leonard mlodinow star trek

Leonard Mlodinow

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Leonard Mlodinow ( born 26 November 1954 ; age 69) from Chicago, Illinois is an author and physicist who wrote the Star Trek: The Next Generation second season episode " The Dauphin " with writing partner Scott Rubenstein . He also worked as story editor on the episodes from " The Outrageous Okona " to " The Royale " with Rubenstein.

In 2009, Mlodinow penned an essay for Newsweek entitled " Confessions of a Star Trek Writer ," which discussed his work on Star Trek , his co-workers in the writer's room (like former police officer Burton Armus ), and the "culture of free thinking" which has driven Star Trek to four decades of success.

Together with Rubenstein, Mlodinow also wrote the stories for episodes of What's Happening Now! (1985), 9 to 5 (1986), MacGyver (1987, episode directed by James L. Conway ), Hunter (1989, episode directed by James Darren ), Night Court (1990), and Adam 12 (1990).

In 2009 he worked with Stephen Hawking on the documentary Beyond the Horizon , starring Hawking. The same year he wrote the story and appeared in the documentary television series Celebrating Science , episode "The Drunkard's Walk".

Mlodinow published several books including "Feynman's Rainbow: a Search for Beauty in Physics and in Life", with Deepak Chopra "War of The Worlds: Physics Debates Metaphysics", and together with Stephen Hawking "A Brief History of Time" and "The Grand Design". Together with Matt Costello he also wrote the children's books "Titanic Cat" and "The Last Dinosaur" in 2004. Mlodinow is currently teaching at the California Institute of Technology.

External links [ ]

• CalTech.edu/~len – official site
• Leonard Mlodinow at Wikipedia
• Leonard Mlodinow at the Internet Movie Database
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Leonard Mlodinow Biography

Leonard Mlodinow is a theoretical physicist and author, recognized for groundbreaking discoveries in physics, and as the author of five best-selling books. His book The Grand Design , co-authored with Stephen Hawking, reached #1 on the New York Times best-seller list; his book Subliminal: How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behavior , won the 2013 PEN/E.O. Wilson award for literary science writing; and his book The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives was chosen as a New York Times notable book, and short-listed for the Royal Society book award. Dr. Mlodinow is also known through his many public lectures and media appearances on programs such ranging from Morning Joe , to Through the Wormhole , and for debating Deepak Chopra on ABC's Nightline .

Dr. Mlodinow was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1954. Both of his parents were holocaust survivors. His father was a leader in the Jewish underground in Czestochowa, Poland, until he was shipped to the Buchenwald concentration camp in 1944. He was liberated by General Patton on April 11, 1945. At the time, he weighed 80 pounds. His mother was in a labor camp, also in Poland. They met in Brooklyn, New York, in 1948.

Dr. Mlodinow started his college education at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass., in 1972, but dropped out when the Yom Kippur War began in the Fall of 1973, traveling to Israel to work on a kibbutz. While there, he fell in love with physics after reading some of Richard Feynman's books, which were the only English books in the kibbutz He returned to Brandeis the next school year and added a physics major to his double major in chemistry and math. He graduated in 1976, and in 1981 received his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the University of California at Berkeley. His advisor was Eyvind Wichmann, who worked on axiomatic quantum field theory. His dissertation was on a subject that was more practical, at least if you are a physicist – Nikos Papanicolaou and Dr. Mlodinow developed a new approximation method in which you solve a problem in infinite dimensions, and then calculate corrections to account for the fact that we live in only three. For details, see these:

• "SO(2,1) Algebra and Large N Expansions in Quantum Mechanics," Annals of Physics 128, 314 (1980). With N. Papanicolaou. • "Pseudo-spin Structure and Large N Expansions for a Class of Generalized Helium Hamiltonians," Annals of Physics 131, 1 (1981). With N. Papanicolaou. SO(2,1) Algebra and Large N Expansions in Quantum Mechanics," Annals of Physics 128, 314 (1980). With N. Papanicolaou. • "Large N Expansions Work," in Proceedings of the IV Warsaw Symposium in Elementary Particle Physics. Z. Abjduk and K. Doroba, eds. (Warsaw, 1981). • "Semi-Classical Perturbation Theory for the Hydrogen Atom in a Uniform Magnetic Field," Phys Rev A 25 1305 (1982). With C. Bender and N Papanicolaou. • "A Semi-Classical Perturbation Theory for Quantum Mechanics," in Progress in Particle and Nuclear Physics, volume 8, Quarks and the Nucleus . D Wilkerson, ed. (Pergamon, 1982). • "Solving the Schroedinger Equation with Use of 1/N Perturbation Theory," J Math Phys 25 943 (1984). With M. Shatz.

• "A Semi-Classical Expansion for Non-Linear Dielectric Media," Phys Rev A 31 797 (1985) (With M. Hillery). • "Quantization of Electrodynamics in Nonlinear Dielectric Media," Phys Rev A 30 1860 (1984) (With M. Hillery).

In 1985 Dr. Mlodinow was bitten by the Hollywood bug and moved back to Los Angeles with $6000, a screenplay in his pocket, and no job. He managed to sell his first script six months later. At the time he had $110 left in the bank. Over the next several years he wrote for television series such as: Hunter, MacGyver, Star Trek: the Next Generation , and the comedy series Night Court , as well as for many others that he would mostly like to forget. Meanwhile he has continued to conduct physics research as a hobby. See, for instance:

• "Bounds from a Conservation Law in the Dicke Model," Phys Rev A 38 4064 (1988)(With Mark Hillery). • "Improving Phase Measurement Accuracy with use of Minimum Uncertainty States". Phys Rev A 48 1548 (1993) (With Mark Hillery). • "Quantized Fields in a Nonlinear Dielectric Medium: A Microscopic Approach," Phys Rev A 55 678 (1997) (With Mark Hillery). • "Quantum Interference with Molecules: the Role of Internal States," Phys Rev A 71 (2005) (With Mark Hillery). • "Relation Between the Psychological and Thermodynamic Arrows of Time," Phys Rev E 89 (2014) (With Todd Brun). • "Decoherence by Coupling to Internal Vibrational Modes," Phys Rev A 94 (2016) (With Todd Brun).

In 1993 Dr. Mlodinow joined those leaving the television and film business for computer gaming, and became producer, executive producer and designer of several award-winning games created in conjunction with Stephen Speilberg, Robin Williams, and the Walt Disney Company. Among the awards won by his games are the Consumer Electronics Software Showcase Award; Home PC Magazine Editor's Choice Award; and the National Association of Parenting Publications Gold Medal (twice). In 1997 he moved to New York, and between 1997 and 2003 he was Vice President for Software Development and then Vice President and Publisher for Math Education at Scholastic Inc., the New York publisher of the Harry Potter series. As head of Scholastic software, he created a children's games division and built it into one of the top five in the United States. While at Scholastic he wrote his first popular science books, Euclid's Window: The story of geometry from parallel lines to hyperspace , which has now appeared in 16 languages. He also had the misfortune of being at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, when the terrorists' planes flew into the buildings.

