to live in this world, but only work towards bringing it about. It sucks because we know how far we've come AND we know how far we still have to go. Weird time to be alive in context, no other generation was this aware of both history and the possibilities of the future at the same time. So why be cynical or disappointed, there's work to do so others can live well. Let's accept our role in this.
This reminds me of going to a talk hosted by two men who had been in extremist hate groups, and their whole point was they only got out because someone showed them that that wasn't the only way to live. They received what they called "radical compassion" - kindness from people when they least deserved it is what saved and turned their lives around for the better, and now they've dedicated their lives to getting people out of those hate groups so they can see a better way of living. Radical hope and radical compassion. I can't think of a better belief system than that.
I was reading recently that compassion is a better concept than empathy, because compassion is a universal value. You offer compassion, in theory, to everyone, rather that just those you are moved to feel something for. How many of us, however, are sufficiently radical to offer compassion to those currently seduced by hate groups?
@@originaluddite with online discourse its damn difficult when these hate groups include bad faith trolls who’s only goals are to spur reactions and ask “what is a woman?”
@@BlapwardKrunkleI think if you hear terms like "radical acceptance" or "radical compassion" you're probably more likely to be talking to good faith people. I don't doubt the lunatics will eventually start trying to incorporate these things into their grifts, but for now these terms tend to belong mostly to progressive movements and influences (like recovery work, self healing, etc) Edit: didn't notice this comment was from a year ago, my bad!
"2024? How the hell can anyone live like this? The social problems they face seem too enormous to deal with." - Doc "The leaders made mistakes, very bad ones...the Sanctuary District. But they'll remember. It'll take another century, but eventually they will have no choice but to care." - Sisko 'Past Tense' DS9
I know the episode was inspired by a real attempt at government policy(though unsuccessful), but I am downright shocked something like the sanctuary districts have not been seriously proposed yet.
It can be hard to deal with that "we've exceeded these limitations we placed upon ourselves" statements, when you're one of the people you know that certain forces are coming to exterminate, that you stand less of a chance to complete your life into old age than others.
@@3dartxsi they are working on them in LA and PDX right now. In Portland Metro struck down a plan for a homeless relocation camp down as unethical this past legislative session, but it will come up again. I am much less knowledgable about LA but I understand "eliminating street camping" and the implied concentration of houseless/indigent individuals is definitely a viable political platform at current.
@@3dartxsithe episode wasn't inspired by an attempt. The writers wrote the first draft and then learned that their fictional near future dystopia was being seriously proposed.
I have loved Star Trek since I can remember as a child. Growing up Black In America, Star Trek gave me a glimpse of what a future could be when cultural, economic, and racial injustice where no longer the bases of society. I was awed that people of all colors and creed could interact with no pre-learned racial bias. Everyone truly started owt on equal footing and your goals in life were based upon your hard work and determination (and not on nepotism and bias). I remember when Sisko was promoted too Captain. That, personally, was one of the highlights of my being a a trek fan. Kirk always defended those who had no voice to defend themselves. Picard followed that up with a more regal and thoughtful stance. Janeway, even though I hated some of the decisions she made, was still a great captain who cared not only for her crew, but for every alien (for lack of a better word) people and world Voyager encountered. Archer was so driven about spreading the new earth and it’s ideals and that made him a great captain also. Burhnam, even though her character has gone from Vulcan logic to Human idealism, still maintains the love for all the different alien cultures in the galaxy (nay the universe). Pike is a very thoughtful and caring and compassionate captain. He knows his future is going to end horribly and he could change it. But he will not because the need ps of the few owtway the needs of the one. You have to respect that. The support cast members of each show all embody these same traits. I have hope that the future will indeed get humanity pass these petty, insignificant ideals and actions and we humans can look upon this past has one that will never be repeated! I have always loved Star Trek for that. Hope and Faith are powerful tools BUT only if you wield them correctly. And no matter who you are or where you are from we all want that.
Benjamin Sisko is one of the greatest ficitonal characters in any medium in addition to Avery Brooks' performance being one of the best of all television. DS9 is so hyped now and it's still underrated. (love other Trek but DS9 will always be #1 in my heart someone can surpass it.
One of my favourite things about Star Trek is that despite everything, the humans in the show are able to maintain such a degree of cultural diversity on earth that that the vision of our future the show gives us never becomes a monoculture, even with so many barriers between people having fallen away. In fact, maintaining that diversity and allowing so many unique perspectives (before we even consider the myriad alien cultures in the federation) is consistently depicted as one of our core strengths over oppressive top down monocultures like the Cardassians or the Romulans or even the Borg. We can already see this today, despite hard-right conspiracy nuts claiming "we" need an ethnostate to combat the perceived "new world order" nations that are more diverse and free have typically done better in our modern world than ones that don't, and even when these people point to countries like China or India as some kind of a "gotcha" they miss just how diverse those nations are already, even when they're unequal and oppressive. I guess I just don't think Trek's form of hope is as radical and unlikely as people make out.
I recommend the book The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity by David Graeber and David Wengrow, which points out that we’ve had quite sophisticated societies in the distant past, and organized along different lines than our supposed "end of history" ones. Perhaps our Star Trek future has already happened and is therefore all the more believably achievable.
Ep 1 of _ST: SNW_ was striking in it's portrayal of the Federation as an institution created by multi-generational nuclear holocaust survivors. The older I get, the more I find that _Star Trek_ is the thesis that best articulates my world view, political ideology & value system.
It reminds me of how a lot of good came from those who survived the last world war. They did things that were new to world history, such as enshrine universal rights into international law, or provide massive economic support to the losers to prevent them from becoming vengeful in future.
Growing up in an ultra-conservative fundie household, I was absolutely obsessed with a Star Trek future. ST:TNG premiered when I was in high school, and it’s not an overstatement to say it started me on a road to radicalization. As you said in one of my favorite videos of yours, “So yeah I’m an anarchist now.”
I think it is possible, If enough of us believe in a better future. A huge problem/hurdle I see is hyper individualism. We've all been indoctrinated by capitalism to believe in this idea, but everything we have right now was built as a collective. This notion that we can't build a better future is why there's so much cyperpunk dystopias. Seems like we've given up. All we need is a ray of hope.
NGL, I cried several times in early ST: Strange New Worlds episodes every time I thought, "Man, I remember when I thought we'd make it to this..." It's important not to give up. What would Captain Picard do? Probably not complain about it on Twitter!
Picard might issue open rebukes, in a "if the shoe fits, wear it" style, via Twitter, if social media had been conceived of by the time ST was being written. "The first duty of every Twitter user is to the truth -- whether that's poetic truth, factual truth, philosophical truth--"
Something I've noticed when talking to people who argue that progress can't happen because of "human nature" is that they're always referring to someone else. They never see themselves as fundamentally cruel or lazy or selfish. It's always other people (usually people they don't know). I think they're confusing the way that people are incentivised to act under a coercive system like ours with the way people function naturally.
Abso-freakin'-loutely! I get so tired of this fatalism, and it's very well-backed by conservative takes on, say, the Bible. "Well, GOD says that the poor will ALWAYS be with us, and that every man is, at his core, wicked!" Yeah, your god also says that we all deserve infinite punishment for finite offense, soooo...
@@lausenteternidad Some people don't believe in other people, but some of them, even further, do not believe in themselves, either. They might answer "no, of course not" to your question, but that doesn't mean that they believe their own answer, truly, and so it wouldn't _really_ be that much of a gotcha, to them. And it's sad. But we're incentivized to tear each other down so much that it's not a wonder that a lot of people can't believe in anything. For those of us that can, we have to keep our hope, and share it with everyone we're able to share it with. We have to try, even if we can't know that we'll ever win. I've got a big struggle with countering my father's conservative religious fatalism, but I'm still holding out hope that I can get through, one day. It's not a strong, optimistic hope, but where cheerful optimism is too difficult, I can at least lean on being a stubborn shit.
