To boldly go into a future on an amazing trek of discovery

I was 10 years old in 1966, when the original Star Trek television series first ran. This was the time of the moon race, when everyone predicted that we were at the start of a new space age. My family lived in Florida and an uncle worked at Cape Canaveral, so, of course, I dreamed of growing up to be an astronaut. Almost none of those dreams - personal or societal - have come true. After all, I'm not writing this from my office on the moon.

Unlike the current, brain-dead, shoot-em-up movies, the original Star Trek series was deeply philosophical. It pictured alternative societies - both utopias and dystopias. But, the thing that really attracted me as a teenager was the Star Fleet Academy - a university for future Star Fleet officers. Maybe, it would be up and running by the time I turned 18.

As I got older, I became more interested in the Vulcan Science Academy - a research institution located on the planet Vulcan. Graduates of the VSA could solve any technical or scientific problem within the hourlong TV episode.