TNG is a thing that comes back as a topic almost whenever I have a longer discussion with my mother and brother. It&#x27;s those discussions that made me realize that there are two things that Star Trek world had, that I miss in the real one:<p>1) High level of baseline literacy we were talking about. Contrast to our world, when many people shy from learning new things, and those who do learn are often labeled as nerds and warned about dangers of having too high self-esteem. I really long for the world where this sort of anti-intellectualism is not something to be proud of, and where the social pressure is encouraging self-development, rather than discouraging it.<p>2) Expectation of competency. It&#x27;s visible on all levels - from civilian vs. Starfleet interactions, through teamwork of starship crews, to the inner workings of big bureaucracies like the United Federation of Planets. Everyone is assumed competent until proven otherwise. Characters in Star Trek know they&#x27;re working with others who are as smart as they are, and so they trust each other and trust the system. Contrast with the real world, where we often assume our coworkers are incompetent, and the predominant narrative in society is that bureaucracies are stupid and evil.<p>I only now realize how much my expectations of humans are different thank to Star Trek, and that a big part of my life is trying to form an area around myself, where 1) and 2) would hold.<p>There&#x27;s also point 3), but that may be a particular quirk of my personality - I prefer stories where not individuals, but <i>organizations</i> are heroes. That&#x27;s another reason why I love Star Trek, and that&#x27;s also why S.H.I.E.L.D. was always my favourite part of the Marvel Multiverse. A magical mutated flying superhero is boring. A <i>Helicarrier</i> - now that&#x27;s interesting. :).