In 2005, he came full circle, and returned to the Caltech faculty, to teach, while continuing to write books. He left to write full time in 2013. His books include:

• Elastic: flexible thinking in a time of change (2018). • The Upright Thinkers: the human journey from living in trees to understanding the universe (2015). • Subliminal: how your unconscious mind rules your behavior (2012), • War of The Worldviews: science vs. spirituality (2011), co-authored with Deepak Chopra. • The Grand Design (2010), co-authored with Stephen Hawking. • The Drunkard's Walk: how randomness rules our lives (2008) • A Briefer History of Time (2005), co-authored with Stephen Hawking. • Feynman's Rainbow: a search for beauty in physics and in life (2003). • Euclid's Window: The story of geometry from parallel lines to hyperspace (2001)

as well as the children's books:

• The Last Dinosaur (2004), co-authored with Matt Costello • Titanic Cat (2004), co-authored with Matt Costello

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Physicist and Star Trek screenwriter Leonard Mlodinow: "In 2035, we'll all be part of one giant social network"

Leonard Mlodinow co-wrote "The Grand Design" with Stephen Hawking back in 2010

For one, Mlodinow (who, by the way, has co-written a book with Stephen Hawking , written for popular TV shows such as MacGyver and Star Trek: The Next Generation, and currently teaches physics at Cal Tech) thinks we'll all be part of one giant social network in the next 20 years.

" You'll probably just have something embedded in you," he told Business Insider , "a microchip of sorts or some interface...and it's just easier to talk to anyone in the world immediately."

He has some insights on the state of the world now, too, especially on people who say they don't believe in climate change.

" I think they're totally ignorant. They have no idea how to approach the problem or what the evidence is and probably haven't read the literature," Mlodinow said. " If they deny the science the science in that area, they should not trust MRI machines or X-rays and they shouldn't use a cell phone."

Here's a transcript of our whole conversation with Mlodinow, edited lightly for clarity and length.

BUSINESS INSIDER: To the casual observer, you have an incredibly varied history.

LEONARD MLODINOW: I became a physicist, worked in academic physics as faculty at Cal tech, and went into writing for Hollywood, went into computer games, and went into writing books and teaching at Caltech again.

BI: How did you end up as a screenwriter for "Star Trek: The Next Generation?"

LM: Well, I got that job because they'd read something I'd written for MacGyver and they liked it and they hired me. When I was as Caltech I started writing screenplays. I used to write short stories just for fun. And when I got the job at Caltech, having come from Northern California - where people are rather prejudiced against Southern California - I was too. And I'm thinking, 'What will I do in Southern California? If I go there I'm gonna write screenplays to see what happens. And I started knocking on doors and I quit doing physics and got an apartment in Hollywood and started writing and got a really crappy job for a really crappy show, but I lived off writing for that show for a while, and it got better and I got an agent and a better show and just climbed my way up.

Triton Pictures/YouTube

Mlodinow co-wrote a book with Stephen Hawking in 2010

BI: You've cowritten a book with Stephen Hawking. He says in the next 100 years computers will be smarter than humans and surpass us in artificial intelligence. What do you think?

LM: It's possible - I wouldn't say it's outrageous. I wouldn't think that neither he nor I knows, and neither of us will be around in the next 100 years to be disproved.

I guess I should remind you that he said in the 1980's that by the end of the century, we would solve all of physics. We would have the unified theory of everything. And in 2005 I was talking to him and I brought that up and I said, 'What do you think now?' And he said, 'I still think by the end of the century we're gonna have everything solved.' So, he seems to think that by the end of the century, whatever century you're in, everything will be done. And if it isn't, then he says the same thing again when the next century starts. Knowing him, he might be around next century.

But I think that the kind of computers we've built today are in general nothing like how the brain works. The brain is a massively paralleled processor and we are starting to use parallel processing and they used that in the LHC [Large Hadron Collider) to analyze the data. But, I don't know. There's a long way to go, it's a long time, and people are working on the problem.

Who will ever know? How do you even judge? A computer is much different from a brain. Are we going to have something with like 86 billion transistors that are each connected to a thousand or ten thousand other ones? Probably not quite like that. How will we know? I don't think the Turing test is a really good way of answering that question. It'll be a different kind of intelligence.

BI: In your mind, what will society look like in the next 20 years? The next 100 years?

LM: In the next 100 years, I have no idea, and I don't think anyone does, so if they tell you, they're just making it up. In the next 20 years, I can look back to 1995 and I can take that difference and then move it forward. I feel like the explosion of mass communication will continue and we will be even more connected and easily connected to other people than we are today without having to carry around these devices. Information is very fluid and easy to access - what we'll do with that, I don't know. I think that's the next step, because you can drown in that information and also a lot of the information floating about is false - it's wrong information so I think those are the challenges to be able to do something constructive with it and be able to tell what's right from wrong.

Our social networking is exploding. We can be in contact with so many more people than years ago. In 20 years, you'll probably just have something embedded in you - a microchip of sorts or some interface and it's just easier to talk to anyone in the world immediately. I think we're all going to be one giant network.

Flickr/David.Asch

With the way social networking is progressing, the world is in for such major changes in the next 20 years

BI: In your new book The Upright Thinkers you examine how humans have evolved to where they are today. What drives us as human beings to continue exploring the world around us?

LM: That, I think, is a fundamental part of our nature. It's a kind of curiosity about where we fit in. What is the world? How does it work and how do we fit in? It's something that you can see in very young infants, and you can see it in all cultures and it's a fundamental quality of being human.

BI: Can science and religion - or spirituality, as some would call it, be reconciled?

LM: I think that this dichotomy is something that is fairly recent. First of all, when the brain evolved to have the capacity to ask such questions, to understand abstractions, and to be curious, one of the first things we started doing was asking these spiritual questions. Humans used to live as nomads wandering around and leaving their sick behind to die and leaving the bodies behind, because they couldn't carry them with.

And then the first human settlements in the Agricultural Revolution, where we domesticated plants and animals and started living in one place, was really driven by these spiritual questions and the desire to be near our departed loved ones. And that's where we really started to ask questions about the world around us. In fact, chemistry came from embalming people trying to preserve the bodies, and so science grew out of those spiritual questions. The first scientists were doing science to try to get closer to God.

The first scientists were doing science to try to get closer to God.

Robert Boyle - the chemist, Newton - the physicist, Darwin. People misunderstand them. They started making their investigations as a way of understanding God's plan for the world, so that was all part of it until very recently.

Certainly since Darwin, there have been people who have opposed ideas based on religious fundamentalism, but Darwin for instance was able to reconcile. He was a religious man, and he was able to reconcile evolution with religion. He didn't have a problem with that. He just said, 'Well, God put everything on the Earth in a certain habitat with a plan that would evolve and that's what's happening.' He eventually became an atheist - it's when his daughter died at age 10 that he lost his faith in God.

BI: You've explored the concept of randomness in the past. In your opinion, are humans in control of their own destinies or are they puppets in a play, so to speak?

LM: Well, puppets implies that something else is controlling you, and I think it's neither. We certainly have the experience or feeling of controlling our own behavior.

Whether some being with infinite or extreme intelligence or data on the state of our bodies could predict what we are going to do beforehand because it's predetermined by the laws of nature - maybe that's true. I don't believe in free will, literally.

I don't believe in free will, literally.

I believe that the laws of nature govern your actions. On some level, what you're doing is not your choice but it's governed by the state of your body right now. But we have no way of knowing that. It's far too complex.

BI: What are your thoughts on the fact that a lot of people in this country do not believe in evolution?

