Did the world end last night?
As we watch a manned mission slingshot around the moon, and after Donald Trump's announcement, which spurred fears of nuclear apocalypse, I finally, lucidly saw the impact Film and media have had on our modern world.
I fear it started with Star Trek.
I am not afraid to get political in my writings on OBSCURAE, but the reason I'm bringing this to you today is that I really think the last 48 hrs of news were a prime example of the domino effect that storytellers can have on politics. We could go down the "Donald Trump on The Apprentice primed himself for a leadership role in the eyes of the audience via authority markers" route, sure...
...but I want to talk about Star Trek.
Gene Roddenberry was a Texan, who grew up in LA, and flew combat missions during World War Two. He was even an LAPD officer. These aren't the origins of someone destined to make the Space Communism show – or, maybe they are. He would become so beloved that his ashes were carried into Earth orbit.
Star Trek debuted in 1964, during the childhoods of many of our world leaders today. It broke barriers in many ways, but in the time-honored tradition of Sci-Fi, it took a speculative role in trying to imagine the future. In the 60's, during the civil rights movement, all of these imaginings were fresh, and there was hope. In 1969, the first crewed mission landed on the moon. To this day, Star Trek influences countless scientists, astronauts, and technicians.
It also inspired Steve Jobs.
Born in 1955, he was prime Star Trek watching age when it aired, and by 1977, had made his fame with the Apple II computer alongside Steve Wozniak. Apple's primary ethos, as it grew, was to get computing into the hands of as many consumers as possible. This mission would lead them, eventually, not only to desktop home computing but, more vitally, to the iPhone in 2007. A computer and phone that could fit in your pocket. Very Roddenberry.
Well, we know what happened next.
You can draw a direct line from Star Trek to the iPhone, and all the way to Truth Social, where Donald Trump wrote his most incendiary threat two days ago, and receded it last night. In between, you can stop at Facebook, Cambridge Analytica, Twitter, and, if you want a break and can be creative about it, maybe even Tumblr. Our entire modern world – the kind of world where Donald Trump can write such a message, be heard by the world, shock systems and infrastructure, and usher in the normalisation of Nuclear weaponry as a tacit threat – can all be traced back to Roddenberry.
It could have been the end of the world last night because of Star Trek.
Quite literally, we are currently making ourselves capable of living in Roddenberry's future, along with all of the growing pains that may entail. The same weapons used in the war he fought back in the 40s are the same weapons being threatened in use today – except we all have "Communicators" and "PADDs" alongside.
In a way, I do think the world ended last night – the last vestiges of powerfulness, decorum, and agency burning away like touchpaper into the vast vacuum of time. I want to take a moment to mourn the old world, where these were all just speculations on TV shows and in video games like Fallout. A moment to remember when there was hope for all the good changes, before all of the painful ones were even imagined. A moment, before the Oil crisis hits, and all of this gets much more painful for all of us, to have a think about which future we'd like to live in next.
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