Naturally at a tribal level if a person behaved in the way a modern CEO does hoarding resources at the cost of the tribes efforts they would be at best cast out on their own. Bad behavior is naturally punished by humans. As society scales in size it becomes easier to "get away" with more and more because the offenders are able to survive or even thrive within the society they victimize. Even to the point they're confusing the way that people are incentivized to act under a coercive system like ours with the way people function naturally.
because of this channel I became increasely interested in getting to know star trek. So in 2021 I watched TNG, then DS9 and then Voyager... it was one of the best things I ever did. So thanks :)
I'm a lifelong Trek fan. I believe a better future is possible. Unlikely, but possible. It will require seismic shifts in culture and society that we cannot even begin to imagine.
Awesome episode. I just finished watching Enterprise and it amused me that the Vulcans were supposed to be the meanies but often came out as the adults in the room while the humans behaved like ungrateful children. I agree the hopeful future is the thing I love about Star Trek the most, that humans can be the enlightened, technologically advanced compassionate aliens instead of plague of greedy locusts spreading and sacking through the galaxy. Some say that is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of Capitalism, but sometimes isn't. Thanks for the video.
I've always felt we(humans) waste so much of our imagination on dreadful thoughts. Maybe if we imagine nice things like a future full of hope, we just might manifest it in reality.
@@mechanomics2649 yeah, it's a pretty big problem 😕 but I know I try to be just a little better than I've been before. Maybe others will see that and give it a try as well
Even if a Star Trek future isn't possible, I'm going to proceed on the assumption that it is. Just like a classless, moneyless, stateless society may not be possible. We focus on building an ideal future, and bargain only with the limits of reality - not HuMaN nAtUrE but the laws of physics etc.
Classless, moneyless, and stateless societies have already been achieved in the modern age-they've simply been unstable because every state around them wants them to fail. You may know this already, but even today Rojava and the Zapatista territories of Mexico have societies that operate based on anarchist principles. :-)
Im crying. Its been a long time since those words were spoken by me or by any of my loved ones. The world and its poverty and greed has been breaking me, and it fracking sucks.
@@ordinarytree4678 however you can find the reassurance to see that the world is not solely cruel and monstrous, it is both possible and neccessary to live in the world in a way that feels better than you feel right now. The world has always changed for the better alongside any changes for the worst. we are all blessed with an unknown future that can be anything. Bless you and good luck.
This. This I truly believe in. Hope against the dark, hope for a better future, and that we should join together and push for it. A better world is possible, and we WILL make it. Thank you so much for this video. I am so tired of people telling me I'm dumb or naive or complacent for hoping for a better future, when what I mean is that I hope for and will try to make it real. Hope is not naive. It is an aspiration.
I've personally found absurdism to be a good counter to nihilism. Striving for meaning in a world where we know it doesn't technically exist is silly, so we may as well embrace that and do it anyway because it's funny
God I hate the whole scorpion on the frog tale. Stupid and reductive. "I killed us both, cuz that's what i do /shrug" I could spend hours picking it apart, but I don't want to.
I also feel like the original very old fable probably has more complexity in its interpretation, whereas our modern day understanding is just "no one can change what they are" which is just... obviously untrue?
Growing up the hope Star Trek gave me kept me going striving to make tomorrow better for humanity...I was too young to realize how close the bell riots were to my own time 😅
"..You see there are two flames burning in the human heart all the time. The flame of anger against injustice, and the flame of hope you can build a better world. And my job at 83 is going round and fanning both flames...because people need encouragement. Everyone needs encouragement if you're going to do the best you can." -Tony Benn
Movies like to portray encounters between groups of primitive/early humans as being violent. One tribe is sitting in their cave when another comes along to kill them, steal their food and fire, and run off. Actual modern thought on it, however, indicates that when two groups of early humans met, they didn't fight,... they shared. They taught each other skills the other didn't know and traded goods. The foundations of human culture: tools, language, arts, and education, all came about because, even in it's earliest and most primitive incarnation, human culture knew the value of cooperation, altruism, and that different people brought different strengths, not weaknesses.
Word 'utopia' is thrown as an accusation these days: "that's utopian". But in a world that is slowly sliding towards dystopia, I think we need utopias in our political discussion. We need a way, a hope to move forwards.
That scene is the first episode of Star Trek : Strange New worlds where pyke explain the history of the 21st century hit hard. One of the best scene in the serie so far imo. Maybe even in the entire franchise, because it is both depressing AND beautifully hopeful !
That second episode of Strange New Worlds is the best hour of Trek in decades. Such a good friggin' show so far! And agreed on that scene from the first ep!
I liked this episode, but there was a bit of a lack of nuance. We see the police state in one society, always this readiness to employ force toward arbitrary control, and we don't even see the other society, the enemy of the first. We're left to make some assumptions. Since we don't see it, we might assume the other side are just freedom fighters, because we know, from our world, that crack-downs happen and label dissenters as terrorists. We might assume the other side are like the Soviet Union, a rival nation with its own ethos, in theory, but that has also fallen to authoritarianism in order to win global control, possibly due to corruption, or due to the incompatibility of two economic systems trying to operate on the global stage (and its proponents both thinking their system is the liberatory one). If the latter were more strongly implied, I'd have less of a problem with it, but instead, I'm reminded of the episode that was a thinly veiled "these guys are the IRA -- IN SPACE!" episode of TNG, which was itself a bit ham-fisted and rife with both-sidesism. I'm not saying that all of the IRA were fine folks. People do what they think is right, with the limited information available, or they have too much information and they are paralyzed into inaction (hello, me). But from this SNW episode, we don't know if the other side are violent, or just saboteurs, dissenters against social norms and security theater, people who won't play ball with arbitrary restrictions, people who put flowers in the barrels of guns trained on them, people who seek to form structures of collective bargaining. And even if they were violent, pacifism can be a naive outlook; then again, rejecting pacifism entirely can be far too cynical, and we see that in the TNG IRA episode, but it's, to my thinking, done in a way that lacks nuance. For me, one thing Pike could have done is address the fact that he does not understand the subtleties of the conflict, and that there is no guarantee that these people were just like the people of Earth in the 21st century, but stress that, whatever the case may be, they MUST work it out, or the outcome Earth faced is a very real possibility. Would this have reduced the impact of the episode? I don't know. For me, though, both-sidesism already does that. Maybe, in Star Trek, the people of the future just can't remember what it was like. I've imagined myself, displaced in time, and submitting myself as a historical study subject, to help them to understand what it is that we face today, to understand our despair and our anger, to understand how hopeless we can feel, and how, for us, it is that violence employed against us by the ruling and privileged classes that radicalizes us, whereas, for those ruling and privileged classes, it is their inability to see our suffering, and therefore to care, that allows them to do such evil things on the basis of ideology fed to them that seems plausible enough to be believed -- like "if you don't wanna do the time, don't do the crime," and "why don't you just get a job -- so long as you completely lack an understanding of the experiences of the people on the bottom. When so few are afforded the privilege of that kind of ignorance, it's nearly impossible to not be furious at the absurdity of it all. That innocence, though, is part of the fantasy. A world where everyone is that ignorant, where everyone has that privilege, has lessons it needs to learn, but it is a good sign that folks are better off. Still, I can't help but think that this is unintentional at times, and that, rather, it is that some episodes carry a liberal bias.
@@VitriolicVermillion Thanks for this writeup, Valierie! Don't have much to say in response, just wanted to make sure you know your words are valuable, impactful, and I appreciated reading them!!!
My somewhat conservative uncle said he'd be in favor of a "star trek economy/society" despite being a Joe Rogan type dude politically. That show is powerful truly and this radical hope is important and potent as political messaging. People need to understand we, humanity, are truly capable of achieving everything we want and satisfying everyones basic needs. There's literally nothing out there holding us back other than our own belief in the opposite and oppressive systems.
Erich Fromm, philosopher and psychologist had a concept of "radical hope" long before Jonathan Lear. I don't know in which book it is, I think in the "anatomy of human destructiveness", but his concept sound just like you described it and that was long before Lear's book. It's sad that Fromm seems to be forgotten because he had so many visionary ideas that people later just copied without crediting him.
I could complain about parts of Discovery and Picard, but you're spot on that that I'll still watch whatever is released lol. So far, Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks are my favorites. Prodigy is a fun watch, but I feel like they need another layer of big-picture optimism to go with the YA drama (which I like, no shade on that from me).