LM: They're misguided. I think it's destructive. It's not only evolution - it's people who don't accept or respect science, and make uninformed judgments about a lot of political and medical issues. These are important issues, and I feel it's unfortunate that we have people like that in this country.

BI: There are people that argue that climate change is part of the natural cycle, as opposed to it being man-made, what are your thoughts on that?

LM: I think they're totally ignorant. They have no idea how to approach the problem or what the evidence is and probably haven't read the literature and that there are thousands of scientists who have been studying this for years and are experts and devote their lives to it.

To dismiss them because you happen to have a different opinion as if one could look at the weather report and understand global climate change is arrogant and ignorant. Among climate scientists, a fraction don't accept it, so I think it's been definitively proven using methods of modern science - the same methods that bring us airplanes and GPS systems and lasers and MRI machines that these people all use. If they deny the science the science in that area, they should not trust MRI machines or X-rays and they shouldn't use a cell phone. They don't get vaccinated either, I assume.

James Vaughan on Flickr

Are there aliens out there? Time will tell.

BI: Are there other forms of life out there in the universe?

LM: We have no evidence that there is, and we can't even theoretically say what the chances are, because we found a lot of stars that are like the sun, and a lot of planets that exist in the habitable zone.

So there's certainly the raw materials for aliens and for intelligent life.

We know that once you have some form of life, like a bacteria, that it can evolve to intelligent life, but we still don't know how to explain the first creation of DNA, RNA, or the macromolecules of basic life - how they came into being. People are getting closer and closer to understanding that, but we don't really know. This is one thing I have faith in, that I have intuition that there is, but from the scientific point of view you can't say.

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In Hollywood, Theories of Infinite Dimensions

By Leonard Mlodinow

• June 2, 2012

South Pasadena, Calif.

IT was my first day on the job, on the writing staff for “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” A theoretical physicist, I had passed up a tenured faculty position, left behind a lot of confused friends and colleagues, and moved to Hollywood.

I saw in writing and physics a great commonality. My Ph.D. dissertation had been on the theory of quantum mechanics in infinite dimensions. We don’t actually live in infinite dimensions, of course, but one of the advantages of theoretical physics is that your mind can wander in different realities, and yet you’re not considered mentally ill. There is only one other profession like it: that of a writer. I would simply be substituting the written word for mathematical equations.

That first day at “Star Trek” we were having a story meeting, and I proposed a plot twist that was rooted in astrophysics, involving an unusual star, intense cosmic rays and a very real element of science. At the meeting, I took 30 seconds to explain my idea, then looked toward my immediate boss, a gruff middle-aged producer who had been a New York Police Department homicide detective. He stared at me for a moment, presumably because he had to process the intricacies of my fine idea, and then he said, loudly, “Shut up, you egghead!”

I later became friends with that gruff producer and learned that “Star Trek” hadn’t hired me for my knowledge of interstellar space any more than it had him for his expertise investigating triple homicides. In his case, he began as a technical consultant on a cop show and eventually proved to his bosses that he could write the scripts. In my case, I had sold an episode to “MacGyver” based on some clever scientific tricks that fit well into the premise of that series; they let me take a stab at writing; and they liked the resulting script enough that it got passed around Paramount, which is how my future employers heard about me.

When we’re in college, we think about our future as a direct line from now to then, from here to there. You might get an internship at a financial services firm, then become an assistant, and gradually move up until someday you’re the boss. That’s a fine life’s path. But if you look at the careers of many successful people, you’ll find that their route is often far more sinuous. And if you look at happy people, you’ll find even fewer who traveled a straight line.

When I got my first job at Caltech after graduate school, a famous mathematician warned me not to keep working on that theory of infinite dimensions. It’s a bad idea to make a career of your Ph.D. work, he told me. Then, when I began to consider problems in an apparently too different area of physics, he told me: “You can’t keep jumping around. You have to stay in the field you made your name in.” I was 26, and I was supposed to think the boundaries of my career were already sharply defined.

The life that mathematician urged on me would probably have been an equally happy one. But instead of listening to his advice, I have written for television, produced computer games, designed a curriculum for math education and returned to Caltech, to physics research, teaching and writing — this time, nonfiction. I still see that famous mathematician, now an elder statesman, walking around the campus. I haven’t talked to him in a few years, but I hear that when my name comes up, he just mutters and shakes his head. And that’s fine with me.

Leonard Mlodinow is the author, most recently, of “Subliminal: How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behavior.”

Leonard Mlodinow

Leonard Mlodinow is the best selling author of The Drunkard's Walk, Subliminal and Elastic . He co-authored two books with Stephen Hawking and later wrote an acclaimed memoir, Stephen Hawking , about their time together. He has written for television, including multiple episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, as well as helping Steven Spielberg and Robin Williams make a video game. There are now over one million copies of Leonard Mlodinow's books in print.

Books by Leonard Mlodinow

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Elastic by Leonard Mlodinow review – unplug to think creatively

In praise of procrastination and getting drunk … a theoretical physicist and Star Trek writer on the importance of imaginative thought

E veryone knows we should be concerned about ecosystems, but what about the ecosystem inside your skull? Research suggests that new ideas and solutions to problems often arise when our minds are not focused on a particular task, but running in the high-connectivity state recently identified as the “default network”. Yet in an age of smartphones, social media and other electronic crack-pipes, it is all too easy to keep focusing on one trivial thing after another, and so never allow the brain enough of this fecund time. There is, then, some scientific basis to the increasing advice for us to unplug, at least partially, which is becoming formalised within a young discipline with the nice name of “ecopsychology”. Just as ecology aims to bolster biodiversity in physical spaces, ecopsychology aims to help us keep our minds fertile terrain for the green shoots of constructive thinking.

That is one of the lessons of this elegant and interesting book, which adopts the commercial form of the “smart thinking” airport manual but works with ideas at a higher level. Leonard Mlodinow is a theoretical physicist who has also worked as a writer on Star Trek , so he is obviously annoyingly good at the kind of boundary-hopping cognition he champions. “Elastic thinking” is the name he gives to the way new and creative ideas pop up into the conscious mind in moments of insight. It is contrasted with “analytic thinking”, which is our rule-led, logical, conscious thought. Other writers (such as Malcolm Gladwell) have rhetorically downgraded analytical thinking in order to champion the elastic or “intuitive” kind, but as Mlodinow emphasises, you need both. Elastic thinking generates a lot of rubbish as well as a few gems; the job of analytic thinking is to sift for the diamonds in the rough and then polish them. A new scientific idea, for instance, is generated through elastic thinking, but then must be tested and worked out fully with the analytic mind.

The problem, as the author sees it, is finding the right balance. A purely logical reasoning style is not creative; a purely elastic one is all over the shop. But most people could do with a larger proportion of elastic thinking. Hence the advice to manage one’s info-consumption according to the precepts of ecopsychology. Particularly in the modern world, Mlodinow argues, we need more of elastic thinking’s “capacity to let go of comfortable ideas and become accustomed to ambiguity and contradiction”.

This is not exactly a new recommendation, being very like what John Keats called “negative capability”. But Keats did not have a brain scanner, and the results of modern investigations suggest some useful new tips. It turns out that we might approach problems more creatively if our executive, conscious brain is exhausted from having focused on lots of boring choices: so a few hours doing your accounts might help you write a better sonnet afterwards. Alternatively, if you find the world to be a fuzzy place in the mornings due to sleep inertia, which Mlodinow charmingly admits is true of him (“in my morning stupor I have done things like crack an egg into the sink and then start to fry the shell”), you will do your best writing soon after waking up.

