So Star Trek became quite an accurate science think tank?

I think it really is, and in many respects it�s something that gives people an opportunity to really think hard about what the future might look like and to stretch their imaginations. So many scientists are so concerned with the immediate problem of the research that they�re working on right now, that they don�t have the luxury of really sitting back and thinking ten, twenty, thirty, or a hundred years into the future.

I think it's often extremely productive to ask yourself questions about what the future might be like and really let your imagination run wild because, sometimes, in that process you�ll come up with an idea that initially seems far fetched, but the more you think about it, the more you realise; 'Wait a minute, there might be something to this. This might not be as hard to implement as we imagined.'