Star Trek: Deep Space Nine‘s Most Prescient View of Our Future Is Already Getting Here

Nearly 30 years ago, 2024 must’ve felt a beingness distant for the writers of Deep Space Nine. Just arsenic the archetypal bid backmost successful the ’60s had imagined a grim adjacent aboriginal for the fictional 1990s, present excessively they recovered themselves with a communicative thought that would look up to the audience’s ain adjacent future, from the position of Star Trek‘s centuries-ahead utopia. Now that we’re really present living successful a year where Star Trek had imagined immoderate of the worst of us, however, it’s singular conscionable however prescient its presumption would become.

August 30 done September 1, 2024 has agelong been etched successful the minds of Deep Space Nine‘s fans, particularly arsenic we’ve drawn person and person to it. It’s the play of clip successful the incredible play 3 two-parter “Past Tense” that Captain Sisko, Dr. Bashir, and Dax accidentally find themselves beamed backmost to, erstwhile a transporter malfunction lands them successful San Francisco astatine a pivotal infinitesimal successful Earth history. Our Starfleet heroes find themselves successful an America wracked with planetary inequality and a increasing clime crisis, successful a spot that has striated the moving people and mediocre adjacent further from the rich. San Francisco, similar galore different large cities crossed the United States, has established a bid of “Sanctuary Districts” to combat a increasing economical and homelessness crisis. Originally intended to beryllium a payment hub for displaced people—providing escaped housing, healthcare, and occupation prospects—the sanctuary districts are rapidly transformed into totalitarian ghettoes, ruthlessly tally by constabulary forces and their interior workings (and declining conditions) covered up by section authorities.

After inadvertently disrupting the timeline with their presence, starring to a antheral named Gabriel Bell being killed by a convulsive mugger, Sisko and Bashir are forced to play a portion successful their ain history, with Sisko taking connected Bell’s individuality to support their archetypal timeline: due to the fact that Gabriel Bell was astir to play a large relation successful changing the people of quality history. On the greeting of September 1, 2024, a riot betwixt convulsive gangsters and section constabulary successful the territory leads to a hostage concern wherever respective residents (including Bell/Sisko) and national workers were trapped successful a processing facility. Although the district’s media entree is mostly chopped off, acknowledgment to the efforts of Dax, Bashir, and Sisko, the citizens wrong negociate to get their stories heard by the remainder of the nation—and adjacent though California’s politician yet cracks down hard successful the aftermath of the hostage negotiations, starring to a slaughter successful the sanctuary district, the brutal events animate societal alteration successful America to abolish the territory strategy and yet statesman to code the fertile inequality faced by its citizens.

© Paramount

The Bell Riots, arsenic they travel to beryllium known—with “Bell” having been credited for keeping the hostage situation non-violent earlier national intervention, yet being listed arsenic dormant successful the aftermath—mark a turning constituent successful Earth past truthful important that Bell’s premature decease astir fundamentally altered Star Trek‘s full timeline. Without the riots, determination was nary aboriginal wherever humanity’s corporate enactment would pb to a agreed Earth Government, the constitution of Starfleet successful the aftermath of archetypal interaction with the Vulcans, and the eventual instauration of the Federation. Even though in Star Trek‘s faux-history of the 21st period things would get much worse earlier they would get amended (World War III breaks retired successful 2026, truthful look guardant to that), the information that an unalterable constituent successful that way to progress—a path, arsenic Star Trek crucially reminds us, that waxes and wanes, and indispensable beryllium fought for endlessly—is rooted successful this infinitesimal of societal justness successful the look of planetary inequality and not, say, rather truthful specifically the result of planetary thermonuclear war, says a batch astir what the franchise astatine ample believes successful arsenic a way towards immoderate semblance of its future. Maybe not 1 with phaser beams and warp travel, but astatine slightest 1 of human bid and cooperation, with our broader selves and perchance adjacent a postulation astatine large.

But adjacent then, it’s fascinating to revisit “Past Tense” arsenic it’s happening, truthful to speak, and spot the precise existent parallels it tapped into. The twelvemonth 2024 is the latest section successful a divisive twelvemonth of governmental past successful the U.S. arsenic the statesmanlike predetermination draws closer, with economical concerns implicit ostentation and entree to healthcare precocious priorities for voters. Just past month, California’s existent politician Gavin Newsom signed an enforcement bid supporting crackdowns connected unhoused peoples, successful enactment with a Supreme Court ruling allowing states to good radical sleeping outside. The cracks that “Past Tense” extrapolated and brought to astatine slightest 1 grim decision are already opening to signifier successful our ain reality. Star Trek is astatine its champion erstwhile it uses the allegory of its utopia to advocator for the way that pb to its instauration successful the present and now. We whitethorn not person Ben Sisko oregon Gabriel Bell, but we person the capableness for compassion and senses of motivation justness that they had,  a capableness to bash and beryllium amended successful the face of challenge—something Star Trek has ever reflected backmost astatine us, whether it recovered itself getting a small excessively adjacent to existent events oregon otherwise.

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