"Past Tense, Part II" (season three, episode twelve; 9 January 1995): Wikipedia-link.
Commentary: It is fascinating to look back, in 2024, on 1994's vision of 2024. Nothing dates more quickly than science fiction, but methinks the writers & producers of Deep Space Nine got a lot of things right, though of course not everything. What did they get right & what did they get wrong? Let's start with the internet. "The Net" is used to host real-time communications (Zoom, FaceTime), the Sanctuary District denizens post short testimonials (TikTok, Reels), & more formal programming is available (Netflix). Yes, the Net is couched in television-like lingo, such as numbered channels, but writing as someone with a YouTube "channel," that doesn't seem so far off. The biggest inaccuracy about "Past Tense's" 2024 is the lack of smartphones: the Net is desktop based, not handheld. Given that modern smartphones exceed some abilities demonstrated by Star Trek communicators, I think they can be forgiven for not correctly anticipating the smartphone. Whom amongst saw that coming prior to the introduction of the iPhone in 2007?
Socially, "Past Tense" nails the cruel indifference & virtue signalling of the real 2024. In the fictional San Francisco, citizens without jobs are confined to Sanctuary Distincts, where food & medical care are provided, free of charge but in entirely inadequate quantities; all the buildings are in the Sanctuary District are open to everyone, but in reality grops of denizens, "gimmes," band together for self-defense, to exclude predatory "ghosts." The Sanctuary District is also a dumping ground for "dims," the mentally ill who are neither medicated nor institutionalized, but left to live on the streets. In the real San Francisco, there is no walled Sanctuary District, but entire neighborhoods have been turned into open-air drug markets & homeless encampments. There is widespread violence & sexual assault, as junkies are left defenseless against their predatory fellows (ghost). The mentally ill are neither medicated nor institutionalized, but left to live on the streets (dims). Ordinary working people are not excluded from the city into a Sanctuary District, buy excluded from the city by out-of-controlproperty values & a lack of housing (gimmes). In the fictional San Fracisco, the wealthy & powerful ignore the plight of those trapped in the Sanctuary Districts until the eruption of the Bell Riots. In the real San Fracisco, the wealthy & the powerful ignore the plight of those trapped in the open-air drug markets until the Chinese president comes to visit, at which point the city was cleaned up almost overnight (November 2023).
As a teenage boy watching "Past Tense" for the first time in January 1995, I thought the future it presented was an unrealistic dyspotia. As a middle-aged man re-watching "Past Tense" in May 2024, I realize the real world we are living in is a far worse dystopia.
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