Views of the future

I grew up on the Star Trek view where in the future people will fly around wearing crisp uniforms, on bright, shiny Starships with transporters and replicators and lots of flashing lights and shiny buttons. A universe where war, famine, poverty and disease have been wiped out on Earth. Though the universe is populated by oppressive regimes and factions at war the earthlings and their humanoid friends bring peace and equality to other planets and are not above using a nice neat phaser blast when necessary to achieve lofty goals.

But there is another view of the future. The one in Firefly or Farscape where a ragtag crew of rebels cruise the galaxy in a dark, dreary ship struggling for survival while on the run from the neat shiny ships of an evil empire. Where captain and crew are thrown together by circumstance smuggling and stealing (but never from the less fortunate) just to get by. They encounter bands of other scraggly, greedy scavengers preying on one another and attack each other with fists and shotguns. The crew is held together by the need to survive, the hierarchy very loose but the camaraderie is high.

Provided the planet isn't blown to bits in the next hundred years (or the next six months) I hope the future looks like Star Trek, I want a transporter, peace and a starship that never needs cleaning.