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Why are you so critical of Gene Roddenberry's vision of the future? It is supposed to give people hope.

Because I have been asked to critique Star Trek from my point of view, and my point of view is Gene Roddenberry’s philosophy of human perfection through progressive and secular means is a crock. While I do not want to discourage anyone from thinking positive thoughts about the future, there has to be a dose of realism in every optimistic notion or else is is just sappy sentimentalism.

Star Trek is not the future of humanity. We are not going to one day cast aside all our differences to create a perfect world, then go out and explore space to find other enlightened species. We are certainly not going to reach that point following the path Roddenberry has laid out.

Here is the flaw in Roddenberry’s logic--he assumed changing th environment will force a change in people. His idea is that is people are comfortable with plenty of food, nice shelter, and reliable medical care all without paying for it directly or having any religious beliefs as a dividing factor, then all social problems will be eliminated. To which I sau poppycock. At the very least, all hat will do is create an artificial environment that will cause mass panic and/or barbarism as the slightest hint some of the creature comforts might fail at some point.

That is a best case scenario. Human nature is greedy and corrupt no matter what environment it is in. being comfortable does not stop that. Right now, even our poorest people live better than most wealthy people of past generations. We have scientific advancement up the wazoo that make life more convenient, as well as medical advancements that make people live longer, healthier lives. Yet we will still kill each other over reasons as petty as stealing a pair of basketball shoes or as complex as political or religious strife. As enlightened as the 20th century was, it was the bloodiest one-hundred years in history. There is no reason to think the 21st century will not be worse. Improving quality of life does not improve the heart of man.

We may have raised the quality of our lives, but we have also increased our ability to destroy ourselves. The former has not inhibited the latter in the slightest. The root of the problem is that technology and knowledge may expand exponentially, but wisdom starts over from the beginning for everyone. It is a trait one cannot inherit. Wisdom has to be learned for one’s self even if it is imparted as advice from someone who knows what is best. No amount of perfection in one’s environment, which is a fictional concept anyway, will encourage people to be perfect. Odds are, if any alien civilizations exist, they are not any different than we are in that regard, so I would not count on any aliens teaching us how to be perfect people, either. The future of humanity is going to be identical to the past of humanity because people are basically the same as they have always been no matter how well we live.