The death of Sir Patrick Stewart z"l at 87 this past weekend brought back to public memory the science-fiction series best remembered for the British actor's starring role, a serious stage performer who became a beloved Hollywood icon until his final days.
When we look today at floating screens, ask artificial intelligence to draft a letter for us, or print replacement parts on a 3D printer, it is easy to forget that a few decades ago, the technological future looked entirely different.
The legendary science-fiction series Star Trek: The Next Generation, created by Gene Roddenberry, who conceived the original Star Trek but did not live to see the sequel completed, leaving the legacy to his successor Rick Berman, depicted the continuing voyages of the starship Enterprise-D under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Sir Patrick Stewart z"l). The show predicted the future with remarkable accuracy by presenting advanced technologies as a natural, simple, everyday human interface, many of which have since become an inseparable part of our lives.
Unlike the mechanical, bulky technology loaded with physical switches and buttons of the original 1960s Star Trek, which became a cult series with a devoted and passionate fan following that endures to this day, The Next Generation (which aired from 1987 to 1994 and was known among fans as "Star Trek TNG") presented a digital, clean, smooth and wireless vision of tomorrow's world. The show's designers did not merely dream up cool gadgets; they brought to the screen their vision of how human beings would operate advanced technology in the 21st century (while the series itself was set in the 24th century).
