Star Trek and Humanism with Andrew Copson, Chief Executive of Humanist UK
We had a full room for this talk in June – a mix of Humanists and Trekkies! Andrew revealed why Star Trek was a great work of humanist writing.
The series reflected the optimisms of their period, the first Star Trek in the 1960s and The Next Generation and Star Trek Voyager in the late 80s/90s. These were periods when many inequalities in the west were beginning to be swept away, there were rapid advances in science and space exploration, (a relief that nuclear war had been avoided), and hope of more global unity.
The writers of ‘humanist’ sci-fi focus not on machines and calamity but on people and what humanity can achieve.
Gene Roddenberry, creator and executive producer of Star Trek, was a humanist who rooted the show in humanist values. That human beings can solve problems through reason, empathy and cooperation and that there is no need to turn to superstition or religion for help. Instead, it’s human intelligence and understanding and will help us to solve problems, develop and progress. That the universe is a natural world to be explored and understood (to boldly go … with optimism!).
At the heart is that people would be better in the future. To quote Captain Picard “The acquisition of wealth is no longer the driving force of our lives. We work to better ourselves and the rest of humanity”. (episode First contact)
Andrew then exemplified humanist values through some of the key characters, the Federation / crew values and the stories.
With so many rich episodes, it is hard to pick one – but if for some reason you have never seen Star Trek, I would urge you to watch The Next Generation, season 2 , episode The Measure of a Man.
Review by Helen Warner
