What are the odds that this existence as we know it is one complex simulation? On December 21, will our Earthbound simulation come down for "scheduled maintenance" and "upgrade"?
A lot of my favorite sci-fi deals with this premise. Of course, there is the quintessential Matrix trilogy, but there are abundant other offerings to explore. I'd recommend books such as Neuromancer and Snow Crash, films such as Tron and The Thirteenth Floor, and in the television category, any episodes of Star Trek: TNG that center on the holodeck are fun to watch. Later this year, I should get to watch some of those episodes again, but at the pace I am going right now, I don't know...
Well, this is a great segue into the Star Trek episode "Spectre of the Gun." Kirk and his gang of boys end up "imprisoned" in what turns out later to be a simulation of Tombstone, Arizona on October 26, 1881. The Enterprise guys are baffled that they cannot convince the townsfolk (or the Earps) that they are in fact not the outlaw Clanton gang, and quickly realize that this is the day that several of the gang are meant to be killed in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. It's Spock who eventually realizes the illusion of the reality around them, and, in a very Matrix-like turn, that the bullets can only harm them in their minds.
This episode, as its title suggests fairly well, makes a statement about the legacy of our gun-centric culture. As Kirk points out near the end, for mankind to have reached the stars, they needed to give up the uninhibited impulse to kill each other. Quite in line with the Roddenberry image of a future in which Star Trek can happen!
A final note: seeing this episode reminded me to watch a TV program I recently DVRed: Top 10 Shootouts from the Discovery Channel. Sure enough, O.K. Corral made the list. I really enjoyed how the two experts demonstrated how in many of the gunfights it was the particular choice of gun that made the ultimate difference in the outcome. At O.K. Corral, it was Doc Holliday's short double-barrel shotgun at close range that sealed the victory for the lawmen.
Drops from My 2012 Bucket: Mar. 10, 286 days remaining
Is There in Truth No Beauty? (A Medusan: a chest of psychedelic lights.)
Spectre of the Gun (The Earps were the bad guys.)
Day of the Dove (Klingons are looking darker in this episode.)
Video Mission Update: 63 / 728 hours = 8.7%
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