Flat panel televisions, on-demand TV, and chatting with video. Star Trek creator, Gene Roddenberry was talking about these things in 1974 when he spoke the Wichita State "Forum Series."
he predicted USB ports, the internet, Netflix, RU-vid, cellphones, smartphones etc etc etc... just outstanding amazing a visionary. our time is now. peace, tread ever on.
So happy to find this....saw him at University of New Hampshire in the same year. I approached him after and gave him an envelope with several non-fiction pieces I had written about science fiction for my journalism degree. A few weeks later, I was stunned to get a personal letter from him thanking me, and asking if he could include some of my thoughts in future lectures. That letter is framed and cherished. He had no reason to take the time to write to me, with encouragement to pursue a career in writing based on the samples I gave him.
A beautiful and cogent speech. When I think of the philosophers that have informed my life, I name just a few: Spinoza, Hume, and Roddenberry...yes, Roddenberry. He was a great ethical and philosophical thinker, and the human race is better for his teachings.
This is exactly what I was going to comment on as well. Although I would have pointed already to 32:02 (flat screens). The next thought, about TVs printing newspapers, isn't entirely accurate in the details, but then starting 33:31 things do in fact become uncannily accurate when he starts talking about TVs being combined with home computers and people doing their banking with them. 33:56 is essentially about e-book readers which get their information via a little cube from the TV / home computer. 34:47 is basically RU-vid / Netflix etc. It's just funny that his idea was that you look the code for your desired program up in something like a printed phone directory. 36:03: "If we have the wisdom to demand it, [if] we have the courage to demand it (because it will take some courage), we will have a way of every human being on Earth having total access to the recorded knowledge of all humanity. If we can make that begin to happen, at that moment the barriers that have held so many of us apart over all these centuries, and the barriers that have held so many of us down, at that moment will almost certainly begin to crumble."
About 10:15 Roddenberry referenced a "...half mechanical man..." which is a thinly veiled reference to Cyborg/The Six Million Dollar Man. After the Six Million Dollar Man moved from Pilot/TV Movie(s) to regular show- it was helmed by Harve Bennett- who later went on to produce Star Treks II-V. Irony abounds.
WHAT A VISIONARY,SWEET MAN, BABY SITTER FOR MILLIONS OF SINGLE, LONELY CHILDREN,LIKE MYSELF.MODELS AND TOYS.MY PHOTOS AND WALL PAPERS ON MY PHONE ARE FILLED WITH YOUR LEGACY.AS ARE MY PROFILES AND NAME.LIVE LONG AND PROSPER GENE.EVEN THOUGH IN THIS DAY AND AGE THE WORLD IS FAR FROM IT, I HOPE ONE DAY THE WORLD AND MANKIND ACHIEVES YOUR VISION.I UNDERSTAND YOU WERE INFLUENCED BY JOHN KENNEDY,S VISION,THE NEW FRONTIER,YOU TURNED IT INTO THE FINAL FRONTIER. R.I.P. GENE. R.I.P. JOHN.F.KENNEDY. THANK YOU! BOTH.
The show "Lie to Me" was canceled because of such a small audience, it didn't sell enough beer and toothpaste, lol. It was too "cerebral" they said. Yeah, and it cut too close to the truths of human behavior. No, it's not too difficult to see how, over the last 3-4 generations, the majority has been dumbed-down and continue to play the apathetic and mostly unconsciously willing, zombie consumer-bots. I canceled my cable when Star Trek TNG was canceled. I mourned when they declared "Black Friday" a Day and Thanksgiving and Christmas depress the crap out of me. A great lecture and Mr. Roddenberry's humor is priceless!
Gene Roddenberry ,besides being a visionary ,brought excellent directors and scrip writers for his business ,he create a tv series " The Lieutenant " with amazing actors like Robert Vaughn ,Gary Lockwood .
Mostly readily agree with a lot of what he says, but.. Fall of Rome led to the Renaissance? If you believe that then why did it take >1500 years... and why do you assume Rome could not have improved to reach that level (much sooner)?
Took a lot of time firstly because of the barbarian invasions in the 3rd century, then after some initial kingdoms were beginning to establish themselves along former-roman provinces, the vikings wrecked Europe until the 11th century. Once they were pacified via religious conversion, the berbers and subsequent arab invasions disrupted trade networks between Europe and Asia. Then some geniuses decided to endeavor on a holy crusade, right when European kingdoms (amplest sense) were beginning to recover after much warring amongst themselves, right across the world (pillaging and debilitating the Eastern Roman Empire, thus destroying the only contention barrier between Europe and the Mongol hordes of the 14th century... TL;DR: a lot of 💩 happened. P.S.: The one thing I must concede is your second proposition, whether the Romans couldn't had achieved a renaissance if the Empire wouldn't had fractured and fell. There is historical and archeological evidence of steam powered machines having been invented in Greek colonies by 300 BCE.