Thank you for making this video. Science fiction is such a desert when it comes to hope and optimism and Star Trek really bucked that trend -- at least the older series that I grew up with. If I have one quibble, it's with "to hell with Rick Berman!" because even knowing that he found Roddenberry's vision unrealistic, I have all the more respect that he put his personal biases aside to build upon that very vision to make TNG what it was. Which is more than I can say for the showrunners behind Discovery and Picard, who apparently have some difficulty critiquing the problematic conditions of our present without either bringing those same problems into the future, or literally going back in time to complain about those problems without meaningfully pointing the way forward. But as you said, even those of us who are more critical of New Trek retain the radical hope that brought us to Star Trek to begin with. We kept on watching and we kept on hoping against hope that it would be more reflective of that shared vision of the future. That patience was eventually rewarded with SNW which is now doing some good things and has improved upon the old formulas. It's genuinely rather promising.
Thanks for the video it nice to have a reminder that dreams and hope are not childish and reducing the lack of hope or change to a supposed human nature.
Loved the video and really needed it. I profoundly despise how "human nature" is always used to justify injustices. Really it's no different than the Divine Right argument.
Cheers Mr Cut. I really needed that reminder of hope. Been crying a lot, even though my country just said a resounding Fuck Off to the anti everything government we had. It's just been so hard to feel hope for the future. so while it's still tough, thank you for reminding me of why I have all these DVDs and books about a very specific and hopeful future.
In the seventies as a kid I watched reruns of the original Star Trek. It seemed futuristic and the values made sense. I had no idea it would seem like a utopia by the time I was in my forties and fifties. Part of it is that I’ve learned more about the world. Part of it is that the world has gone down a dystopian spiral. But I agree that humans can change and that we have to continue to try to make things better. We have only this society and this planet as of now. (I do wish we could find some Vulcans, tho)
Wow, I've never watched a minute of ST but somehow you can always craft a video capable of blowing my mind. You truly are an incredible talent Leon, honestly.
Vacation and aversion to work are both coping mechanisms of working under a system that produces upon your shoulders the fear of losing your livelihood. Without such fear, conversely to common idea, productivity would actually go up in the general population, and extended breaks, let alone indolence, would be rather rare Also, beneath all the radical hope, Star Trek also espouses a more sobering point as well, hidden in its fictional history; "It will often get worse before it gets better - but it will get better"
For those interested in recent research taking aim at many of the essentialist arguments against a future like this one (including arguments not discussed here, such as the classic "complex civilization requires extreme hierarchy" argument), you should read The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity by David Wengrow and the late David Graeber. They combine recent research from anthropology and archaeology to really thoroughly skewer the idea that humans are locked into a hierarchical capitalist hellscape. As an added bonus, it's well-written and easily digestible for a lay audience--not like reading Sahlins or even Geertz.
I align with the concept of Radical Hope, and I believe that it is possible to achieve to some extent. There is a single issue that I don't know if we could overcome as human beings. I read the book "Human Swarm -How Societies Arise, Thrive, and Fall", by Mark Moffett. I don't want to reveal the conclusions he draws upon, in case someone is reading, or wants to read it. I will just say that the author makes very convincing arguments detailing how, as a species, we will always have a need for "the other" to balance our own identity against. If we don't have an enemy, we will create one and divide along those new lines. Ernest Becker makes the same observation in his book "Denial of Death", and in "Escape from Evil", two highly underrated works of brilliance. Underrated because they are on an uncomfortable subject, death, and how we try avoiding it, with the outcome being our creation of culture in itself. Culture is a causa sui that exists to give us meaning, and we contribute to it as if it were an extension of ourselves. It will live on after we are gone. This gives us the psychological remedy, unconsciously to our ceasing to exist. That's Becker's idea explained simply, as I can do his work no justice in a paragraph or two. Moffett takes this concept a step further, and is an easier and more enjoyable of a read. I can't say that he is right, only that he makes a very good argument for his case.
When it comes to nature vs nurture, I as someone who wants to become an anthropologist, believe the “human nature” seen in so many arguments doesn’t exist. Greed and selfishness does exist, but it is nurtured, specifically grown by the society around us. It is instilled into us, and we are not born with it. Again this is a opinion, and definitely not a professional one, just a personal theory.
While economic-based violence is gone in the Star Trek universe, people still use positions of authority to exercise violence over others. The Federation Council decided to change planetary borders with the Cardassians, displacing planets of Bajorans with the stroke of a pen.
human nature vs culture is a new to look at it for me. Thanks for that. Changes a lot, cause I know cultures can and do change and overall, our combined culture is leaning, steadily, with many set backs towards something closer to Star Trek. Look at what was acceptable/ par for the course 100 years ago but is now considered culturally outdated/wrong. - Hello my left handed peeps, enjoying using your preferred hand easily? (most of the time with no teachers beating you)
I recently had a discussion with my sister about HOW we came to view the world and the direction we want it to go, and we both concluded that watching Star Trek from an early age; (I'm 50 and she's 54) had a profound impact on forming that view 👍
When I was young my dad watched Stark Trek TOS reruns on TV in the eighties (he was a kid when it was originally broadcast). Years later I had a girlfriend who loved Star Trek TNG when it was newly broadcast. I only ever saw a handful of episodes of each. The point I’m eventually getting to is this: With all these films, series, and spin-off shows, it’s hard for a novice like me to grasp the ultimate timeline. It reminds me of when I decided to read three of the series of books by Isaac Asimov. I decided to read them in story order rather than publication order and it was a lot of fun. His Robot series (4), Galactic Empire series (3), and Foundation series (7) are like what I imagine it must be like organizing a binge fest of all things Star Trek. (Also, I recommend The End of Eternity. It’s a stand alone novel but has connections to the origins of humans deciding to colonize the galaxy rather than remain on Earth. So it can be read first, last, or in between series. Enjoy!)
I love Trek. To me it's not about whether a Star Trek society can definitively be realized by our species - it's about us **striving** for that future. Star Trek is a prayer. It's an ideal. Something to aspire to, to reach for. What good are our values if we don't do everything we can to realize the best version of it possible? Star Trek across the years is like the song of that hope, a prayer that even atheists can get behind, that allows us to regularly share a dream of what we want to achieve.
I agree with you. But for the last 3,5 months hoping for a better future became extremely hard. I'm from Russia, I'm an activist in different fields and after the war with Ukraine started and repressions reignited with a new force it became hard to hope for the better future. I feel devastated especially as I have a friend from Mariupol who had lost everything except for his life and I have a clear example of the costs and stupidity of this war. I don't know how to hope for better while being enveloped in this whole mess and feeling powerless to do anything with it. Leon, maybe, you could cover the topic of dictatorships? It's, unfortunately, an actual problem for many, it's hard to understand even from within, having first-hand experiences with it. And your videos are very good in clearing many things up
NGL, I haven't been watching a lot of videos here lately just cause the constant stream of bad news about the world has been too depressing lately. This video actually makes me feel like there can be a tomorrow.
Could really use some radical hope with what's going right now. ST:SNW delivers (in all but one ep so far. That ep chose to raise some uncomfortable questions about what people are willing to sacrifice in service to the needs of the many)
this really captures my frustration with older generations (or anyone really) who are left leaning but have "given up" on voting, like what is the point in being cynical, i understand change is hard and we may not see it but fighting for the ideal future star trek illustrated is much better than laying down to rot excellent video as always!!
on a serious note, I really liked that you explained radical hope. it is something I have had in my heart and how I found myself to anarchism. I love star trek! These stories can show us how our future could be, if only we just imagined it. I wish there were more shows like it.
Agree! If you’re portraying stability, keep the camera stable. I do think the filming style is a big part of Trek. The JJ Abrams thing was fun as a change in a movie, but not for hours on a TV show.
Your quick summary of how the future came to be is spot on: Nuclear war the destroyed the immense riches of capitalism and afterwards, the space comrades saw we were ready and came to help Earth build fully automated luxury space communism. Roddenberry may have been a Maoist, but Trek is positively Posadist, right down to the space comrades communicating telepathically with cetaceans
Each iteration of Star Trek is a product of the time it is made. The hope of the future is in all of them, differently because our social situations of the time. The 'product' has to appeal to the audience and needs to be contemporary to 'sell'. That being said for me there is attractions to every iteration of the "Star Trek'.
