The View | Why Star Trek is relevant to our evolving society

Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise that has reflected the social and cultural ideas of two generations in Western society, and in turn influenced these generations in the West and across the world.

Star Trek debuted on television in 1966 and followed the interstellar adventures of Captain James T Kirk and the crew of the starship Enterprise. It ran for three seasons, in what is now referred to as The Original Series.

The second generation of the series started with Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-94), which at first glance was simply an updated version of the earlier series. However, its storylines also recognised that the world was in the midst of a subtle paradigm shift: modernity was giving birth to postmodernity.

The original Star Trek series stood for the values of modernity. The postwar baby boom generation (the parents of today’s youths) grew up embracing the 17th and 18th century ideas of the Age of Enlightenment. They had faith that knowledge would bring political freedom and economic progress. Liberal democracy and market capitalism were the rational response for ordering human society.

They thought the goal of the human intellectual quest was to unlock the secrets of the universe in order to master nature for human benefit and create a better world.

The crew of the Enterprise included persons of various nationalities working together for the common benefit of humankind. The message was obvious: we are all human, and we must overcome our differences and join forces to complete our quest for certain, objective knowledge of the entire universe.