The book is packed with other insights, puzzles and philosophical interludes – about how we often follow “scripts” in our social behaviour, rather like video game characters; about how thinking itself is a bodily pleasure, something that is too rarely remarked on; and about the authentic “intellectual beauty” that can be appreciated even in ideas that turn out to be wrong. Mlodinow notes that we have been able to program computers to emulate analytic thinking in very specific domains (such as chess), but elastic thinking is something no artificial system has ever demonstrated, regardless of any PR jargon about “deep learning” and the like. If you want to create a general problem-solving brain, he concludes happily, “the best way is still to find a mate and create a new human being”.

There is no shortage of popular books making exaggerated claims about science’s understanding of creative thinking – including the now-notorious Imagine by Jonah Lehrer, which invented Bob Dylan quotes – but as a scientist himself, Mlodinow is laudably careful not to overstate his case. (“It is an oversimplification,” he warns for example, “to chalk up anything as complex as a personality trait to a single gene.”) His book, while nodding to the business market, is refreshingly free of the curious moralising that often accompanies such how-to guides, which conflate imaginative thought with being a healthy 21st-century citizen-employee in all the approved productivity-enhancing ways. Not many other authors will advise the reader to try getting drunk – or, better, totally baked – if they have a tough problem to solve. It even turns out that procrastination helps, in which case I am sorry, because this review might have been better if I’d missed my deadline.

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Physicist and star trek screenwriter leonard mlodinow: "in 2035, we'll all be part of one giant social network".

(YouTube) Leonard Mlodinow co-wrote "The Grand Design" with Stephen Hawking back in 2010

Renowned physicist and Star Trek screenwriter Leonard Mlodinow has some pretty awe ome predictions about the future, which we got to hear when we caught up with him recently here in New York.

For one, Mlodinow (who, by the way, has co-written a book with Stephen Hawking , written for popular TV shows such as MacGyver and Star Trek: The Next Generation, and currently teaches physics at Cal Tech) thinks we'll all be part of one giant social network in the next 20 years.

" You’ll probably just have something embedded in you," he told Business Insider , "a microchip of sorts or some interface...and it’s just easier to talk to anyone in the world immediately."

He has some insights on the state of the world now, too, especially on people who say they don't believe in climate change.

" I think they’re totally ignorant. They have no idea how to approach the problem or what the evidence is and probably haven’t read the literature," Mlodinow said. " If they deny the science the science in that area, they should not trust MRI machines or X-rays and they shouldn’t use a cell phone."

Here's a transcript of our whole conversation with Mlodinow, edited lightly for clarity and length.

BUSINESS INSIDER: To the casual observer, you have an incredibly varied history.

LEONARD MLODINOW: I became a physicist, worked in academic physics as faculty at Cal tech, and went into writing for Hollywood, went into computer games, and went into writing books and teaching at Caltech again.

BI: How did you end up as a screenwriter for "Star Trek: The Next Generation?"

LM: Well, I got that job because they’d read something I’d written for MacGyver and they liked it and they hired me. When I was as Caltech I started writing screenplays. I used to write short stories just for fun. And when I got the job at Caltech, having come from Northern California — where people are rather prejudiced against Southern California — I was too. And I’m thinking, ‘What will I do in Southern California? If I go there I’m gonna write screenplays to see what happens. And I started knocking on doors and I quit doing physics and got an apartment in Hollywood and started writing and got a really crappy job for a really crappy show, but I lived off writing for that show for a while, and it got better and I got an agent and a better show and just climbed my way up.

(Triton Pictures/YouTube) Mlodinow co-wrote a book with Stephen Hawking in 2010

BI: You’ve cowritten a book with Stephen Hawking. He says in the next 100 years computers will be smarter than humans and surpass us in artificial intelligence. What do you think?

LM: It’s possible — I wouldn’t say it’s outrageous. I wouldn’t think that neither he nor I knows, and neither of us will be around in the next 100 years to be disproved.

I guess I should remind you that he said in the 1980’s that by the end of the century, we would solve all of physics. We would have the unified theory of everything. And in 2005 I was talking to him and I brought that up and I said, ‘What do you think now?’ And he said, ‘I still think by the end of the century we’re gonna have everything solved.’ So, he seems to think that by the end of the century, whatever century you’re in, everything will be done. And if it isn’t, then he says the same thing again when the next century starts. Knowing him, he might be around next century.

But I think that the kind of computers we’ve built today are in general nothing like how the brain works. The brain is a massively paralleled processor and we are starting to use parallel processing and they used that in the LHC [Large Hadron Collider) to analyze the data. But, I don’t know. There’s a long way to go, it’s a long time, and people are working on the problem.

Who will ever know? How do you even judge? A computer is much different from a brain. Are we going to have something with like 86 billion transistors that are each connected to a thousand or ten thousand other ones? Probably not quite like that. How will we know? I don’t think the Turing test is a really good way of answering that question. It’ll be a different kind of intelligence.

BI: In your mind, what will society look like in the next 20 years? The next 100 years?

LM: In the next 100 years, I have no idea, and I don’t think anyone does, so if they tell you, they’re just making it up. In the next 20 years, I can look back to 1995 and I can take that difference and then move it forward. I feel like the explosion of mass communication will continue and we will be even more connected and easily connected to other people than we are today without having to carry around these devices. Information is very fluid and easy to access — what we’ll do with that, I don’t know. I think that’s the next step, because you can drown in that information and also a lot of the information floating about is false — it’s wrong information so I think those are the challenges to be able to do something constructive with it and be able to tell what’s right from wrong.

Our social networking is exploding. We can be in contact with so many more people than years ago. In 20 years, you’ll probably just have something embedded in you — a microchip of sorts or some interface and it’s just easier to talk to anyone in the world immediately. I think we’re all going to be one giant network.

(Flickr/David.Asch) With the way social networking is progressing, the world is in for such major changes in the next 20 years

BI: In your new book The Upright Thinkers you examine how humans have evolved to where they are today. What drives us as human beings to continue exploring the world around us?

LM: That, I think, is a fundamental part of our nature. It’s a kind of curiosity about where we fit in. What is the world? How does it work and how do we fit in? It’s something that you can see in very young infants, and you can see it in all cultures and it’s a fundamental quality of being human.

BI: Can science and religion — or spirituality, as some would call it, be reconciled?

LM: I think that this dichotomy is something that is fairly recent. First of all, when the brain evolved to have the capacity to ask such questions, to understand abstractions, and to be curious, one of the first things we started doing was asking these spiritual questions. Humans used to live as nomads wandering around and leaving their sick behind to die and leaving the bodies behind, because they couldn’t carry them with.

And then the first human settlements in the Agricultural Revolution, where we domesticated plants and animals and started living in one place, was really driven by these spiritual questions and the desire to be near our departed loved ones. And that’s where we really started to ask questions about the world around us. In fact, chemistry came from embalming people trying to preserve the bodies, and so science grew out of those spiritual questions. The first scientists were doing science to try to get closer to God.

The first scientists were doing science to try to get closer to God.

Robert Boyle — the chemist, Newton — the physicist, Darwin. People misunderstand them. They started making their investigations as a way of understanding God’s plan for the world, so that was all part of it until very recently.

