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Picard



My guilty little pleasure is Star Trek. Idealism and utopian future, confronting aggression. I don't have a TV so I haven't seen the new Picard series. I got a book called Picard, so I'll be reading it without seeing the show, my favorite way. I can create my own visualizations and then when I see the show I'll be a bit disappointed by how they visualize the story.

I'm making my way through DS9 on Netflix, a show that deserved more of a following, and has probably gotten it in the post-TV world. I love not having to watch commercials, I would say that is the biggest quality of life issue that has happened in my lifetime.

I was watching an DS9 episode where Jake wanted to buy his father something because he was down, but he had no money. The Federation exists in a post monetary world. I want to read Trekenomics, an economist examines the post-scarcity universe. I hope to read more into this subject.

Reading Picard, I realized what the Romulans represent. They represent China or any secretive government, including the USA. China is obsessed with controlling the information going on inside the country and not being influenced by outsiders. Vulcans are logical, a misreading of Buddhism, Ferenge are obsessed with business. I can't figure out what Andorians are but blue with tentacles. Klingons are courage and warrior culture. Jem'Hadar are war robots of obedience. Borg and Changelings represent a harmonious collective. Bajorans are spiritual survivors being dragged into the future. Cardassians are grandiose empire seeking colonizers like England or China. There are quite a few aliens.

Then there is the line of the story where the Romulans government doubts the science of how quick and how wide spread the supernova's damage is going to be. It's a bit like our times where the President of the United States, in perhaps the darkest hour of my life, sees the science of Covid through a political lense for his own reasons, and makes poor decisions. What a terrible leader.

Trump says he's going to leave the country if he loses. I wonder where he'll go. He's like some terrible dictator that finds a sanctuary elsewhere. 


Economic analysis on the interwebs

Gizmodo Ouellette, Jennifer


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