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Fixing Nostalgia: “Star Trek” Boldly Goes to Less Utopian Futures

2 points by wolverine876 3y ago

wolverine876 3y ago
As with many issues and discussions, the major question is in the assumptions. > Representations of a utopian future for humanity need to show a world in which we continue to work through conflicts despite fundamental differences; in which we recognize that some relationships cannot be maintained, given commitments to home or identity; in which we accept that there will be people who continually do things that that seem insurmountable to coexistence, but we will still need to learn live beside them. > When we erase and displace conflicts to always being elsewhere, we obscure what it means to live with one another. The best future we can hope for is not one in which humanity has overcome all their differences. It is a continuous struggle that makes the world better, because we have to continue to survive, and even thrive, in a world in which we struggle with one another. Those claims are assumed - and not only in this article, but widely. I've never seen them discussed and they are core, fundamental changes in American and broader democratic values. Humanity built the United Nations, the EU, and the values of democracy spread worldwide not after some angels sang and rainbow bridges connected the continents, but after the worst events in human history: World War I, World War II, the Holocaust, Nazism and fascism, Communism, and also the Great Depression, and the development and use of nuclear weapons. People who had just experienced all that - far beyond anything anyone living has experienced - were optimistic enough to build on their ideals. And they were overwhelmingly successful - far beyond anything in human history, politically, economically, in terms of freedom, justice, and prosperity. (Seriously, name anything like it.) It's bizarre, in that context, that it's commonly accepted today that such ideals are hopeless and to be abandoned. It was never discussed; people just gave up in the face of - what? There's not even a war or catastrophe. The only problem is people quitting, and an enormous void of leadership in a positive direction.
deleted 3y ago
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2 points by wolverine876 3y ago

As with many issues and discussions, the major question is in the assumptions. > Representations of a utopian future for humanity need to show a world in which we continue to work through conflicts despite fundamental differences; in which we recognize that some relationships cannot be maintained, given commitments to home or identity; in which we accept that there will be people who continually do things that that seem insurmountable to coexistence, but we will still need to learn live beside them. > When we erase and displace conflicts to always being elsewhere, we obscure what it means to live with one another. The best future we can hope for is not one in which humanity has overcome all their differences. It is a continuous struggle that makes the world better, because we have to continue to survive, and even thrive, in a world in which we struggle with one another. Those claims are assumed - and not only in this article, but widely. I've never seen them discussed and they are core, fundamental changes in American and broader democratic values. Humanity built the United Nations, the EU, and the values of democracy spread worldwide not after some angels sang and rainbow bridges connected the continents, but after the worst events in human history: World War I, World War II, the Holocaust, Nazism and fascism, Communism, and also the Great Depression, and the development and use of nuclear weapons. People who had just experienced all that - far beyond anything anyone living has experienced - were optimistic enough to build on their ideals. And they were overwhelmingly successful - far beyond anything in human history, politically, economically, in terms of freedom, justice, and prosperity. (Seriously, name anything like it.) It's bizarre, in that context, that it's commonly accepted today that such ideals are hopeless and to be abandoned. It was never discussed; people just gave up in the face of - what? There's not even a war or catastrophe. The only problem is people quitting, and an enormous void of leadership in a positive direction.

deleted 3y ago

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