“No, ancient astronauts did not build the pyramids”: Flat-Earthers Will Hate Gene Roddenberry’s Message in Star Trek
Oftentimes, conspiracy theorists such as Flat Earthers resort to mental gymnastics that transcend the realm of reality, undermining the feats and potential of human grit. Interestingly, Gene Roddenberry, who crafted one of the most iconic sci-fi IPs in fiction, was having none of it.
Even though the Star Trek IP ticked all the boxes that make a sci-fi brand work, and the accomplishments in that universe don’t exactly translate to the real world, per Roddenberry, the show spoke to some basic human needs.
Gene Roddenberry had nothing but hope for humankind
While certain conspiracy theorists tend to undermine the potential of humans, whether it be building pyramids, the moon landing, or even the Earth being a globe, Gene Roddenberry continued to embrace our abilities as a species.
Considering how many impressive feats humankind has achieved so far, with Star Trek, Roddenberry aimed to speak to basic human needs, adding “There is a tomorrow” (via Big Think).
Star Trek speaks to some basic human needs: that there is a tomorrow — it’s not all going to be over with a big flash and a bomb; that the human race is improving; that we have things to be proud of as humans. No, ancient astronauts did not build the pyramids — human beings built them, because they’re clever and they work hard. And Star Trek is about those things.
On the flip side, as opposed to the Star Trek creator’s more insightful perspective on the potential of humankind, William Shatner opted to have a little fun at the expense of Flat Earthers.
William Shatner ate and left no crumbs with one response to Flat Earthers
In 2021, William Shatner became the first man to travel to outer space, and upon landing back on Earth, the Flat Earth community, which surprisingly still exists, bombarded him with the question, “Whether the Earth was flat”.
But instead of giving them a straightforward answer, which is available at the click of a button, in true Shatner fashion, he toned up the absurdity of their discussion to 100. On a sarcastic note, he added (via The Other Side Of Midnight ):
I was asked by the Flat Earth group to say something about whether the Earth was flat. And I have been around it, and my opinion is that the Earth is flat. Just so few people want to believe it. It’s flat. I’ve been there…They wanted to know whether the sun was a planet and if anyone was living there. There are things, entities living on the sun, sending out rays that warm our planet…I better not go any further.
At the end of the day, no matter what humankind achieves, such conspiracy theorists would still exist, as being different for the sake of being different becomes their whole identity at one point.