Interestingly enough, I would definitely want to live in Star Trek but I would rather "adventure" in Star Wars. It seems like the struggles are bigger and cooler. Opinions?
I have been preaching this style of government for over a decade, and one day I'm explaining it to someone online and they say "Like Start Trek, but with 3d printers instead of fabrication machines?" and he has to explain star trek to me cause I was into Star Wars too hard. Also, unrelated, Star Trek is pretty great i found out!
To paraphrase what you said in the video, and what many have probably also said here, if you don't have an ideal to aspire to, then nothing will change, you have to have something to model your own behaviour on, no matter how radical that hope may be.
Thanks for this video Leon! I admit to being a pessimist bordering on misanthrope at times due to the times we live in, but part of me never lets go of that hope no matter how dark things get. Still I'm at lost with how we could tackle these issues. So many people have been endoctrinated by capitalism and the idea of hierarchy being normal, they can't be deprogrammed overnight. I feel like we stand at the crossroads that leads either to the Star Trek future or a dark dystopian timeline that can split into a Mad Max survival of the fittest post apocalypse or the dark anarcho-capitalist cyberpunk where corporations replace the states and we live and die for them... on a more direct level than now I mean. I dunno, some people are too easily swayed by irrelevant shit or personal bigotry to realize their role as a stupid pawn, yet even stupid pawns can create a checkmate situation under specific circumstances. I may just be rambling now, insomnia unrelated to this existential dread. Just gonna say thanks again!
![SAFEPLANET - ดาวเคราะห์ [ THE PLANET ]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/4X1XL3I_k3c/mqdefault.jpg)
There are a lot of comments about how the more recent Star Trek series have been less utopian, but it is more complicated than that.
Two of the new Star Trek shows, Discovery and Picard, are about saving the Federation from threats from within and challenges to its ideals from its own people. Yet, there are a lot of Trek episodes and movies like that, and nobody seemed to think it made Star Trek dystopian before. Movies like Star Trek VI, Star Trek: Insurrection, Star Trek: Into Darkness. TNG episodes like "Measure of a Man" and "The Drumhead" to name a couple. DS9 episodes like "Inquisition", "Homefront", "Paradise Lost", "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges", among others. ENT episodes like "Demons" and "Terra Prime" and more, I think. The only difference between 1) the movies/episodes about this before and 2) episodes about this now, is scale. These are season-long arcs instead of individual episodes or two-parters.
Discovery was darker in tone, but the Federation ideals were nonetheless present. That was what the finale of season one was about. Discovery right now is about saving the Federation in the distant future. Season three was about rebuilding relationships with Trill and Vulcan. In the distant future, Spock's dream of reunification between Romulans and Vulcans was achieved. The finale of season four had Earth rejoining the Federation. The trauma and darkness of season one is less prevalent. The mood of the season four finale was so upbeat that it may have also been a little cheesy. I loved it, though. Similarly, the first season of Picard is about Starfleet losing its way and the journey back there. The second season is about saving Earth from an alternate future in which the Federation never existed. I assure you, they succeed.
So, why did this happen?
In the mid-10's, Paramount clearly wanted "peak TV" season-long arcs, and season-long arcs need high stakes. That's also why Star Trek movies cannot have the stakes of a random Star Trek episode. The danger is heightened. "Earth has been assimilated by the Borg, and only the brand-new Enterprise-E can go back in time to save the future!" It's ridiculous, but it's also one of the better Star Trek movies. A Star Trek movie can't be Data's Day, even though that is a good episode. Similarly, a season-long Star Trek arc is probably going to have to be about a war, or a threat to the Federation, or solving a galaxy-spanning mystery, etc.
The "save the Federation" is common and sometimes beloved. It's just that, out of necessity, these stories are being chosen for a season-long arc or two instead of one of the many types of Star Trek stories.
It's not universal, though. Strange New Worlds is very much "classic Trek" as well, thus far. Ongoing character development but largely within self-contained, classic episodes. Discovery season four had a season-long arc again, but it was a very high-stakes first contact storyline. Prodigy does not take place in the Federation but teaches the teenage characters (and younger audience) about the Star Trek brand, err, about the Federation. It's pretty good, actually, but I am aged out of the demographic to enjoy it to its fullest.
If you gave up on the new Trek series, I get it, but you might want to give it another go. Strange New Worlds is great so far, and the weird thing about Lower Decks is that by the end of season two, you will probably care more about Tendi and Rutherford as much as any other Star Trek character.
Thank you-- very well said.
ENT was the Star Trek series that lost me. After being a dedicated fan since 1979 (from watching reruns of TOS and then tuning in weekly for every subsequent new show), ENT left me feeling empty a third of the way through its 2nd season and I stopped returning to watch weekly. I also gave up on the TNG movies after Insurrection, but Star Trek (2009) won me back and DSC cemented my Trek universe loyalty. I'm willing to put up with some clunkers (Picard S2) just to immerse myself in a universe that provides a potential future for humanity that isn't reflective of a Blade Runner or Mad Max world.
Been a Trekkie since birth, third generation. Loved most of it, recent ish DS9 convert. Voyager was my favourite. Discovery was a show I wanted to love. Great cast, cool looking ship etc. But then it was a prequel, why? OK, I can deal. I read the books so I know continuity isn't really a Star Trek thing. Then the Klingons were from the Kelvin Timeline but its set in Prime timeline. why? And then the fucking cameras. And the lack of hopeful storytelling. And I can't watch it with my young kids like most other Star Trek. They are younger than 10 and have seen all the original movies except the Motion Picture! And that's where new Trek lost me. I watched it with my Mum and my Grandma since before I can remember. Trek for me is about fun, sometimes scary, learning opportunities and enjoyable romps. After the election I am looking forward to showing my kids Past Tense so they can ask questions that will be hard to answer but will lead to them recognising some of the hard truths in our world that they will hopefully want to stamp out.
But I can't do that with new Trek and frankly the pettiness of Picard and the unceasing darkness and camera idiocy of Discovery really turned me off them.
I do not begrudge anyone who watches them and I want to check out LD some more and SNW.
sorry, I don't want to be a hater. this just seemed like a good place to throw my feelings into the void.
Great video as always.
I couldn't agree more regarding Lower Decks, especially where Boimler is concerned. I found the first season a bit up and down. It was enjoyable, but I wasn't waiting for the second season with baited breath. Further, I found myself uncertain with the early treatment of Boimler in season two.
It seemed that Boimler was meant to largely be a stand-in for the audience (TOS/TNG fans in particular). He seemed a climber. He seemed pedantic. He was, very much, a wet blanket. And then the turn came for him.
I was particularly happy that he stood up to 'the Redshirts', and proved himself newly capable to rise to crisis in multiple situations. I enjoyed that his encyclopedic knowledge of past Trek events has equipped him to deal with the situations in whichhe finds himself.
Now I find myself excited to see the continued growth for each of the main cast. I can't wait for Mariner to come to terms with the expectations placed on her by both herself and her parents. I hope that Tendi doesn't lose her bright-eyed excitement as she comes to terms with the dangers her and her fellows face. I'm excited to learn more about the real history behind Rutherford's implants.
Lower Decks quietly became one of my favorite series of Trek so far, and Strange New Worlds has yet to disappoint.
I already loved you stuff, but when you bring in star trek you got me for life 😸
@@adam7763 No.
In the episode with Data’s daughter, Lal asks Data why he continues to try to emulate humans when it is not possible for him to fully be human. He says to her that even though he might not ever achieve his goal, the effort yields its own rewards. It’s one of my favorite episodes, and I always return to it when I’m feeling down, just for that line. It captures what I think is the heart of Star Trek - even if a future like this is impossible, there are only benefits to gain from believing in and striving for something greater than ourselves.
god the data focused episodes of tng are among some of the best of all trek imo
It's one of my favorite episodes too and always makes me cry ☮
I think this world is possible
Original Star Trek's message of hope reached my mom in her oppressive childhood environment. It gave her the strength to get out.
Thanks, Star Trek.
This video captures everything about why I love Star Trek... except Pike's sexiness. You forgot Pike's sexiness. Other than that, perfection.
I am straight, but I gotta agree... Anson Mount (Pike) is a damn good-looking man.
Preach. Anson Mount is supernaturally handsome.
