In Star Trek: Discovery season one Elon Musk is mentioned as a great historical figure. We all realized that was a great risk as he was still alive and who knows what the future could be. Well, now we know. Star Trek has a responsibility to not just leave it there and say “oh well.”…
Posts Tagged
Ethics
Star Trek is a Collaborator with Contemporary Injustice
Star Trek is a dangerous, denialist lie that is about hope in the future. We cannot hope for a future without injustice where Earth is a paradise without first addressing injustice here and now. Then we can talk about utopia. I realize not all science fiction does what Trek does. I also realize Star Trek…
From Morality-Tale Science Fiction to Fantasy-Infused Settler Colonialism
In the Star Trek: Enterprise episode, “Strange New World,” (2001) T’Pol attempts to caution Captain Archer and his crew about visiting the uninhabited planet they discover. She wants to take a number of days, just over a week, to complete scans from orbit and with probes. The lone Vulcan on the ship, T’Pol, will later…
The Orville’s “Mad Idolatry” and Star Trek: Voyager’s “Sacred Ground” as a Lesson in Explanatory Ethics
In The Orville’s “Mad Idolatry” (2017) Kelly Grayson violates initial contact protocol with a lesser developed species to assist a girl who had hurt herself. Kelly heals the girl and before she becomes aware of the seriousness of the situation, villagers arrive behind her and witness the act. In time, Kelly becomes worshiped as a…
Anti-Utopian Leadership
What is clear is that utopian science fiction offers us insights into what can be, and dystopian science fiction presents the most abysmal than can or is likely to come to pass. There is a third pillar I would refer to as anti-utopian. Anti-utopian, like to previous two pillars just mentioned, again, focuses on what…
When the Sky is Beautiful Again, Always
I want to return to my post, “Solarpunk and Vestiges of the Ascetic.” My primary point, which I believe I failed to communicate is the suffering required to attain the transcendent moment, to meet that clarity, is flawed. What I intended to say is that we should not suffer for a moment of enlightenment. To…
The Ethical Prism of Sentience in Season Two of Star Trek: Discovery
Sentience is a primary theme throughout season two of Star Trek: Discovery. There is the elemental nature of the crew of Discovery attempting to understand the red signs, or bursts, and Saru finally seeing that the Red Angel is a humanoid. At last they know for certain there is meaning and design behind the signs…
Eddington is Right When He States that Utopia Requires Assimilation
Michael Eddington is either loved or hated. Many (perhaps most) feel his betrayal of Starfleet as an agent for the Maquis was an emotive betrayal corresponding to matters deeply entrenched in the outlaying ethics of Starfleet ideas, goals, and the fight against oppression in the larger galactic equation. However, Eddington was not wrong when he…