Spock Encouraged Geeks to "Live Long and Prosper"
Spock Encouraged Geeks to "Live Long and Prosper"
by Brian Boyko, Contributor - March 3, 2015
When you think of how many ways “Star Trek” advanced society, there are a number of standouts. This includes everything from the treatment of then-modern social issues like civil rights and racism, to showing the irrationality of war when war with the Soviet Union seemed inevitable. But one that often gets lost in the shuffle is the idea that Star Trek started the ball rolling on what can be best described as “nerd pride.”
That is, while there were certainly smart, well-read, mathematical, logical people in 1966, before Star Trek, being a smart, technically minded person was - for most of society - a character flaw.
Indeed, being a “nerd” or a “geek” continued to be an insult first and foremost for decades afterwards. However, the thing about Star Trek is that it allowed some of our forefathers the ability to think of themselves as heroic. And that mostly had to do with giving young technical people a cherished role model - the character of Mr. Spock.
Spock was an enigma, because there was little on television or in any form of Continue reading
