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"Equating Angels with Transistors": Shatner Spent the 70s Rhapsodizing about Tech for AT&T

In the late 70s, Shatner was waxing poetic about the future of transistors from inside a futuristic TV set.

It’s no secret that we love William Shatner around here, which makes it all the more surprising when someone digs up a new tidbit from his lengthy, eclectic career. Who knew that in the late 70s, Shatner was waxing poetic about the future of ‘microelectronics’? Even better, his dispatch comes from a glossily futuristic set — and occasionally from inside a TV.

“Microworld” is from the AT&T archives, and I’m especially amused that their YouTube person expressly described it as “trippy.” (While the video is dated as 1980, the archives list it as from 1976.) But with a chime-filled soundtrack and stunning lines like “If we take the liberty of equating angels with transistors, we can make the case for the existence of a modern kind of miracle, like fitting 7,000 transistors on one insignificant chip.” The production itself is a perfect throwback to 70s psychedelia, with slowly-spinning shots of glinting microchips and a surprisingly haunting soundtrack for what amounts to little more than an instructional video.

But then again, when one thinks of the slickly produced, but hardly compelling, “How It’s Made” style videos of today, perhaps a little bit of technodelic filmmaking is a good thing. In any case, it’s fascinating to see Shatner, the king of the retro future, expound on the glorious deeper meaning of mankind’s blossoming obsession with silicon. Makes you look at your boring old phone in a different light, doesn’t it?

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