I knew I’d see you here lol
I radically hope to get a boyfriend like that
Yes. I find both Anson Mount and Ethan Peck distractingly sexy.
I think that "hope" is why we love Star Trek. It seems like a world we would love to live in.
It would rather easy to build, minus the warp drives.
You’re talking about Golden Era Trek though
Yeah, everything but the onesies.
Love? I think the word you’re looking for is rather
Only Star Trek can tell me that I'm going to die in a horrible series of wars lasting decades AND STILL MAKE ME FEEL HOPE FOR THE FUTURE.
Real optimism has its eyes wide open. Real hope comes when you see all the bad stuff and work to do better
the ending of Paste Tense from DS9 makes me cry every time. Bashir asking about the 21st century "how could they let things get so bad?" and Sisko just saying "That's a good question...I wish I had an answer" and just looking profoundly troubled.
@@deaconlasagna8570 I used to think "Past Tense" was preposterous, but have since learned to appreciate it. Jadzia, as a White woman was saved, while Sisko and Bashir, as minorities, were dumped in the Sanctuary.
Also at the time of broadcast, coralling the poor into districts cut off from the rest of the population, was something the local government was actually considering as a solution.
This is why I often say I'm a disappointed optimist rather than a cynic.
I desperately believe (or want to believe) that a future like the one in star trek is possible, perhaps not technologically but at least socially.
Unfortunately, this belief comes under attack pretty much every time I read the news or go on social media. We seem to be getting further from this future every day.
Im the same, "so optimistic it seems like pessimism" is how i always phrase it.
I’m a Negative Optimist.
Also, I’m a fan of the song “Negative Creep. ”
Doesn’t that mirror the Trek timeline though? Didn’t the Media deception and warmongering get so bad - brink of nuclear armageddon - before the nations of planet Earth said “enough!” and started toward the UFP?
If it makes you feel any better, most news outlets and especially social media exist to sell you ads, not to keep you informed. To this end they can be very sensationalistic and predatory, never the fact that they're owned by rich bastards.
maybe it's not for us to live in this world, but only work towards bringing it about. It sucks because we know how far we've come AND we know how far we still have to go. Weird time to be alive in context, no other generation was this aware of both history and the possibilities of the future at the same time.
So why be cynical or disappointed, there's work to do so others can live well. Let's accept our role in this.
This reminds me of going to a talk hosted by two men who had been in extremist hate groups, and their whole point was they only got out because someone showed them that that wasn't the only way to live. They received what they called "radical compassion" - kindness from people when they least deserved it is what saved and turned their lives around for the better, and now they've dedicated their lives to getting people out of those hate groups so they can see a better way of living. Radical hope and radical compassion. I can't think of a better belief system than that.
This is so true. Radical hope and compassion is what I'm trying to centre my worldwide around
I was reading recently that compassion is a better concept than empathy, because compassion is a universal value. You offer compassion, in theory, to everyone, rather that just those you are moved to feel something for. How many of us, however, are sufficiently radical to offer compassion to those currently seduced by hate groups?
@@originaluddite with online discourse its damn difficult when these hate groups include bad faith trolls who’s only goals are to spur reactions and ask “what is a woman?”
@@BlapwardKrunkleI think if you hear terms like "radical acceptance" or "radical compassion" you're probably more likely to be talking to good faith people. I don't doubt the lunatics will eventually start trying to incorporate these things into their grifts, but for now these terms tend to belong mostly to progressive movements and influences (like recovery work, self healing, etc)
Edit: didn't notice this comment was from a year ago, my bad!
"2024? How the hell can anyone live like this? The social problems they face seem too enormous to deal with." - Doc
"The leaders made mistakes, very bad ones...the Sanctuary District. But they'll remember. It'll take another century, but eventually they will have no choice but to care." - Sisko
'Past Tense' DS9
I know the episode was inspired by a real attempt at government policy(though unsuccessful), but I am downright shocked something like the sanctuary districts have not been seriously proposed yet.
@@3dartxsi But they certainly have been _modestly_ proposed!
It can be hard to deal with that "we've exceeded these limitations we placed upon ourselves" statements, when you're one of the people you know that certain forces are coming to exterminate, that you stand less of a chance to complete your life into old age than others.
@@3dartxsi they are working on them in LA and PDX right now. In Portland Metro struck down a plan for a homeless relocation camp down as unethical this past legislative session, but it will come up again. I am much less knowledgable about LA but I understand "eliminating street camping" and the implied concentration of houseless/indigent individuals is definitely a viable political platform at current.
@@3dartxsithe episode wasn't inspired by an attempt. The writers wrote the first draft and then learned that their fictional near future dystopia was being seriously proposed.
I have loved Star Trek since I can remember as a child. Growing up Black In America, Star Trek gave me a glimpse of what a future could be when cultural, economic, and racial injustice where no longer the bases of society. I was awed that people of all colors and creed could interact with no pre-learned racial bias. Everyone truly started owt on equal footing and your goals in life were based upon your hard work and determination (and not on nepotism and bias). I remember when Sisko was promoted too Captain. That, personally, was one of the highlights of my being a a trek fan. Kirk always defended those who had no voice to defend themselves. Picard followed that up with a more regal and thoughtful stance. Janeway, even though I hated some of the decisions she made, was still a great captain who cared not only for her crew, but for every alien (for lack of a better word) people and world Voyager encountered. Archer was so driven about spreading the new earth and it’s ideals and that made him a great captain also. Burhnam, even though her character has gone from Vulcan logic to Human idealism, still maintains the love for all the different alien cultures in the galaxy (nay the universe). Pike is a very thoughtful and caring and compassionate captain. He knows his future is going to end horribly and he could change it. But he will not because the need ps of the few owtway the needs of the one. You have to respect that.
The support cast members of each show all embody these same traits. I have hope that the future will indeed get humanity pass these petty, insignificant ideals and actions and we humans can look upon this past has one that will never be repeated! I have always loved Star Trek for that. Hope and Faith are powerful tools BUT only if you wield them correctly. And no matter who you are or where you are from we all want that.
Benjamin Sisko is one of the greatest ficitonal characters in any medium in addition to Avery Brooks' performance being one of the best of all television. DS9 is so hyped now and it's still underrated. (love other Trek but DS9 will always be #1 in my heart someone can surpass it.
One of my favourite things about Star Trek is that despite everything, the humans in the show are able to maintain such a degree of cultural diversity on earth that that the vision of our future the show gives us never becomes a monoculture, even with so many barriers between people having fallen away.
In fact, maintaining that diversity and allowing so many unique perspectives (before we even consider the myriad alien cultures in the federation) is consistently depicted as one of our core strengths over oppressive top down monocultures like the Cardassians or the Romulans or even the Borg.
We can already see this today, despite hard-right conspiracy nuts claiming "we" need an ethnostate to combat the perceived "new world order" nations that are more diverse and free have typically done better in our modern world than ones that don't, and even when these people point to countries like China or India as some kind of a "gotcha" they miss just how diverse those nations are already, even when they're unequal and oppressive.
I guess I just don't think Trek's form of hope is as radical and unlikely as people make out.
I recommend the book The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity by David Graeber and David Wengrow, which points out that we’ve had quite sophisticated societies in the distant past, and organized along different lines than our supposed "end of history" ones. Perhaps our Star Trek future has already happened and is therefore all the more believably achievable.
Yep, came here to say that I got Graeber vibes from this video.
Ep 1 of _ST: SNW_ was striking in it's portrayal of the Federation as an institution created by multi-generational nuclear holocaust survivors.
The older I get, the more I find that _Star Trek_ is the thesis that best articulates my world view, political ideology & value system.
It reminds me of how a lot of good came from those who survived the last world war. They did things that were new to world history, such as enshrine universal rights into international law, or provide massive economic support to the losers to prevent them from becoming vengeful in future.
Growing up in an ultra-conservative fundie household, I was absolutely obsessed with a Star Trek future. ST:TNG premiered when I was in high school, and it’s not an overstatement to say it started me on a road to radicalization. As you said in one of my favorite videos of yours, “So yeah I’m an anarchist now.”
As someone who has started to become stressed out over the state of the world, I really needed to hear all this. Fantastic episode as always.
That's a big ol'
I think it is possible, If enough of us believe in a better future.
