Elon, Hold On to Your ‘Star Trek’ Dreams
Those inspired by the utopian television show face an uncomfortable reality about their impact on the world.
The studio model of Starship “Enterprise” from Star Trek on display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington.
Photographer: Alex Wong/Getty Images North America (2022)
A few people on X noticed something about the photo of a grinning Elon Musk with Argentina’s President Javier Milei recently. The emblem on Musk’s bomber jacket showed a picture of the Starship Enterprise, from the original TV series Star Trek. Underneath it was the motto: “Where no man has gone before.”
Musk loves the show. Last year when another X user posted a question asking what the best TV series of all time was, Musk jumped in to say, “Star Trek.” But its appeal extends not only to billionaires trying to make humans a multi-planetary species. A whole generation of innovators and entrepreneurs entered the tech field because they fell in love with Star Trek’s utopian vision. Today, it’s one increasingly at odds with the messy realities of their inventions, and their dramas and rivalries.