The famous line by Captain Jean-Luc Picard when it was time to get your butt in gear…
“Make it so.”
Very proper, very Captain like.
I am not much of a Trekkie, but if you make me choose between Star Trek and Star Wars, I’m taking Star Trek.
I enjoyed the first couple of Star Wars movies, especially The Empire Strikes Back. That one had Lando Calrissian, played by Billy Dee Williams. The coolest soul brother in space. The same guy who played Gale Sayers and convinced America that Colt 45 malt liquor was a fine life choice.
As far as Star Trek goes, I am only interested in the original series and The Next Generation.
The thing I always found fascinating was the holodeck.
For you non Trekkies, a holodeck was a room sized virtual reality simulator. You could step inside and become part of any story, any place, any time. It was one of the most famous pieces of technology from The Next Generation era.
Back in the early 1990s, it seemed like pure fantasy. Now? Maybe not so much.
With virtual reality hardware getting better every year and artificial intelligence advancing at a pace that is frightening…
… the holodeck no longer feels impossible. It feels inevitable.
Someday I might be able to live out some of my own storylines.
I could spend an evening in a Havana nightclub listening to Tito Puente while smoking a Cuban cigar, wearing a linen suit and a Panama hat.
I could line up at center for the 1958 Baltimore Colts and snap the ball to Johnny Unitas.
I could attend Midnight Mass celebrated by Pope John Paul II with my family sitting beside me in the pew.
I might even hotwire the holodeck for an intimate evening in Paris with Julia Roberts and see where the night takes us.
Virtual reality and AI may never replace real life, but they sure have the potential to add a few exciting chapters to it.
The future is arriving faster than most of us expected. Maybe the real question isn’t whether we can build a holodeck. Maybe the question is what we will choose to do with it once we have one.
As for me, I already have a list.
Make it so……
