Do You Think Science Fiction Literature, Movies , TV Series, etc have Created the Modern World As We Know it?

The Space Shuttle Enterprise was only named that after fans wrote in. It was originally going to be called the Constitution.
 
Naming conventions are hardly "creation". The Civil War would have happened the same way if Phil Lincoln was the President's name.
 
Swank said:
Naming conventions are hardly "creation". The Civil War would have happened the same way if Phil Lincoln was the President's name.
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Okay Swank, fair enough.:)
 
I am rethinking my position on this one. The reaction to Nichelle Nichols's death indicates that Star Trek did have influence on (at least) US culture. It may not have been the sole influence, but it seems to have contributed.
 
Wayne Mack said:
I am rethinking my position on this one. The reaction to Nichelle Nichols's death indicates that Star Trek did have influence on (at least) US culture. It may not have been the sole influence, but it seems to have contributed.
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Many people are celebrated primarily in retrospect. No one knew who Gregor Mendel or Van Gogh were during their lives. So it is hard in 2022 to tell what the real impact was at the time.
 
Hm, I wonder if Blade Runner had an impact on clothing fashions? :)
 
Wayne Mack said:
I am rethinking my position on this one. The reaction to Nichelle Nichols's death indicates that Star Trek did have influence on (at least) US culture. It may not have been the sole influence, but it seems to have contributed.
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Swank said:
Many people are celebrated primarily in retrospect. No one knew who Gregor Mendel or Van Gogh were during their lives. So it is hard in 2022 to tell what the real impact was at the time.
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Throughout it's entire original run , Star Trek was always on the verge of cancellation. It didn't become really popular until it was canceled , went into syndication and the Conventions.
 
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Wayne Mack said:
I am rethinking my position on this one. The reaction to Nichelle Nichols's death indicates that Star Trek did have influence on (at least) US culture. It may not have been the sole influence, but it seems to have contributed.
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But did it have an effect at the time or had it just grown in the retelling? Did Whoopie Goldberg really rush and tell her parents there's a black woman on tv and she's not a maid, or is this just looking at the past with modern eyes?
 
Vladd67 said:
But did it have an effect at the time or had it just grown in the retelling? Did Whoopie Goldberg really rush and tell her parents there's a black woman on tv and she's not a maid, or is this just looking at the past with modern eyes?
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I have no doubt that the Whoopie story is true. But was Whoopie's experience common enough to be considered influential on a population?

In Goldberg's case, her success came from following in the footsteps of successful stage comedians, like Moms Mabley or LaWanda Page. Then she became a film star and used that fame and leverage to get on STNG. So while she certainly became a fan of ST from seeing Nichelle on TV, it arguably had no influence on her career choices other than STNG. Her influences listed on Wiki from interviews doesn't include Nichols.
 
I've heard more than one black woman say that she was inspired by Nichelle Nichols, so I suspect that she did have some influence on the greater culture in at least a limited way.
 
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