Ever since Gene Roddenberry envisioned a utopian galactic "Federation" of planets and species, an entire genre of thought, philosophy, and fictional timeline (merged with our real timeline) has grown to be a coinciding-sub-cultural genre in human story-telling, as well as a channel for envisioning a 'better world', albeit an atheistic one, focused on physics and attempting to explain away the inexplicable.

My Own Personal Experience with Sci-Fi
When I was young, my grandmother had cable but my parents did not have cable at our house. So anytime I would visit my grandmother (which was thankfully very often), I was able to watch shows running "in syndication" that were no longer on the "big 3" (ABC, NBC, CBS). It was the early 1970s and I was fascinated by STAR TREK (later further monikered "TOS" for The Original Series) and I was eager for every episode, watching it all the time at my grandmother's house.

Then, in the 1980s, Star Trek: The Next Generation began to air on network television. It was a phenomenal success and quickly gave birth to the spin-offs Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager, as well as a number of Star Trek movies of the original cast and timeline as well as The Next Generation cast and timeline. The spin-offs and movies have ballooned to cover an ever growing story line that can at times be illuminating regarding capabilities and perspectives.

This burgeoning Star Trek genre began to build an entire 'history of the universe' for a subset of the science fiction world. In fact, here you can view (by clicking here) a history of the universe according to Star Trek genre which is very extensive from all of the TV, movies, cartoons, comics, novels, and online story-telling that has been generated over the last many decades.

Also, you can see various religious and/or philosophical thoughts that have been incorporated into the various iterations of Star Trek over the decades, not least of which is the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition, which is, in itself, an entire treatise of the worst type of rampant capitalism with a piracy and corruption bent.

Of course, I have also, over the decades, thoroughly enjoyed, with a critical and analytical eye, a wide range of science fiction, some of which I have found extremely well-done, and even revelatory regarding our PRESENT world and the atheistic, yet extremely corrupt and manipulative, aspects of our present political and global situation. Many of these I have included in the column at right.

One last thing about my experience is the recognition of the "predictive" aspects of Gene Roddenberry's various iterations.

Notice the logo for the new United States Space Force military division is eerily similar to the logo for Star Trek's Starfleet Command of the United Federation of Planets.

Additionally, it is interesting that the very first American space shuttle was named after the Star Trek spaceship "Enterprise". This was due to a huge outpouring of support from Star Trek fans for the name.

Next, consider the following list of electronic tools we presently have in the year 2026 and consider the implications:

1. Cell Phones
2. Ear Pieces
3. Computers with Voice Recognition
4. Artificial Intelligence
5. Tablets
6. 3-D Printing (replicators)
7. Video Conferencing
8. Holographic Screens, Visuals, and Communication

What we have today is a wide range of technologically sophisticated tools for enhancing our daily lives, and all of it was "predicted" (envisioned) by Gene Roddenberry in the mid-1960s, decades before such tools were ever developed. If for no other reason, Roddenberry should always be remembered as the one who help spur the world into a rapidly expanding technological age.

What Can We Learn From The Sci-Fi Story-Telling Genre?
Well, I would first point out that while it may not be readily obvious, I believe the sci-fi world, and particularly Star Trek, provides us with an insight into relevant events of today, and also is able to help us in understanding select predictive prophesies of the Judeo-Christian faith systems (particularly the prophecy of Daniel 7:25, click here for an analysis of that prophecy).

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