Certainly since Darwin, there have been people who have opposed ideas based on religious fundamentalism, but Darwin for instance was able to reconcile. He was a religious man, and he was able to reconcile evolution with religion. He didn’t have a problem with that. He just said, ‘Well, God put everything on the Earth in a certain habitat with a plan that would evolve and that’s what’s happening.’ He eventually became an atheist — it’s when his daughter died at age 10 that he lost his faith in God.

BI: You’ve explored the concept of randomness in the past. In your opinion, are humans in control of their own destinies or are they puppets in a play, so to speak?

LM: Well, puppets implies that something else is controlling you, and I think it’s neither. We certainly have the experience or feeling of controlling our own behavior.

Whether some being with infinite or extreme intelligence or data on the state of our bodies could predict what we are going to do beforehand because it’s predetermined by the laws of nature — maybe that’s true. I don’t believe in free will, literally.

I don’t believe in free will, literally.

I believe that the laws of nature govern your actions. On some level, what you’re doing is not your choice but it’s governed by the state of your body right now. But we have no way of knowing that. It’s far too complex.

BI: What are your thoughts on the fact that a lot of people in this country do not believe in evolution?

LM: They’re misguided. I think it’s destructive. It’s not only evolution — it’s people who don’t accept or respect science, and make uninformed judgments about a lot of political and medical issues. These are important issues, and I feel it’s unfortunate that we have people like that in this country.

BI: There are people that argue that climate change is part of the natural cycle, as opposed to it being man-made, what are your thoughts on that?

LM: I think they’re totally ignorant. They have no idea how to approach the problem or what the evidence is and probably haven’t read the literature and that there are thousands of scientists who have been studying this for years and are experts and devote their lives to it.

To dismiss them because you happen to have a different opinion as if one could look at the weather report and understand global climate change is arrogant and ignorant. Among climate scientists, a fraction don’t accept it, so I think it’s been definitively proven using methods of modern science — the same methods that bring us airplanes and GPS systems and lasers and MRI machines that these people all use. If they deny the science the science in that area, they should not trust MRI machines or X-rays and they shouldn’t use a cell phone. They don’t get vaccinated either, I assume.

(James Vaughan on Flickr) Are there aliens out there? Time will tell.

BI: Are there other forms of life out there in the universe?

LM: We have no evidence that there is, and we can’t even theoretically say what the chances are, because we found a lot of stars that are like the sun, and a lot of planets that exist in the habitable zone.

So there’s certainly the raw materials for aliens and for intelligent life.

We know that once you have some form of life, like a bacteria, that it can evolve to intelligent life, but we still don’t know how to explain the first creation of DNA, RNA, or the macromolecules of basic life — how they came into being. People are getting closer and closer to understanding that, but we don’t really know. This is one thing I have faith in, that I have intuition that there is, but from the scientific point of view you can’t say.

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Leonard Mlodinow | Emotional Intelligence, Head Transplants & How Emotions Affect Your Behaviour

• A Curious Worldview , Books , Covid-19 , Interview , Journal , Mental Models , Philosophy , Podcast , Travel
• January 17, 2022

Leonard Mlodinow, Mike Tyson & Buster Douglas, Inducing Determination, Emotional, A Drunkards Walk & Emotional Intelligence

️ listen to my podcast with leonard mlodinow ️ available on all podcast directories, on – apple podcasts here , on – spotify here , or – everywhere else here ️, leonard mlodinow on the curious worldview podcast.

Leonard Mlodinow is the author of Emotional and the subject of this episode of the podcast.

In Emotional, Leonard tackles questions various regarding the purpose of emotion? How does emotion guide behaviour? The difference between wanting versus liking. Where does determination come from? And more. Leonard leans on an erudite range of anecdotes and studies from Mike Tyson fights to Holocaust survival and more in his pursuit of the answers. 

Leonard Mlodinow was born in 1954 to parents who were both Holocaust survivors, which is relevant to say since his parent’s stories inform much of the autobiographical sections of this book. Leonard has been a writer in Hollywood, written for Star Trek operated as a corporate executive and been a multiple times best selling author.

And all of this goes without mentioning what is the backbone of his career. Leonard Mlodinow is a world-class theoretical physicist. He is among the finest scientific writers in the world able to capture the language of the universe for general consumption. 

He was mates with Richard Feynman, he’s worked with Steven Spielberg and he was trusted with the memoirs of Stephen Hawking. Leonard’s led several lives.

You can expect to hear in this podcast about the following and more…

• Emotional Intelligence.
• The Unbelievable Story Of A Soviet Who Potentially Saved The World.
• Leonard’s Writing Process.
• Plus A Whole Lot More As Well.

Feel Free To Peruse My ? Instagram & Twitter ?

️ listen to my podcast with leonard mlodinow ↙️, timestamps for emotional with leonard mlodinow.

• 00:00 – Introduction.
• 04:08 – Head Transplants.
• 09:28 – Star Trek, Hollywood & Thoughts On Memoirs.
• 18:26 – How Emotion Effects Our Behaviour & How Petrov Saved The World.
• 31:24 – Mike Tyson & How One Can Induce Determination.
• 37:33 – On Emotional Intelligence.
• 53:26 – On Leonard’s Writing Prep & Filing Away Thousands Of Anecdotes & Scientific Studies.
• 1:09:08 – A Moment In Leonards Life That Looking Back On, He Can’t Believe He Was A Part Of.
• 1:13:18 – Country You Are Most Bullish On?
• 1:14:18 – A Conversation Between Any Two People?
• 1:15:48 – Afterthoughts & My Ambition For The Podcast.

Leonard Mlodinow Links

• Leonard’s Website
• Drunkard’s Walk

Subscribe To My Newsletter – ?️ A Curious Worldview!

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Mirror universe spock’s fate in star trek: discovery explained.

Star Trek: Discovery filled in some of the gaps in Mirror Universe history and revealed the fate of Spock after Star Trek: TOS" "Mirror, Mirror."

Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, Episode 5 - "Mirrors"

• Mirror Universe Spock's death led to a revolution in the Terran Empire, but ultimately couldn't prevent its downfall.
• The ISS Enterprise became a symbol of hope in the Mirror Universe, with rebels seeking freedom in the Prime Universe.
• Dr. Cho, a refugee from the Mirror Universe, rose to become a Branch Admiral in Starfleet, shaping her own future.

Star Trek: Discovery confirmed the fate of Mirror Universe Spock (Leonard Nimoy) after the events of the classic Star Trek: The Original Series episode, "Mirror, Mirror." Since its first appearance on TOS, several Star Trek series have visited the Mirror Universe, a parallel universe populated by evil versions of Star Trek's heroes. In the Mirror Universe, the xenophobic Terran Empire serves as the antithesis to the United Federation of Planets, and torture and murder are commonplace. Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and the USS Discovery are already familiar with the Mirror Universe, as they spent some time there in Discovery season 1.

In Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 5 , "Mirrors," Captain Burnham and Cleveland Booker (David Ajala) follow couriers Moll (Eve Harlow) and L'ak (Elias Toufexis) into interdimensional space in search of the next clue leading to the Progenitors' treasure. Once there, they find the damaged ISS Enterprise, which holds clues about the fate of Mirror Universe Spock and his crew. In Star Trek: The Original Series season 2, episode 4, "Mirror, Mirror," Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) encourages Mirror Spock to initiate change, telling him: "In every revolution, there's one man with a vision." Written by Johanna Lee and Carlos Cisco, and directed by Jen McGowan, Star Trek: Discovery's "Mirrors" offers more insight into what became of that revolution.