A huge problem/hurdle I see is hyper individualism. We've all been indoctrinated by capitalism to believe in this idea, but everything we have right now was built as a collective.
This notion that we can't build a better future is why there's so much cyperpunk dystopias. Seems like we've given up. All we need is a ray of hope.
NGL, I cried several times in early ST: Strange New Worlds episodes every time I thought, "Man, I remember when I thought we'd make it to this..." It's important not to give up. What would Captain Picard do? Probably not complain about it on Twitter!
@@rainbowkrampus HAHA, that too!
@@rainbowkrampus made the cell phone and social media
Picard might issue open rebukes, in a "if the shoe fits, wear it" style, via Twitter, if social media had been conceived of by the time ST was being written. "The first duty of every Twitter user is to the truth -- whether that's poetic truth, factual truth, philosophical truth--"
There is no belief more revolutionary than optimism
Sating Star Trek has shaped my values is a welcome compliment
I arrived at this video in my feet at the absolute perfect time. I have been revisiting Star Trek in the radical hope it represents.
Something I've noticed when talking to people who argue that progress can't happen because of "human nature" is that they're always referring to someone else. They never see themselves as fundamentally cruel or lazy or selfish. It's always other people (usually people they don't know).
I think they're confusing the way that people are incentivised to act under a coercive system like ours with the way people function naturally.
It's a nice way to answer "Are you? Are you fundamentally cruel, lazy or selfish?"
Abso-freakin'-loutely! I get so tired of this fatalism, and it's very well-backed by conservative takes on, say, the Bible. "Well, GOD says that the poor will ALWAYS be with us, and that every man is, at his core, wicked!" Yeah, your god also says that we all deserve infinite punishment for finite offense, soooo...
@@lausenteternidad Some people don't believe in other people, but some of them, even further, do not believe in themselves, either. They might answer "no, of course not" to your question, but that doesn't mean that they believe their own answer, truly, and so it wouldn't _really_ be that much of a gotcha, to them. And it's sad. But we're incentivized to tear each other down so much that it's not a wonder that a lot of people can't believe in anything. For those of us that can, we have to keep our hope, and share it with everyone we're able to share it with. We have to try, even if we can't know that we'll ever win. I've got a big struggle with countering my father's conservative religious fatalism, but I'm still holding out hope that I can get through, one day. It's not a strong, optimistic hope, but where cheerful optimism is too difficult, I can at least lean on being a stubborn shit.
Naturally at a tribal level if a person behaved in the way a modern CEO does hoarding resources at the cost of the tribes efforts they would be at best cast out on their own. Bad behavior is naturally punished by humans. As society scales in size it becomes easier to "get away" with more and more because the offenders are able to survive or even thrive within the society they victimize. Even to the point they're confusing the way that people are incentivized to act under a coercive system like ours with the way people function naturally.
because of this channel I became increasely interested in getting to know star trek. So in 2021 I watched TNG, then DS9 and then Voyager... it was one of the best things I ever did. So thanks :)
I'm a lifelong Trek fan. I believe a better future is possible. Unlikely, but possible. It will require seismic shifts in culture and society that we cannot even begin to imagine.
Awesome episode. I just finished watching Enterprise and it amused me that the Vulcans were supposed to be the meanies but often came out as the adults in the room while the humans behaved like ungrateful children.
I agree the hopeful future is the thing I love about Star Trek the most, that humans can be the enlightened, technologically advanced compassionate aliens instead of plague of greedy locusts spreading and sacking through the galaxy.
Some say that is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of Capitalism, but sometimes isn't.
Thanks for the video.
I've always felt we(humans) waste so much of our imagination on dreadful thoughts. Maybe if we imagine nice things like a future full of hope, we just might manifest it in reality.
The problem is getting everyone on board with that.
@@mechanomics2649 yeah, it's a pretty big problem 😕 but I know I try to be just a little better than I've been before. Maybe others will see that and give it a try as well
Even if a Star Trek future isn't possible, I'm going to proceed on the assumption that it is. Just like a classless, moneyless, stateless society may not be possible.
We focus on building an ideal future, and bargain only with the limits of reality - not HuMaN nAtUrE but the laws of physics etc.
Classless, moneyless, and stateless societies have already been achieved in the modern age-they've simply been unstable because every state around them wants them to fail. You may know this already, but even today Rojava and the Zapatista territories of Mexico have societies that operate based on anarchist principles. :-)
It’s entirely possible, but not as long as debt, starvation and homelessness are used to coerce labor.
Realism didn’t put us on the moon. Pessimism wont make us an interstellar species. There IS hope, optimism IS logical.
Classless, moneyless, and stateless was human society until we developed agriculture.
@@justinwatson1510 anprim moment :)
I yearn for the star trek universe. This video makes me feel like I'm not alone in that sentiment. Thank you.
Star Trek is really the best. Humans working together can do anything.
old school ST, that is. Everything these days is just a farce with the ST-label slapped on to sell.
Im crying. Its been a long time since those words were spoken by me or by any of my loved ones.
The world and its poverty and greed has been breaking me, and it fracking sucks.
We need to work together to drive white supremacists out of positions of power.
humans *and* non-humans working together!
@@ordinarytree4678 however you can find the reassurance to see that the world is not solely cruel and monstrous, it is both possible and neccessary to live in the world in a way that feels better than you feel right now. The world has always changed for the better alongside any changes for the worst. we are all blessed with an unknown future that can be anything. Bless you and good luck.
This. This I truly believe in. Hope against the dark, hope for a better future, and that we should join together and push for it. A better world is possible, and we WILL make it.
Thank you so much for this video. I am so tired of people telling me I'm dumb or naive or complacent for hoping for a better future, when what I mean is that I hope for and will try to make it real. Hope is not naive. It is an aspiration.
I really needed this right now. It’s so hard to fight nihilism. It’s depressing. Thank you for this video. Also I love Star Trek you’re awesome
finding a way to believe in hope is, i think, one of the most important intellectualy projects of human life. good luck with whatever your path is.
I've personally found absurdism to be a good counter to nihilism. Striving for meaning in a world where we know it doesn't technically exist is silly, so we may as well embrace that and do it anyway because it's funny
I’ll be lifting countless talking points from this to drag my loved ones and strangers out of the pit of despair. Thank you, Leon.
God I hate the whole scorpion on the frog tale. Stupid and reductive. "I killed us both, cuz that's what i do /shrug" I could spend hours picking it apart, but I don't want to.
I also feel like the original very old fable probably has more complexity in its interpretation, whereas our modern day understanding is just "no one can change what they are" which is just... obviously untrue?
Growing up the hope Star Trek gave me kept me going striving to make tomorrow better for humanity...I was too young to realize how close the bell riots were to my own time 😅
"..You see there are two flames burning in the human heart all the time. The flame of anger against injustice, and the flame of hope you can build a better world. And my job at 83 is going round and fanning both flames...because people need encouragement. Everyone needs encouragement if you're going to do the best you can." -Tony Benn
Movies like to portray encounters between groups of primitive/early humans as being violent. One tribe is sitting in their cave when another comes along to kill them, steal their food and fire, and run off. Actual modern thought on it, however, indicates that when two groups of early humans met, they didn't fight,... they shared. They taught each other skills the other didn't know and traded goods. The foundations of human culture: tools, language, arts, and education, all came about because, even in it's earliest and most primitive incarnation, human culture knew the value of cooperation, altruism, and that different people brought different strengths, not weaknesses.
"To hell with Rick Berman" is such a valid take
If you never dare to Imagine
How can one hope to Achive?
Great video, I've been showing this one to a lot of friends
Word 'utopia' is thrown as an accusation these days: "that's utopian".
But in a world that is slowly sliding towards dystopia, I think we need utopias in our political discussion. We need a way, a hope to move forwards.
That scene is the first episode of Star Trek : Strange New worlds where pyke explain the history of the 21st century hit hard. One of the best scene in the serie so far imo. Maybe even in the entire franchise, because it is both depressing AND beautifully hopeful !
That second episode of Strange New Worlds is the best hour of Trek in decades. Such a good friggin' show so far! And agreed on that scene from the first ep!
