__________________ In case we find ourselves starting to believe all the Anti-American sentiment and negativity, we should remember England 's Prime Minister Tony Blair's words during an interview. When asked by one of his Parliament members why he believes so much in America , he said:
"A simple way to take measure of a country is to look at how many want in... And how many want out."
This is one of the reasons I fell "out of belief" with Trek. There was a time it seemed to me like a real vision of the future. But as my minuscule sophistication regarding technology, starflight, etc, get less minuscule, I started thinking that by the time we are able to achieve even our first manned interstellar trip (let alone routine FTL starflight), tech in other areas (nano, medical, AI, etc) will have become so advanced that humans will barely be recognizable as such.
Carl Sagan (RIP) put it nicely when he said that by the time we are actually able to build starships, they will be like nothing we are currently imagining. I think the same could be said for those astronauts.
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Shinier than a speeding bullet.