One of the single greatest things about the Star Trek franchise is the way that it looks forward into the future in a practical manner. The influence of the original Star Trek series is legendary, with the developers of several common place technological advancements directing citing that series as the reason as to why their invention was first developed. Of course, with the re-launch of Star Trek on television in the 1980s with The Next Generation it was difficult to maintain that pace, but they managed it and certain items that we probably already take for granted certainly appear in that series in order to make it seem futuristic. Even Deep Space Nine introduced a couple of new technologies that are breaking through into our marketplace soon, which I'll mention when we get to our actual list. In fact, in this realm it is somewhat unfortunate that following Star Trek: Voyager, the franchise went in an earlier direction. This of course meant that the technology seen on screen could not be as advanced as that seen in the earlier series that were set later in the timeline. But with momentum moving for a new Star Trek series and it seems at least two fan productions attempting to pitch pilots for a new series (be it on CBS or on the internet), as well as those stories being pushed by Star Trek alumni such as the Captain Worf series it seems inevitable that a new series will make its way onto the screens at some point. Even if we have to wait out the current reboot series of films in order to get it. I'm reminded of a popular meme which lists the advancements that Star Trek is responsible for and I'd say was wholly responsible for this article. But pushing forward there are still plenty of ideas in Star Trek that we haven't yet seen and simply haven't yet worked out how to do in real life. So, here is a list of five advancements in technology that we can all thank (or blame) Star Trek for, and five advancements that we're still waiting for.