What Happened To Mirror Universe Captain Kirk In Star Trek?

What happened to mirror universe spock revealed by star trek: discovery, spock died fighting for change..

After the events of Star Trek: The Original Series' "Mirror, Mirror," Captain Kirk left Mirror Universe Spock with a lot to think about. The goateed Vulcan apparently took Kirk's words to heart and began enacting a series of reforms to change the way things were done in the Terran Empire. Although he was attempting to prevent the collapse of the Empire, Star Trek: Discovery revealed that Spock was killed while working on his reforms. In Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 5, Burnham and Book explore the ISS Enterprise and discover a plaque detailing some events from the Mirror Universe.

“The light of hope shines through even the darkest of nights" became a "rallying cry" for those who opposed the violence of the Terran Empire.

Reading from the plaque, Book says that the "Terran High Chancellor was killed for trying to make reforms." Although Michael does not know that Spock was the Terran High Chancellor, the audience knows this information in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Mirror Universe episodes. Spock helped turn the Terran Empire into a more peaceful galactic power, and while his reforms were popular with many, some clearly opposed them. Nevertheless, Spock's dedication to logic made him less villainous than his Mirror Universe counterparts, and his words: “The light of hope shines through even the darkest of nights" became a "rallying cry" for those who opposed the violence of the Terran Empire.

Star Trek: DS9 Reveals What Happened To Mirror Universe After Spock’s Death

Spock initiated change, but couldn't prevent the fall of the terran empire..

In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 2, episode 23, "Crossover," Major Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor) and Dr. Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig) find themselves in the Mirror Universe. Major Kira's Mirror Universe counterpart, Intendant Kira, runs the equivalent of Deep Space Nine (Terok Nor) as a mining station populated by Terran slaves. The Intendant reveals that Captain Kirk's visit to the Mirror Universe had a "profound influence" on Mirror Universe Spock, which led Spock to reform the Terran Empire. Unfortunately, these reforms rendered the Empire unable to defend itself when the Klingon/Cardassian Alliance decided to attack.

After conquering the Terran Empire, the Alliance proved to be just as brutal and eventually became ruled by Regent Worf (Michael Dorn).

Having been under Terran occupation for years, Bajor petitioned for entry into the Klingon/Cardassian Alliance and went on to become a major player in the Alliance. Much like Kirk's visit to the Mirror Universe affected Spock, Major Kira and Dr. Bashir's visit inspired a rebellion among the Terran slaves, which became a thorn in the side of the Alliance. Although Spock had initially been trying to prevent the fall of the Terran Empire, the Empire fell away, but some people held on to the ideals Spock had tried to spread.

Star Trek 10’s Best Mirror Universe Variants

Star trek: discovery reveals what happened to mirror universe spock’s iss enterprise, the iss enterprise became a symbol of hope and freedom..

The plaque Captain Burnham and Cleveland Booker find on the Mirror Universe's ISS Enterprise also reveals some events after Mirror Spock's death. After Spock was killed, those who believed in his reforms sought help from a "Kelpian slave turned rebel leader," aka, the Mirror Universe version of Saru (Doug Jones). Saru told these people about Star Tre k's Prime Universe, describing it as "a near perfect mirror that casts our darkness into light." While Saru stayed behind to help more people in the Mirror Universe, several rebels stole the ISS Enterprise and traveled to the Prime Universe to begin new lives.

Dr. Cho was also one of the six scientists who helped hide clues to the Progenitors' technology.

Upon returning to the USS Discovery, Michael finds proof in Federation databases that many of the refugees on the ISS Enterprise successfully made new lives for themselves in the Prime Universe . One refugee, named the Enterprise's Science Officer, Dr. Cho, joined Starfleet and eventually became a Branch Admiral. Dr. Cho was also one of the six scientists who helped hide clues to the Progenitors' technology, which remains at the center of Star Trek: Discovery season 5's quest. Michael remarks that Cho may have chosen to leave her clue on the Enterprise as a reminder that almost anyone can shape their own future, even when facing impossible odds.

New episodes of Star Trek: Discovery stream Thursdays on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Discovery

Star trek: the original series, star trek: deep space nine.

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Leonard Mlodinow

The daily opportunity in randomness.

Last Updated

June 24, 2019

The physicist Leonard Mlodinow changes how we think about the agency we have in shaping our own destinies. As a scientist, he works with principles like Brownian motion, by which Einstein helped verify the existence of molecules and atoms. As the child of Holocaust survivors, he dances with the experience we all have: that life never goes as planned, and yet the choices we make can matter. “The course of your life depends on how you react to opportunities and challenges that randomness presents to you,” he says.

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Leonard Mlodinow is a physicist and the author of several books, including The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives , Subliminal: How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behavior , and his latest, Elastic: Flexible Thinking in a Constantly Changing World .

[ music: “Sun Will Set” by Zoë Keating ]

Krista Tippett, host: I’ve had hundreds of big conversations, and my conversation partners share wisdom I carry with me wherever I go. The physicist Leonard Mlodinow changed the way I think about the agency we have in shaping our own destinies. As a scientist, he works with principles like Brownian motion, by which Einstein helped verify the existence of molecules and atoms. And as the child of Holocaust survivors, he dances with the experience we all have that life never goes as it’s planned — and yet the choices we make can matter.

This is Becoming Wise . I’m Krista Tippett.

Ms. Tippett: You write about your father’s — a story he told you about how he got the job in the bakery at Buchenwald, the concentration camp, his sense that this is just random. Tell that story.

Leonard Mlodinow: Oh, that was in The Drunkard’s Walk. The book is about randomness in life. And to me, when I was thinking about writing that book, I was almost shaken by the realization that I’m a random effect of something very bad. And I hope that for me — I’m glad I’m here, but I’m only here because Hitler or the Nazis killed my father’s previous family. And that led to my being here. That was a very hard to thing to face, in a way, that — what’s the meaning of my life, when it arose from something like that?

And in that story, he was in the Buchenwald concentration camp, and he stole a loaf of bread from the bakery. And the baker — I guess there were a certain number of people who had access. They lined them all up and brought the guys with the guns. And they said, who stole the bread? And my father didn’t say anything. And then they said, okay, we’re going to start at this end of the line, and we’re going to shoot everybody until either you’re all dead or the thief steps forward. So he puts the gun to the head of the first person.

My father, at that point, steps forward and admitted that he stole the bread. And he told me that it wasn’t a heroic thing, that — he didn’t do it out of heroism. He did it — purely practical that these guys are all going to die, and I’m going to die, too, or I’ll just be the only one. So he stepped forward. Instead of killing him, though, the baker acted like God and somewhat arbitrarily took him under his wing and gave him a job as his assistant in the bakery. So he had a much better job after that, based on that incident. And it just shows you that even in the midst of all this cruelty, there’s randomness or — I don’t know what — whim? I don’t know if the guy — I don’t know if he was being human and let some of his humanity peek out, or he wanted to play like God. I don’t really know what was the person’s motive, but that’s one of many things that happened to my father. If it had happened differently, I wouldn’t be here, and my kids wouldn’t be here. Everything would be different in that lineage.

