This week, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth expressed their desire to “make star trek Surreal”—while inadvertently reminding us of what the utopian science fiction franchise is basically all about.
His Tuesday event was the latest in Hegseth’s ongoing “Arsenal of Freedom” tour, held at SpaceX headquarters in Starbase, Texas. (itself a newly formed city whose name is derived from the popular word star trek.)
It appears that neither Musk nor Hegseth remembered the phrase “arsenal of freedom” – at least in the context of star trek—This is also the title of a 1988 episode Star Trek: The Next Generation. That episode depicts an AI-powered weapons system and its automated salesmen, who destroy an entire civilization and ultimately threaten the crew. USS enterprise. (However, some Trekkies made the connection.)
In his opening remarks this week, Musk outlined his grand vision for SpaceX, saying he wants to “make Starfleet Academy real.” (Starfleet Academy is a fictional educational institution at the center of the upcoming new Star Trek TV series which debuts on January 15.)
When Musk introduced Hegseth, the two shook hands. Hegseth then gave the Vulcan salute to the crowd and, echoing Musk, said, “Star Trek is real!”
Hegseth stressed the importance of innovation and artificial intelligence for the US military.
“Very soon, our entire department will have world-leading AI models on every unclassified and classified network. It’s a long time coming,” Hegseth said.
“To further this, today at my direction, we are executing an AI acceleration strategy that will build on our lead in military AI established during President Trump’s first term. This strategy will foster experimentation, eliminate bureaucratic barriers, focus investment, and demonstrate the execution approach needed to ensure we lead the way in military AI and that it is even more effective in the future.”
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