If you read Marc Cushman's "These Are The Voyages" books, you'll learn that Gene's constant berating of the TV execs is one of the main reasons why Star Trek was not supported and was ultimately cancelled. It wasn't the ratings. They did not like Roddenberry, his persona or his style and it eventually came back to bite him. Nobody in the creative arts likes to be told what to do, but he soured his own relationships with them. After it was cancelled, he doubled-down on his remarks as evident here in the first minute.
I agree with the others here. From 34:00 onward he’s describing the modern world from 50 years ago. It could be that the existence of Star Trek in the first place caused people to create the future we now live in. At 42:00 in answering a question about space travel, he touted the idea that Elon musk is now planning for: he plans to send 100 people exactly to Mars for the first time partly in conjunction with the same idea- build a community instantly rather than wait for it to build slowly. Mark up another one for Roddenberry.
DO YOU GET IT NOW CBS? DO you GET why we HATE Star Trek Discovery? Why we DONT want your Picard series? Why we are tired of your agenda replacing story, your social diversity replacing real characters, your woke politics stripping down the core of the stories the characters convey in the most human of ways? YOU KILLED GENE RODDENBERRY'S CREATION. Without Respect, We Reject!
If you lived in the 60s or 70s when this speech was given, you would have been the one complaining about women characters and the interracial kiss on star trek. You probably complained about Sisko being the commander/captain on DS9 and thought DS9 was too political, also Voyager having a woman captain. Your viewpoint is extreme and is the minority thankfully. People like you are shrinking in numbers due to education and knowledge. You probably don't want gov. regulation of anything and are against sex education in schools, this is just a guess because your type is alike. Roddenberry's viewpoint on everything is the opposite of your worldview.
@Enclave General You remind me of those sorry Democrats that try to argue that the Democrat party switched sides and it's the Republicans who owned slaves, not the democrats. You also remind me of a person that amounts to very little while trying to claim those who came before you are your champions while simultaneously do all you can to destroy and teardown what others, cherish. You're missing the point that Gene had a vison for a future without inner conflict, with out human struggling. He realized that could only be accomplished through struggle and effort. Again something you most likely lack as you so easily skipped to jumping to conclusions. See if you actually WATCHED star Trek you would have remembered there was a fantastic Female captain of the 1701-C, and a female captain of the USS. Saratoga. But how would you remember, with your lack of understanding of what Star Trek even was? As far as Sisko, Deep Space 9 was arguably the most flushed out and well developed of all the star Trek series. Sisko was a Father, a man, a leader, and had what we call a Hero's arch. It is THAT hero's arch that is completely missing from the last 7 years of Star Trek films and shows. Again, something you wouldn't know since you never actually watched Star Trek. Your arguments sound right from an SJW hand book. Try again.
Also, sorry to see economics wasn't among his sources of education. Seems to view commerce and private trade the way all elites have - with contempt. Yet it has been the catalyst for *all* human progress via the accumulation of wealth, without which none of the luxuries of modern civilization (including fiction, entertainment) would exist
Please tell which elites view trade that way. That's total nonsense and they are in the opposite viewpoint. The accumulation of wealth has created the morbidly wealthy that soak up more of the profits than what they deserve. We used to tax these parasites at 90-100% then to 75%, there were the greatest times of growth and all classes rose more evenly compared to today but the middle class rose at a higher rate. Since Reagan and every president since, we have entered a second gilded age with 8 trillion dollars of profit transferred, or stolen, from the lower classes to the upper class since Reagan, due to tax cuts for the morbidly wealthy that do not trickle down, unions being destroyed and laws preventing them from being established or expanded, social welfare programs like social security being under funded or stagnating and no new programs being established and the stagnation of wages adjusted for inflation since 1978 for the working class, while ceo pay has rose 1000% since the 80s, with productivity and efficiency rising as well, also personal debt for the middle class rising dramatically since the 80s. Far right economic policies and foreign policy have ruined the lives of the lower classes while the true minority that is protected by the constitution, the morbidly wealthy, have thrived. FDR didn't got far enough, Huey Long would have been a good start. Let's end this quest for money and start improving society as a whole like Roddenberry's view of the future.
Also, my opinion is capitalism has entered its last stage in which it destroys itself. Socialism is the next step of capitalism. The distribution of wealth from the bottom up or more evenly will be the big factor, besides the means of production being owned by the workforce, which also includes the upper management. Democracy will enter the workforce and most things will be decided on by the workforce voting or other ways. The one area of our lives that this countries ideals of democracy and freedom do not enter is labor and this need to change.
