William Shatner talks the power of science fiction during his appearance on the StarTalk podcast with Neil deGrasse Tyson.
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Star Trek has inspired countless real life devices. The cell phone was partially inspired by the communicator from Star Trek: The Original Series, the iPad and Star Trek’s PADD have a lot in common, and you can’t help but feel like a captain reporting in to Starfleet when you make a Skype call.
Star Trek’s great influence on science goes farther than just inspiring actual technologies however. The ideals of Star Trek and its humanist message of a future made better through science has inspired countless real world scientists. There’s a reason that Star Trek is the favorite science fiction of real scientists.
William Shatner has of course spoken about how science fiction can inspire real life science before, but he went back to the topic during his appearance on the StarTalk podcast this week. StarTalk is of course the podcast of America’s greatest science spokesman Neil deGrasse Tyson. Tyson himself of course is a well known Trekkie, even sporting Star Trek sideburns to this day.
Check out William Shatner and Neil deGrasse Tyson talking science fiction and real science on StarTalk.
It’s amazing to see how much of an impact Star Trek has on real science. Trek’s ability to inspire science and scientists in the real world is one of the reasons that Star Trek truly is the greatest science fiction franchise of all time.
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What do you think? Do you think science fiction can inspire real life science? Let us know on Facebook or in the comments below.