I liked this episode, but there was a bit of a lack of nuance. We see the police state in one society, always this readiness to employ force toward arbitrary control, and we don't even see the other society, the enemy of the first. We're left to make some assumptions. Since we don't see it, we might assume the other side are just freedom fighters, because we know, from our world, that crack-downs happen and label dissenters as terrorists. We might assume the other side are like the Soviet Union, a rival nation with its own ethos, in theory, but that has also fallen to authoritarianism in order to win global control, possibly due to corruption, or due to the incompatibility of two economic systems trying to operate on the global stage (and its proponents both thinking their system is the liberatory one). If the latter were more strongly implied, I'd have less of a problem with it, but instead, I'm reminded of the episode that was a thinly veiled "these guys are the IRA -- IN SPACE!" episode of TNG, which was itself a bit ham-fisted and rife with both-sidesism. I'm not saying that all of the IRA were fine folks. People do what they think is right, with the limited information available, or they have too much information and they are paralyzed into inaction (hello, me). But from this SNW episode, we don't know if the other side are violent, or just saboteurs, dissenters against social norms and security theater, people who won't play ball with arbitrary restrictions, people who put flowers in the barrels of guns trained on them, people who seek to form structures of collective bargaining. And even if they were violent, pacifism can be a naive outlook; then again, rejecting pacifism entirely can be far too cynical, and we see that in the TNG IRA episode, but it's, to my thinking, done in a way that lacks nuance.
For me, one thing Pike could have done is address the fact that he does not understand the subtleties of the conflict, and that there is no guarantee that these people were just like the people of Earth in the 21st century, but stress that, whatever the case may be, they MUST work it out, or the outcome Earth faced is a very real possibility. Would this have reduced the impact of the episode? I don't know. For me, though, both-sidesism already does that.
Maybe, in Star Trek, the people of the future just can't remember what it was like. I've imagined myself, displaced in time, and submitting myself as a historical study subject, to help them to understand what it is that we face today, to understand our despair and our anger, to understand how hopeless we can feel, and how, for us, it is that violence employed against us by the ruling and privileged classes that radicalizes us, whereas, for those ruling and privileged classes, it is their inability to see our suffering, and therefore to care, that allows them to do such evil things on the basis of ideology fed to them that seems plausible enough to be believed -- like "if you don't wanna do the time, don't do the crime," and "why don't you just get a job -- so long as you completely lack an understanding of the experiences of the people on the bottom. When so few are afforded the privilege of that kind of ignorance, it's nearly impossible to not be furious at the absurdity of it all.
That innocence, though, is part of the fantasy. A world where everyone is that ignorant, where everyone has that privilege, has lessons it needs to learn, but it is a good sign that folks are better off. Still, I can't help but think that this is unintentional at times, and that, rather, it is that some episodes carry a liberal bias.
@@VitriolicVermillion Thanks for this writeup, Valierie! Don't have much to say in response, just wanted to make sure you know your words are valuable, impactful, and I appreciated reading them!!!
Yes to the whole vid. I love Star Trek so much and this is a big part of why.
thank you so much for continuing to make videos. I've been watching since you were the new guy on tgwtg
My somewhat conservative uncle said he'd be in favor of a "star trek economy/society" despite being a Joe Rogan type dude politically. That show is powerful truly and this radical hope is important and potent as political messaging.
People need to understand we, humanity, are truly capable of achieving everything we want and satisfying everyones basic needs. There's literally nothing out there holding us back other than our own belief in the opposite and oppressive systems.
Erich Fromm, philosopher and psychologist had a concept of "radical hope" long before Jonathan Lear. I don't know in which book it is, I think in the "anatomy of human destructiveness", but his concept sound just like you described it and that was long before Lear's book. It's sad that Fromm seems to be forgotten because he had so many visionary ideas that people later just copied without crediting him.
This unfortunately happens fairly often.
I could complain about parts of Discovery and Picard, but you're spot on that that I'll still watch whatever is released lol. So far, Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks are my favorites. Prodigy is a fun watch, but I feel like they need another layer of big-picture optimism to go with the YA drama (which I like, no shade on that from me).
Thank you for making this video. Science fiction is such a desert when it comes to hope and optimism and Star Trek really bucked that trend -- at least the older series that I grew up with. If I have one quibble, it's with "to hell with Rick Berman!" because even knowing that he found Roddenberry's vision unrealistic, I have all the more respect that he put his personal biases aside to build upon that very vision to make TNG what it was.
Which is more than I can say for the showrunners behind Discovery and Picard, who apparently have some difficulty critiquing the problematic conditions of our present without either bringing those same problems into the future, or literally going back in time to complain about those problems without meaningfully pointing the way forward.
But as you said, even those of us who are more critical of New Trek retain the radical hope that brought us to Star Trek to begin with. We kept on watching and we kept on hoping against hope that it would be more reflective of that shared vision of the future. That patience was eventually rewarded with SNW which is now doing some good things and has improved upon the old formulas. It's genuinely rather promising.
I have grown up watching Star Trek and the impact of it is just as you describe it. Thank you from the heart.
Great video! I think the "radical hope" is something that attracts people to these ideas, like something can be done and will be done.
Thanks for the video it nice to have a reminder that dreams and hope are not childish and reducing the lack of hope or change to a supposed human nature.
Loved the video and really needed it. I profoundly despise how "human nature" is always used to justify injustices. Really it's no different than the Divine Right argument.
I just realized that DS9 ended with Marx quoting labor leader Nog becoming the leader of the hypercapitalist Ferengi.
DS9 really was the best series.
Cheers Mr Cut. I really needed that reminder of hope. Been crying a lot, even though my country just said a resounding Fuck Off to the anti everything government we had. It's just been so hard to feel hope for the future.
so while it's still tough, thank you for reminding me of why I have all these DVDs and books about a very specific and hopeful future.
In the seventies as a kid I watched reruns of the original Star Trek. It seemed futuristic and the values made sense. I had no idea it would seem like a utopia by the time I was in my forties and fifties. Part of it is that I’ve learned more about the world. Part of it is that the world has gone down a dystopian spiral. But I agree that humans can change and that we have to continue to try to make things better. We have only this society and this planet as of now. (I do wish we could find some Vulcans, tho)
Takes me back to the days when I first found this channel, watching Leon's video essays on Star Trek.
I caught that cut to Chakotay/ scorpion on the back reference
Star Trek radicalized me...
Damn you Roddenberry!
The world envisioned in Trek is actually very possible to achieve. We just need those actively trying to prevent it to chill out.
Wow, I've never watched a minute of ST but somehow you can always craft a video capable of blowing my mind. You truly are an incredible talent Leon, honestly.
I don't watch star trek but I was having a panic attack and this video helped, so thanks.
Vacation and aversion to work are both coping mechanisms of working under a system that produces upon your shoulders the fear of losing your livelihood. Without such fear, conversely to common idea, productivity would actually go up in the general population, and extended breaks, let alone indolence, would be rather rare
Also, beneath all the radical hope, Star Trek also espouses a more sobering point as well, hidden in its fictional history;
"It will often get worse before it gets better - but it will get better"
For those interested in recent research taking aim at many of the essentialist arguments against a future like this one (including arguments not discussed here, such as the classic "complex civilization requires extreme hierarchy" argument), you should read The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity by David Wengrow and the late David Graeber. They combine recent research from anthropology and archaeology to really thoroughly skewer the idea that humans are locked into a hierarchical capitalist hellscape. As an added bonus, it's well-written and easily digestible for a lay audience--not like reading Sahlins or even Geertz.
amazing content as always. love ya bud!
**drops the compulsory Sisko “IT’S REAL….. it’s real….” here**
I align with the concept of Radical Hope, and I believe that it is possible to achieve to some extent. There is a single issue that I don't know if we could overcome as human beings.
I read the book "Human Swarm -How Societies Arise, Thrive, and Fall", by Mark Moffett. I don't want to reveal the conclusions he draws upon, in case someone is reading, or wants to read it. I will just say that the author makes very convincing arguments detailing how, as a species, we will always have a need for "the other" to balance our own identity against.
If we don't have an enemy, we will create one and divide along those new lines. Ernest Becker makes the same observation in his book "Denial of Death", and in "Escape from Evil", two highly underrated works of brilliance. Underrated because they are on an uncomfortable subject, death, and how we try avoiding it, with the outcome being our creation of culture in itself.
