I could never get past the bizarrely solipsistic narrative of STD, where events only matter insofar as they affect The Specialest Girl in the Universe.
Are we sure that's not how the 20th century went? It might not have been a global 'descent into barbarism', but surely the most destructive conflict in the history of the species counts for something in that regard, and while utopia might not have followed, surely the end of classical imperialism, the advent of conceptions of universal rights, the beginnings of a global demographic transition towards longer lives with more calories, and a wild basket of new technologies count on that side of the roster too.
In fact, I've always thought the whole Trek future of Egenics Wars/WWIII followed by a great leap forward was explicitly a historical analogy to WWII and the boom decades that followed.
I agree with the thesis here- the Renaissance certainly is a well worn trope in SF. I just can't get over how stupidly executed the Burn was. We had perfectly fertile ground in the post-Dominion War galaxy to explore the themes that modern Trek seems to want to. There was even a TNG episode that gave us an opening for the 'warp doesn't work' angle. So much wasted potential...
I could never get past the bizarrely solipsistic narrative of STD, where events only matter insofar as they affect The Specialest Girl in the Universe.
Are we sure that's not how the 20th century went? It might not have been a global 'descent into barbarism', but surely the most destructive conflict in the history of the species counts for something in that regard, and while utopia might not have followed, surely the end of classical imperialism, the advent of conceptions of universal rights, the beginnings of a global demographic transition towards longer lives with more calories, and a wild basket of new technologies count on that side of the roster too.
In fact, I've always thought the whole Trek future of Egenics Wars/WWIII followed by a great leap forward was explicitly a historical analogy to WWII and the boom decades that followed.
I agree with the thesis here- the Renaissance certainly is a well worn trope in SF. I just can't get over how stupidly executed the Burn was. We had perfectly fertile ground in the post-Dominion War galaxy to explore the themes that modern Trek seems to want to. There was even a TNG episode that gave us an opening for the 'warp doesn't work' angle. So much wasted potential...
I may be the only person who actually likes Burnham. But this has me second guessing my affection for the character.