What Does Gene Rodenberry Think About Human Progress

"To bodily go where no one has gone before" is what Gene Rodenberry thought human progress was all about. I have been watching Star Trek for almost 15 years now and the way Gene Rodenberry portrayed human progress has made me wish that I was immortal, just so I could see what is to come. When I look at the picture of Tange Kenzo's Metropolitan Government Offices in West Shinjuku, Japan all I see is the future. The tall unique building does not look like something from this time. It could be because I am from the US where we still think conservatively, simply, and cheap or it could be because we, as a human race, are showing some progress. So I believe that we should move more towards a Star Trek kind of life. This sounds kind of nerdy and unrealistic, but a lot of Gene Rodenberry's ideas where very reasonable and realistic. If there wasn't any human progress I would not be able to get to work, which is fifteen miles away, in ten minutes. Or I would not be able to turn in this paper without handing it to my instructor in person and in my hardly legible handwriting. As humans we have not only made progress in "things," but also in society. By that I mean we are not the barbaric people we used to
be. We still have a long way to go to get to where Star Trek says we are going, a hate-less world, people accepting people no matter how different we all are from each other. Only one hundred and forty years have passed since we use to have slaves and only forty to fifty years where blacks where accepted as full citizens.
We have been flying planes longer than blacks have had full citizenship. In some countries there is still slavery. We still hate so much as to take the life of a young man just because he is attracted to men and then we can't call it a hate crime because our government didn't recognize crimes committed on the basis of sexual orientation are not considered hate crimes. And even after, our president tried to push legislation through Congress to add sexual orientation to the hate crimes law and the measure was defeated. Mothers look the other way while there children are getting abused by their
father. But things are changing. Some countries are letting gays/lesbians get "married." African Americans are highly educated and are well respected. Technology is progressing everyday with the invention of new medicines to watching live television on your cell phone. I think that our movement towards the goal of being better people been put aside for our goals to be a technologically advanced society. Do not get me wrong I love all the advancements that we have from that goal, but I feel we should be spending a little more time on getting people to treat people better.