Culture is a causa sui that exists to give us meaning, and we contribute to it as if it were an extension of ourselves. It will live on after we are gone. This gives us the psychological remedy, unconsciously to our ceasing to exist. That's Becker's idea explained simply, as I can do his work no justice in a paragraph or two.
Moffett takes this concept a step further, and is an easier and more enjoyable of a read. I can't say that he is right, only that he makes a very good argument for his case.
This was my exact thought as I listened to this
As usual, your words hit the target on the head. Thanks.
When it comes to nature vs nurture, I as someone who wants to become an anthropologist, believe the “human nature” seen in so many arguments doesn’t exist.
Greed and selfishness does exist, but it is nurtured, specifically grown by the society around us. It is instilled into us, and we are not born with it.
Again this is a opinion, and definitely not a professional one, just a personal theory.
I'm one of those people whose ideals and morality was shaped by Star Trek.
While economic-based violence is gone in the Star Trek universe, people still use positions of authority to exercise violence over others. The Federation Council decided to change planetary borders with the Cardassians, displacing planets of Bajorans with the stroke of a pen.
This was a very interesting and well-produced video. Thank you.
human nature vs culture is a new to look at it for me. Thanks for that. Changes a lot, cause I know cultures can and do change and overall, our combined culture is leaning, steadily, with many set backs towards something closer to Star Trek. Look at what was acceptable/ par for the course 100 years ago but is now considered culturally outdated/wrong. - Hello my left handed peeps, enjoying using your preferred hand easily? (most of the time with no teachers beating you)
I recently had a discussion with my sister about HOW we came to view the world and the direction we want it to go, and we both concluded that watching Star Trek from an early age; (I'm 50 and she's 54) had a profound impact on forming that view 👍
Great video, thank you so much
When I was young my dad watched Stark Trek TOS reruns on TV in the eighties (he was a kid when it was originally broadcast). Years later I had a girlfriend who loved Star Trek TNG when it was newly broadcast. I only ever saw a handful of episodes of each. The point I’m eventually getting to is this:
With all these films, series, and spin-off shows, it’s hard for a novice like me to grasp the ultimate timeline. It reminds me of when I decided to read three of the series of books by Isaac Asimov. I decided to read them in story order rather than publication order and it was a lot of fun. His Robot series (4), Galactic Empire series (3), and Foundation series (7) are like what I imagine it must be like organizing a binge fest of all things Star Trek.
(Also, I recommend The End of Eternity. It’s a stand alone novel but has connections to the origins of humans deciding to colonize the galaxy rather than remain on Earth. So it can be read first, last, or in between series. Enjoy!)
I love Trek. To me it's not about whether a Star Trek society can definitively be realized by our species - it's about us **striving** for that future. Star Trek is a prayer. It's an ideal. Something to aspire to, to reach for. What good are our values if we don't do everything we can to realize the best version of it possible?
Star Trek across the years is like the song of that hope, a prayer that even atheists can get behind, that allows us to regularly share a dream of what we want to achieve.
I agree with you.
But for the last 3,5 months hoping for a better future became extremely hard. I'm from Russia, I'm an activist in different fields and after the war with Ukraine started and repressions reignited with a new force it became hard to hope for the better future. I feel devastated especially as I have a friend from Mariupol who had lost everything except for his life and I have a clear example of the costs and stupidity of this war. I don't know how to hope for better while being enveloped in this whole mess and feeling powerless to do anything with it.
Leon, maybe, you could cover the topic of dictatorships? It's, unfortunately, an actual problem for many, it's hard to understand even from within, having first-hand experiences with it. And your videos are very good in clearing many things up
Your closing statement is very resonant. It's a notion that should be spread as far and wide as possible. I'll take it to heart.
NGL, I haven't been watching a lot of videos here lately just cause the constant stream of bad news about the world has been too depressing lately. This video actually makes me feel like there can be a tomorrow.
I always feel like we're so close to a revolution for a more optimistic future and Trek has definitely been a good example of what we can accomplish
Excellent video and a great message. Also, the intro at 1.25x speed is a fukkin bop.
Deeply appreciate the intelligently optimistic tone of this video :)
Could really use some radical hope with what's going right now. ST:SNW delivers (in all but one ep so far. That ep chose to raise some uncomfortable questions about what people are willing to sacrifice in service to the needs of the many)
this really captures my frustration with older generations (or anyone really) who are left leaning but have "given up" on voting, like what is the point in being cynical, i understand change is hard and we may not see it but fighting for the ideal future star trek illustrated is much better than laying down to rot
excellent video as always!!
woah, "another renegade cut? hell yeah!" 10 secs in ... hooked by the intro music... *banger*
on a serious note, I really liked that you explained radical hope. it is something I have had in my heart and how I found myself to anarchism. I love star trek! These stories can show us how our future could be, if only we just imagined it. I wish there were more shows like it.
"To Hell with Rick Berman. It's his fault Jadzia died anyway."
BASED.
I definitely did not say "f*ck" but OK.
@@renegadecut9875 ope my bad. Paraphrase mind jumped ahead of cross checking mind.
Poor Worf, he was finally happy.
@@renegadecut9875 fixed
@@tabularasa0606 Jadzia and Worf was one of my fave parts of DS9 full stop. DS9 in general did wonders for the Klingons. Primo vibes.
I want to see a return to the 90s era shot framing in new Star Trek. Stable camera or mild movement, not the spastic bobbing camera.
Agree! If you’re portraying stability, keep the camera stable. I do think the filming style is a big part of Trek. The JJ Abrams thing was fun as a change in a movie, but not for hours on a TV show.
Your quick summary of how the future came to be is spot on: Nuclear war the destroyed the immense riches of capitalism and afterwards, the space comrades saw we were ready and came to help Earth build fully automated luxury space communism. Roddenberry may have been a Maoist, but Trek is positively Posadist, right down to the space comrades communicating telepathically with cetaceans
I love when this channel dips into Star Trek, your passion and keen familiarity with it shines through! 😁👍
Each iteration of Star Trek is a product of the time it is made. The hope of the future is in all of them, differently because our social situations of the time. The 'product' has to appeal to the audience and needs to be contemporary to 'sell'. That being said for me there is attractions to every iteration of the "Star Trek'.
Thank you, Leon. We need more of this.
Interestingly enough, I would definitely want to live in Star Trek but I would rather "adventure" in Star Wars. It seems like the struggles are bigger and cooler. Opinions?
This is the video we needed. And the right man at the right time made it
I have been preaching this style of government for over a decade, and one day I'm explaining it to someone online and they say "Like Start Trek, but with 3d printers instead of fabrication machines?" and he has to explain star trek to me cause I was into Star Wars too hard. Also, unrelated, Star Trek is pretty great i found out!
We cannot lose hope for a better world. Especially not now.
To paraphrase what you said in the video, and what many have probably also said here, if you don't have an ideal to aspire to, then nothing will change, you have to have something to model your own behaviour on, no matter how radical that hope may be.
With how things are going, at this point we are either in the prime timeline or the human extinction timeline. Only time will tell.
I love this video and will watch this several more times but had difficulty watching when the subtitles kept skipping lines...
Loved this but I wanted more! Actually a little disappointed it wasn’t longer. But still awesome! Thanks!
The human adventure is just beginning, my lovely carbon-units.
Digging these mini videos. Keeps me from going and staying in that dark place.
Thanks for this video Leon! I admit to being a pessimist bordering on misanthrope at times due to the times we live in, but part of me never lets go of that hope no matter how dark things get.
Still I'm at lost with how we could tackle these issues. So many people have been endoctrinated by capitalism and the idea of hierarchy being normal, they can't be deprogrammed overnight. I feel like we stand at the crossroads that leads either to the Star Trek future or a dark dystopian timeline that can split into a Mad Max survival of the fittest post apocalypse or the dark anarcho-capitalist cyberpunk where corporations replace the states and we live and die for them... on a more direct level than now I mean.
I dunno, some people are too easily swayed by irrelevant shit or personal bigotry to realize their role as a stupid pawn, yet even stupid pawns can create a checkmate situation under specific circumstances.
I may just be rambling now, insomnia unrelated to this existential dread. Just gonna say thanks again!