Perhaps he'll revisit his 2002 book, “I'm Working on That: A Trek From Science Fiction to Science Fact,” in which, according to “Publishers Weekly,” Mr. Shatner “bares his deep-seated trepidation vis–vis all things digital in this breezy peek at the reciprocal effects that 'Star Trek' (and its offspring) and serious scientific research have exerted on one another over the past 35 years.”

Beyond joking about “his own humbling battles with his recalcitrant computerized home lighting system and GPS-equipped rental cars,” notes Publishers Weekly, he concludes the book with “serious warnings about letting technological genies out of bottles without due consideration for consequences and, even more sobering, for the results of humanity's ultimate hubris, trying to play God.”

When you look at the technology in the “Star Trek” shows–especially William Shatner's 1960s version–it's funny to see how our own computer technology has already outpaced what the writers projected for the 23rd century…although his super-cool communicator looks strikingly similar to today's flip-top cellphone.

Still, even though it's just a TV show, “Star Trek” does inspire one to dream–about traveling beyond the speed of light, transporting matter as energy, developing clean and inexhaustible energy sources, as well as vacationing anywhere you'd like via a holodeck. And if William Shatner himself teaches us nothing else, it's that we should never take ourselves too seriously.