Live Free and Prosper
The Jewish Origin of the Vulcan Salute: Rabbi Yonassan Gershom
Rabbi Gershom making the Vulcan Salute
Posted on 03/08/2006 2:01:18 PM PST by PJ-Comix
NEW YORK, March 2 /PRNewswire/ -- You've got a cell phone at one ear, an iPod at the other. You know that Blackberry is now a verb and Spam is not only canned meat. But just how did we get here? Blame William Shatner -- yes, that William Shatner. HOW WILLIAM SHATNER CHANGED THE WORLD boldly goes where few have gone before to reveal how scientists are surpassing the far-out vision of the future foreshadowed in Star Trek. From cell phones to computers to even leading-edge medical advancements, this two-hour special shot in High Definition (HD) explores how the sci-fi inventions featured in the original Star Trek series have permeated everyday life as we know it. HOW WILLIAM SHATNER CHANGED THE WORLD premieres Sunday, March 12 at 8-10pm ET/PT on The History Channel.
William Shatner made his mark when Captain Kirk and the USS Enterprise catapulted into space -- and living rooms everywhere -- with the debut of the television series in September 1966. But little did he know what effect the series would have on a generation of inventors and scientists, who, inspired by the series, would revolutionize medicine, space exploration and consumer technology. Hosted and narrated by Shatner and based on his book, I'm Working On That, HOW WILLIAM SHATNER CHANGED THE WORLD meets the brightest minds of Silicon Valley and their Trek-inspired inventions that have changed the world.
The longstanding affection between NASA and Trekkers is mutual -- NASA's very first Space Shuttle was named Enterprise, and, according to Shatner, this was no coincidence. As a young boy in 1960s suburbia, Mark Rayman was less interested in how far he could hit a baseball than how far it was to the Final Frontier. Captivated by television coverage of the early Mercury flights -- and the television expeditions a channel or two over, Rayman is now Chief Engineer in charge of the Robotic Deep Space Probe project at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
While some young Trekkers dreamed of space, others were more interested in the gadgets onboard, and would make it their life's work to bring these toys off the screen and onto the streets. Marty Cooper, a chief engineer at Motorola, understood that people were inherently mobile and would never want to be chained to their desks, tethered to conventional telephones. Captain Kirk and his USS Enterprise colleagues were on to something with their cordless "communicator" with voice recognition technology. Inspired by the brick-like device, Cooper and the Motorola team invented the first mobile cellular phone, giving birth to the start of a communications revolution.
For other young minds captivated by the fictional world of the television series, the possibility of communicating with Talarians, Klingons and Gorns would lead to the most basic question: Is something "out there" beyond our own solar system, and if so, how do we find them? Seth Shostak, Senior Astronomer with the SETI Institute (Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence), which works alongside NASA, credits the television series with synthesizing the physics and astronomy of the search for extra-terrestrial life with the emotional and intellectual drive to know and understand the rest of our universe.
The evolution of the computer, the microchip and software programs is peppered with influences from the television series, from the primitive Altair 8800 (named after a solar system in the shows) and its evolution into the first Apple computer to the rise of Bill Gates and Microsoft. And as a result of the series, human operating systems also began to reflect this futuristic vision. The USS Enterprise sickbay, under the medical supervision of Doctor McCoy, specialized in quick diagnosis and scalpel-free -- and painless -- surgery. For Stanford University Hospital brain surgeon Doctor John Adler, this protocol was the only way forward. Today, non-invasive diagnostics, CAT scans and MRIs are a matter of course. Inspired by the technologies presented in the series, Adler has invented the Cyberknife -- a computer-controlled robotic device that employs a laser beam to remove cancers without even the smallest cut.
HOW WILLIAM SHATNER CHANGED THE WORLD features interviews with other Star Trek actors George Takei and Nichelle Nichols, and looks at the legacy of subsequent Star Trek franchises and feature films which continue to impact the pace of scientific and technological advancements and inspire a new generation of world-changing scientists and inventors.
So shouldn't we be thanking Bones McCoy (or Raquel Welch from "Fantastic Voyage") for our colonoscopies rather than William Shatner? Anyway this show looks to be interesting so I'll try to catch it.
Yes he gave us hugh and seriers stunned beebers and zot creatures ect
uh, wouldn't it really be the writer Gene Roddenberry?
I keep joking with my dearest that I am going to show up at her door one day in my custom-made t-shirt that reads "WHAT WOULD SHATNER DO?"
Hey, it's a better a life ethos than some of the New Age crap floating around out there.
About half of what the History Channel does is puzzling. WTF is running that outfit?
His state of the art toupee is worth mentioning also.
Shatner is an egomanic, this kinda of show could push him over the edge. His Denny Crane persona on Boston Legal is actually him with a different name.
Live Free and Prosper
The Jewish Origin of the Vulcan Salute: Rabbi Yonassan Gershom
Rabbi Gershom making the Vulcan Salute
What a load of crap - Everybody knows we got everything from velcro to HD TV by reverse engineering all the stuff we found at the Roswell crash site.
Shatner indeed!
William Shatner also changed music with his memorable rendition of "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds."
There's something ON the WING... Some THING!!!
But how has T.J. Hooker and Denny Crane changed the world ?
Don't forget the industrial strength girdle he wore in the last few Star Trek movies.
My thought as well, Shatner is just a guy who plays make believe better than most other adults.
Fascinating, illogical, but fascinating.
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