Ms. Tippett: One of the things that’s so fascinating is how quantum physics has presented a picture of the world that is so much more of reality, the way things work — that is so much less ordered, more — there’s chaos, there’s randomness, and it wasn’t there for Newton or even for Einstein. Or they didn’t want — Einstein didn’t want those things to be there. And one of the things you say is, “Anything that is possible eventually will occur.” “Just wait long enough and strange things will happen.” But still, there’s an order to it.

Mr. Mlodinow: Doesn’t your life work that way? [ laughs ]

Ms. Tippett: Yeah. [ laughs ] But here’s the out; here’s the opening I feel you give. Here’s something else you wrote: “The outline of our lives, like the candle’s flame, is continuously coaxed in new directions by a variety of random events that, along with our responses to them, determine our fate.” You say that we are driven to see patterns and create patterns where the patterns aren’t there. But it seems to me that you’re also presenting our responses as mattering. There is randomness, and then you talk about that even though that is true, the number of chances taken, the number of opportunities seized does make a difference. It does shift things. Can you explain that in scientific terms?

Mr. Mlodinow: Yeah, I was thinking about Brownian motion, so that says it all. No, I’m just kidding. [ laughs ] The drunkard’s walk, which is sometimes called the random walk, comes from a jagged path that particles in Brownian motion seem to take for no apparent reason. In Brownian motion — people looked at this in the 19th century — they noticed that little grains of pieces of pollen would jiggle around for no apparent reason in liquid. And they thought at first maybe that was a life force, because there was no force on it. Maybe that’s what was jiggling, because it was pollen. And they eventually figured out, and Einstein actually is the one who explained it, that this jiggling comes from the impact of the molecules on the pollen, pushing it this way and that way. And I saw a parallel with our lives, because when you look at your life, if you had to sit down and think about — and I’m talking about in detail, not just the headlines — if you think about all the details of what happened to you, you will find that there was a time where you had the extra cup of coffee, where if you hadn’t, you wouldn’t have met Person A. Or you probably don’t realize that if you hadn’t done this, you would have gotten into a car crash but you didn’t, because you were a little bit later and the drunk guy hit someone else or whatever.

When I looked back in my life, or I looked at the life of certain celebrities, I could find so many instances like that. And I had fun tracing some of them, how little things make a big difference. And what they really do is they raise opportunities for you. Or they raise challenges. And the course of your life depends on how you react to those opportunities and challenges that the randomness presents to you. If you’re awake and paying attention, you will find that things happen. They might seem good, they might seem bad. But the important thing is how you reacted to it.

Ms. Tippett: Leonard Mlodinow was on the faculty of Caltech for many years and has written five bestselling books including co-authors like Stephen Hawking and Deepak Chopra. He was also a screenwriter for several episodes of my favorite Star Trek: The Next Generation .

Becoming Wise is produced at On Being Studios, which is located on Dakota land. Our team is Marie Sambilay, Lily Percy, and Chris Heagle. And our theme music is provided and composed by Zoë Keating.

Books & Music

Recommended reading.

The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives

Author: Leonard Mlodinow

Subliminal: How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behavior

Elastic: Flexible Thinking in a Constantly Changing World

Author: MLODINOW LEONARD

Elastic: Unlocking Your Brain's Ability to Embrace Change

The On Being Project is an affiliate partner of Bookshop.org and Amazon.com. Any earnings we receive through these affiliate partnerships go into directly supporting The On Being Project.

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One Cello X 16: Natoma

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October 6, 2016

Randomness and Choice

Fundamental forces of physics somehow determine everything that happens, “from the birth of a child to the birth of a galaxy.” Yet physicist Leonard Mlodinow has an intriguing perspective on the gap between theory and reality — and the fascinating interplay between a life in science and life in the world. As the child of two Holocaust survivors, he asks questions about our capacity to create our lives, while reflecting on extreme human cruelty — and courage.

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'Star Trek': Legendary Facts About The Iconic Series That Even The Biggest Fans May Not Know

Posted: May 1, 2024 | Last updated: May 2, 2024

Space, the final frontier. For over three decades, Star Trek has captivated audiences with its bold exploration of the unknown.

From the charismatic Captain Kirk, played by William Shatner, to the logical Spock, portrayed by Leonard Nimoy, the original series ran from 1966 to 1969, sparking a devoted following of 'Trekkies' who gather at conventions to celebrate their beloved franchise. Read on through this incredible list to learn some little-known facts about the beloved franchise. Which one surprised you the most?

Star Trek Had A Captain Before Kirk

The original pilot for Star Trek , featuring Captain Christopher Pike, was rejected by NBC.

Leonard Nimoy's portrayal of Spock was the only character retained for the second pilot, which introduced Captain Kirk, with William Shatner as the lead role. Jeffrey Hunter played the role of Pike in the initial pilot but did not continue with the series.

Spock Almost Had Red Skin

Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek , envisioned Spock as a Martian with red skin.

However, due to the lack of color TVs at the show's inception and the hassle of applying red makeup to Leonard Nimoy's skin in every episode, this idea was deemed more trouble than it was worth.

The Fanbase Didn't Arrive Until After The Show Ended

While Star Trek aired its first episode in 1966, the fanbase and Trekkies people know today didn't really show up until after the series ended in 1969.

In fact, it wasn't until the 1970s and the television reruns of the show that people began to become interested in the adventures of Spock, Captain Kurt, and the rest of the crew on the USS Enterprise .

Martin Luther King Jr. Was A Trekky And Convinced Nichols To Stay

Nichelle Nichols, who played Lt. Uhura on Star Trek, rescinded her decision to depart after season one. A persuasive conversation with Martin Luther King Jr., a Trekky himself, swayed her.

King Jr.'s belief in the significance of her character's representation inspired Nichols to continue in the portrayal of her ground-breaking role.

The First Space Shuttle Was Inspired By Star Trek

The first US Space Shuttle Enterprise was named after the fictional starship from Star Trek and its widespread popularity, the USS Enterprise . The show's passionate fan base, which included NASA engineers, inspired the agency to choose the name.

Enterprise symbolized the spirit of exploration and innovation, capturing the imagination of both science fiction enthusiasts and space professionals.

Bones' Line "I'm a doctor, not a..." Was From A 1933 Movie

The line "I'm a doctor, not a..." originates from the 1933 film The Kennel Murder Case . It was later popularized in the Star Trek series and became a recurring catchphrase uttered by Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy, who would say the line when he was frustrated about being asked to do more than he could.

The line was often completed with different endings, emphasizing the doctor's dedication to his medical profession.

Trekkies Can Get A $500 Scholarship For College

Starfleet, an international fan group, offers a $500 scholarship to Star Trek enthusiasts pursuing higher education.

Their generous initiative supports students in their academic journey while celebrating their passion for the beloved sci-fi franchise. Starfleet's commitment to nurturing the next generation reflects the values of unity and exploration championed in Star Trek .

Teleporting Was Cheaper To Film Than Spaceships Landing

In the original Star Trek series, the ingenious use of teleportation during filming proved to be a cost-effective solution to showcase the futuristic technology of spaceships.

With a limited budget, the production team creatively employed teleportation to depict crew members effortlessly moving between locations, giving the illusion of seamless transportation across the galaxy.

Spock Was Not Originally Star Trek's "Number One"

The producers of Star Trek opted to progress with Spock instead of Number One after the pilot. They admired Spock's distinctive ears and eyebrows, which lent a more devilish appearance to the series.

