Why Gene Roddenberry the creator of Star Trek deserves a Nobel Peace Prize.

The recent news of President Obama being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize was greeted with first with suprise and then derision. The best comment I saw on this topic which was the one which said by this award, two of the great brands the Nobel Prize and President Obama have both being devalued as both have taken a beating in terms of credibility.

Considering the Nobel Peace Prize committee is judging people on intent and vision rather than actual execution of the ideas, I just wondered why Gene Roddenberry who was an ex policeman who went on to produce a science fiction series in the 1960s which was cancelled after 3 seasons but became such a classic on re-runs and spawn so several sequels and dedicated fans across the world, cannot be considered for this honour.

Top reasons why Gene deserved a Nobel

Belief in the triumph of humanity

Unlike all science fiction like Martix, Terminator series which always show the bleak future belonging to the machines, Gene saw humanity being the master in the future, being united as one planet and taking to space exploration boldly.

Shunned Racism

During the 60s, Asians and Afro-Americans were never given leading roles, in fact they were discriminated against, Gene has the courage to cast an Afro-American actress and a Japenese actor in the main cast. The show also showed the first inter-racial kiss on American television media, surely a bold step where no man had gone before. His belief of a future free of bigotry and racias bias was surely admirable.

Such was the influence of the series when Nichelle Nichols the Afro-American actress wanted to withdraw from the series, Martin Luther King personally intervented and asked her to stay on the show as she was a role model for many black woman to emulate.

Having a Russian on the Show during middle of the Cold War

US and the USSR were locked in a bitter cold war and the arms and the space race was on full swing. In spite of this animosity which existed between the 2 nations, Gene introduced a new Russian character Chekov in season 2 after he was chided in a Russian newspaper that inspite of Russians being the first in space by launching the Spuntik, there were no Russians on the show. Even before the cold war ended, Gene saw an united effort from people of all nationalities coming together for common good.

Economy of the Future – No Money

Gene imagined in the future there would be no money, no poverty or disease. The basic needs of people would be taken care of and the primary goal of a person would not acquistion of wealth but at betterment of season. If you consider Maslow's hierarchy of needs, people would exist at the level of self actualization – wherein people work for betterment and achieving their personal talents and goals.

Logic versus Emotion

The character of Mr. Spock who is from an alien race who believes in pure logic was always in clash with the human characters in the ship, the best takeaway from this debate of logic and emotions served up interesting insights on how should humanity evolve, and finally the take on the show was that you need a bit of both a cool head and a warm heart.

Technology

The influence on science and technology is immense, Martin Cooper inventor of the mobile phone was inspired the communicators shown in the series. The show also showcased voice recognition and user friendly personal computers in the 1960's which it was beyond imagination of scientists and techies. In the honour of the influence Star Trek held on the American scientific community, the first space shuttle of NASA was named Enterprise after the fictional ship on which the adventures were based.

Gene Roddenberry might have actually changed the world much more in his own small way as compared to the current American President Obama. Gene might not have explored space in reality but he did convey a message of courage, peace and collaboration from all nationalities, gender and race which lives on after his death in 1991.