If you’re a fan of Star Trek, you may be thrilled to know that William Shatner is in town this week.

The ninth annual international TransVision Conference begins tonight.

It’s put on by the World Transhumanist Association, which promotes the use of technology for the betterment of humankind.

Shatner is giving the keynote speech on Thursday, and the theme is “How William Shatner Changed the World.”

The idea is that the original Star Trek TV series in the 1960’s inspired and foreshadowed much of today’s technology—like cell phones and virtual reality.

Shatner isn’t the only science fiction enthusiast to point out technological predecessors in fantasy.

But renowned science fiction scholar and University of Michigan professor of English Eric Rabkin says the relationship between sci-fi and science isn’t so simple.

He joins us by phone.