Although it was not easy, their choice eventually set the stage for Spock's enduring presence and the show's subsequent success.

Wardrobe: Miniskirts And Green Shirts

Originally, NBC had wanted the female cast members of Star Trek to don miniskirts, believing it would enhance the show's appeal.

The network's suggestion was ultimately abandoned. Interestingly, the gold shirts the male characters wore were green, but due to the television's color rendering, they appeared gold to the viewers.

Shatner Became Petty With Nimoy

Off camera, William Shatner reportedly clashed with co-star Leonard Nimoy. Shatner's concern stemmed from not wanting other characters to appear more intelligent than Captain Kirk, leading him to steal Nimoy's lines occasionally.

This alleged rivalry behind the scenes added tension to their on-screen dynamic.

Inside Jokes Were Built Into The Set

Star Trek's original series set harbored delightful inside jokes cherished by the cast. Among them, the tubes on the ship flaunted inscriptions like "GNDN" with random numbers, teasingly translating to "Goes Nowhere, Does Nothing."

This witty jest added a touch of amusement to the futuristic surroundings they inhabited and was included in future iterations of the series.

Communicators On Star Trek Influenced The Flip Phone

The iconic communicators featured on Star Trek served as a source of inspiration for the design and technology behind flip cell phones.

The first flip phone, the Motorola StarTAC, was introduced in 1996 by Motorola in the United States. Its sleek, compact form factor and ability to flip open and close echoed the futuristic communication devices seen in the beloved science fiction series.

Nimoy Invented The Vulcan Nerve Pinch

Leonard Nimoy was a method actor before his role as Spock in the TV series. Nimoy is credited with inventing the Vulcan grip. This maneuver, performed by joining the fingers in a specific pattern and applying pressure to the neck, swiftly immobilized opponents.

Affectionately dubbed the "Vulcan nerve pinch," it became a trademark move synonymous with Spock's logical and formidable nature.

Shatner And Nimoy Were Rivals Turned Friends

Actors Shatner and Nimoy, once competitive, formed a unique bond while performing together on screen. They frequently collaborated at Star Trek conventions, delighting fans in character. However, Shatner privately voiced his unease over Spock's popularity overshadowing Kirk.

Despite this, their enduring friendship triumphed, showcasing the depth of their connection beyond on-screen rivalry.

Paramount Tried To Deep-Space Star Trek

After producing the original Star Trek series, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz's production company sold it to Paramount. The company then attempted to sell it to Roddenberry, the show's creator, who couldn't afford it, compelling them to retain ownership.

Massive financial losses and a scarcity of syndication-worthy shows prompted their desire to sell the rights.

Kirk Never Asked Scotty To Beam Him Up

The iconic phrase "Beam me up, Scotty" is widely associated with Star Trek , but interestingly, it's never actually spoken in the show. The character referred to as "Scotty" is Montgomery Scott, the skilled chief engineer of the USS Enterprise, played by James Doohan.

The phrase has become a popular cultural reference nonetheless and has been used in subsequent Star Trek films.

Shatner's Superiority Complex Was Built Into The Script

William Shatner's commanding presence on set was accompanied by special considerations that ensured his prominence. With a guaranteed abundance of lines, his dialogue took precedence even when others were cut.

The hierarchy Shatner roamed the set with extended to the credits, granting him a higher placement, which added a palpable tension among the cast.

Nimoy's Dad Offered "Spock Haircuts"

The immense popularity of the show Star Trek transcended the screen, reaching Leonard Nimoy's own father, a barber.

In his bustling barber shop, he delighted customers, often fans of the series, by offering them the opportunity to sport a haircut reminiscent of the iconic Spock. It was a testament to the show's lasting cultural impact.

Nimoy Created The Spock Salute

The origin of Spock's iconic salute can be traced to Leonard Nimoy's creative inspiration. Drawing from his Jewish heritage, Nimoy crafted the distinctive gesture by adapting the hand sign used in a sacred Hebrew blessing.

The open hand, with fingers separated in a "V" shape, became synonymous with Vulcan culture and a beloved symbol for Star Trek fans worldwide.

Shatner Could Not Do The Vulkan Salute

William Shatner, despite his fame as a versatile actor, faced a physical challenge when it came to executing the iconic Spock salute. He couldn't do it.

Stagehands resorted to clever tricks, using fishing lines to carefully tie his fingers apart, ensuring the desired hand gesture. This ingenious solution enabled Shatner to flawlessly showcase the Vulcan salute.

Nimoy Thought He Was Spock

Leonard Nimoy, the brilliant mind behind the creation of Spock, received a modest payment of $2,000 per episode for his iconic portrayal. Despite the show's immense success, he yearned for greater financial recognition.

Dealing with newfound fame was a daunting challenge for the talented actor. Nimoy preferred to stay in character even when not on screen. Shatner accused Nimoy of being Spock more than his natural self.

Spock Was Initially Supposed To Be Female

Initially intended to be female, Spock's character changed significantly before the show's executives decided to make the logical Vulcan a male.

This alteration unknowingly would shape the beloved character we now know and remember fondly, portrayed by Leonard Nimoy, who brought intelligence, stoicism, and a unique perspective to the Star Trek universe.

Nimoy And Shatner Suffered Tinnitus From Explosions

Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner have battled with persistent Tinnitus, a condition characterized by ringing in the ears, stemming from the explosive effects on set. The duo was standing too close to an explosion one day during filming, which caused their affliction.

Shatner resorted to utilizing a white noise-emitting device as a means to alleviate the issue.

Scotty Was A Soldier Off Set

James Doohan, who portrayed "Scotty" in the Star Trek series, was a former soldier. He served in the Canadian military as a member of the Royal Canadian Artillery during World War II.

Doohan valiantly fought in several major battles, including the D-Day invasion.

Takei And Shatner Clashed Off Screen

Star Trek co-star George Takei had a widely publicized feud with William Shatner. Takei famously remarked that Shatner exhibited an attitude of superiority, acting as if he was larger than the show itself.

This dynamic created tension between Takei, Shatner, and other cast members during their time in the series. According to Takei, "We all had problems with Bill on the set."

Every Stardate Announced Was Completely Random

The signature Stardate, spoken at the start of each Star Trek episode, held a unique charm. Fans quickly noticed that the numbers had no discernible sequence or pattern.

They soon realized what seemingly were arbitrary figures actually were made up, yet they embraced them as a beloved part of the show's immersive futuristic setting.

DeForest Kelley "Bones" Auditioned For Spock Initially

DeForest Kelley, known for his portrayal of the doctor in Star Trek , initially auditioned for the role of Spock but was rejected. However, he was later cast as Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy, the ship's compassionate and often grumpy physician.

His memorable performance made him an integral part of the beloved sci-fi series.

Spock Was Supposed To Kiss Uhura, Not Captain Kirk

The kiss between Captain Kirk and Uhura in Star Trek was first intended to be a kiss between Uhura and Spock. As fans probably remember from watching the episode, that kiss did not happen.

William Shatner, who played Kirk, complained until the scene was rewritten for his character.

Star Trek Inspired Over 125 Video Games

The original series of Star Trek has served as the inspiration for over 125 video games since 1971. These games have spanned across various gaming platforms, including Atari, Commodore 64, Sega Genesis, PlayStation, and Xbox.

They have allowed fans to immerse themselves in the iconic universe of Star Trek in interactive and exciting ways.

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