Tuesday, August 7, 2012

roddenberry

Hi, readers of this site. Yvonne has a query concerning a strong and ongoing personal interest of hers. It concerns
For many years she has felt that Alfred Russel Wallace has been undeservedly overlooked (indeed, declared a non-person). Here's why. Dr. Wallace was a naturalist--but a middle-class individual without Charles Darwin's upper-class status. His work in that field led him (Wallace) to develop the theory of survival of the fittest and natural selection. He wrote to Darwin outlining this idea; and, to put it bluntly, Darwin usurped the idea and claimed it as his own. After all, a middle-class naturalist couldn't possibly have a better idea than an upper-class one.
What Yvonne is interested in is this: How did Roddenberry know of Wallace? In an episode involving a holodeck experience of a 19th-century reception, why did he have Samuel Clemens/ Mark Twain repeatedly mention Wallace so forcibly? Did Roddenberry share Wallace's--and

Arthur Conan Doyle's--belief in spiritualism (spiritism)? Did Clemens share it?

1 comment:

Lobo V said...

I beleive Mr. Roddenberry did that way as he and his wife wife were very foward thinking people. To drive the point home there is an episode of Star Trek Voyager where in the Delta Quadrent that they run into a race of reptiles whos origins started on earth before humans came on to the scene.Janway even made the comment that as a student she was taught Natural Selection instead of creationisem in school.
(and yes I am a Trekkie...lol my friends call me the Sci-Fi Chef since I try to come up with receipes from sci-fi shows..lol)