The Star Trek references always generates a bit of wistfulness in me. I think the expectations run a bit deeper than Guinness Book of Records! Indeed some vari

The Star Trek references always generates a bit of wistfulness in me. I think the expectations run a bit deeper than Guinness Book of Records! Indeed some variation on 'progress' or elevated human 'destiny' has been foundational to modernity (clearly since the Enlightenment, or perhaps the Protestant Reformation; but with even deeper historical roots).