We were watching Star Trek the other night when Captain Picard mentioned Fermat’s Last Theorem, marveling at how a part-time mathematician had posed a problem that remained unsolved for 800 years. That line struck me. I knew Fermat wasn’t from that long ago, and I was certain the theorem had already been proven. A quick check confirmed it—the episode aired before Andrew Wiles finally proved the theorem in 1994.

It didn’t take 800 years after all. We’ve made a great leap forward. Problems once thought unsolvable have been cracked. Technologies beyond our wildest sci-fi dreams are now real. We’re progressing faster than even Star Trek imagined.