So, You Want To Start Starfleet Academy … – CleanTechnica

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It’s an ugly election year, and we’ve probably not seen the ugliest. There’s still 69 days, 420 minutes, and 8008 seconds to go, and with all of the wild plot twists we’ve seen so far, that’s a lot of time for drama and craziness. At some point, aliens are going to land and endorse someone, followed by the ghost of Saint Joe from Waterworld making an appearance. Anything can happen this year, it seems.

Depending on who you side with, you’ve probably been either annoyed or happy at Elon Musk’s political activities these last few years, and may have had those feelings amplified this year.

Back in the day, he was a lot more subtle and innovative with his politics. Sometimes, he identified as a socialist. Other times, he was a utopian anarchist. But, he always made sure to qualify his position by referring to a sci-fi novel or claim extra purity to set himself apart from mainstream socialists and anarchists. The important thing was that he cared about preserving the light of consciousness, which drove him to support things like colonizing Mars or accelerate the transition to renewable energy.

But, somewhere between finding out his kid was transgender and getting dumped by a woman who dated a transgender person next, the man’s priorities shifted and he decided to take on the “Woke Mind Virus.” He slowly moved his public position from being some kind of centrist or innovative independent toward supporting the Republican Party. Then, he claimed that his beliefs had not changed (see the links in the last paragraph to check on that) and that the Democrats had run left, causing his centrist position to be on the right.

While it’s certainly true that California politicians and trade unions played a role in this change, New Elon leaves a taste in left-leaning mouths that brings up the same feelings as New Coke did back in the day. With that in mind, we can now look at a recent Tweet from Elon calling for the creation of Starfleet Academy:

Let’s make Starfleet Academy real!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 27, 2024

If 2018 Elon had done this, he would probably have enjoyed a mix of eye rolling from overly serious people and cheering from sci-fi nerds and his fans. After all, the politically mysterious smart guy who cares about the future of humanity sounds kind of like the values of the United Federation of Planets, maybe. But, since we’re talking about 2024 Elon, he probably didn’t get the reaction he was looking for.

First step : Support a leader that embodies Starfleet values like diversity, inclusion and
ethical behavior.

— Robert Picardo (@RobertPicardo) August 27, 2024

While plenty of people ragged on Elon for not embodying or supporting Federation values, probably the most notable reply he got so far was from Robert Picardo, the actor who played the Emergency Medical Holographic (EMH) Program on Star Trek: Voyager. He also played the EMH on another ship in Star Trek: First Contact, a backup EMH who was stolen and powered up hundreds of years later, an evil EMH from a renegade Starfleet vessel, and the inventor of the EMH. Yep, you can be anything in Star Trek!

He points out that supporting Donald Trump is basically the opposite of the values Starfleet holds dear. Diversity, inclusion, and ethics are cited by him, but I wanted to point out some other fun things from the Star Trek cinematic universe that would probably make 2024 Elon scream.

The Environment Is Important In Star Trek

While 2018 Elon was very much pro-environment, we’ve seen newer versions of Elon who may as well have come from the Mirror Universe at times. Instead of wanting to keep CO2 emissions down as much as possible, he more recently has said that it’s okay to have 400 ppm, and most recently may have suggested that 1000 ppm might even be OK. 

But, the environment is a big deal to the Federation and Starfleet. In several alternate timelines, we get to see what a mismanaged Earth looks like, with one featuring a solar shield that dims the planet to diminish global warming and another in which the Borg screw up the whole planet with high concentrations of cybernetic zombies and methane.

And, before anybody says it, this concern for the environment goes back a long time, with the original Enterprise crew led by James T. Kirk leading a mission to save the whales.

Star Trek even hints that EVs are the future, with an original Aptera showing up in the 2009 alternate timeline reboot.

“Woke” Stuff Like Racial Diversity and LGBT

Today, the original Star Trek series that started in 1966 doesn’t seem like anything that controversial. But the idea of having a black woman working on the bridge alongside a Japanese man and a Russian was a big deal back then. If we put this in today’s racist terms, people would call Uhura a “DEI hire” and they’d call having a Russian on the show Soviet propaganda. 

Later, newer Star Trek series used sci-fi allegories to get people to take a fresh look not only at racial equality, but gender equality, gender norms, LGBT rights, religious tolerance, militarism, unions, money, diplomacy, and multiculturalism. For those who aren’t big Trek fans, here’s a video that lays it all out (skip to 5:30 if you want to save a few minutes):

Here are some more examples that focus on LGBT themes Star Trek has tackled over the years:

Saving Humanity While Shedding Our Humanity Is Pointless

I think what bothers socially liberal Trek fans the most about Elon Musk’s call for a creation of Starfleet Academy is that we don’t want the kind of future someone like him would create. Driving EVs and traveling the stars without keeping what humanity has fought for since the Enlightenment, the proliferation of republicanism, and more recently the various civil rights movements looks a lot more like destroying humanity than saving it.

In other words: If all of these hard-fought freedoms are lost, the life forms traveling out into the stars could not really be called human. Star Trek would call them Terrans, as in the Terran Empire of Star Trek’s mirror universe (goatees for all!).

So, if Elon Musk wants to project his will into the stars while vanquishing the “woke mind virus,” neglecting environmental stewardship, and disposing of human freedoms, he really needs to name his military institute the Terran Imperial Academy, not Starfleet Academy.

Featured Image: A screenshot from Star Trek: Enterprise’s mirror universe episodes. Fair Use.