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wonder_kinder's review against another edition
4.0
interesting discussion on post scarcity economics and it's societal impact.
barrosd12's review against another edition
4.0
Definitely an interesting book, made me want to revisit a lot of the Trek shows I used to watch as a kid. Saadia delves into the economic topics you'd want him to - how does post-scarcity work? What are the technologies that enable this? What is it about the show that allowed these ideas to come to fruition?
There's a lot of good researched material vis-a-vis the show in the book. What content the book is light on is my favorite topic, which is proto-post-scarcity economics. Saadia believes that given our current rate of economic advancement this will "just happen". While that premise on its face seems plausible, it glosses over the more interesting conversation about how we get human beings to collaborate on the level required to make something like money not be required any longer. Also, how are we to deal with issues of extreme inequality between countries in the modern era to reach this glorious conclusion? Saadia does not have many words in this regard.
Overall, if you're a Trek fan, the book is a good read - and you might even be able to skip a chapter or two like I did because they're mostly recaps of the shows we know and love. As a tribute to Star Trek, this deep dive is really well executed, as a prescriptive document for how we get from the modern times to this post-scarcity, it fails to address a variety of issues that would've made for some very interesting reading.
There's a lot of good researched material vis-a-vis the show in the book. What content the book is light on is my favorite topic, which is proto-post-scarcity economics. Saadia believes that given our current rate of economic advancement this will "just happen". While that premise on its face seems plausible, it glosses over the more interesting conversation about how we get human beings to collaborate on the level required to make something like money not be required any longer. Also, how are we to deal with issues of extreme inequality between countries in the modern era to reach this glorious conclusion? Saadia does not have many words in this regard.
Overall, if you're a Trek fan, the book is a good read - and you might even be able to skip a chapter or two like I did because they're mostly recaps of the shows we know and love. As a tribute to Star Trek, this deep dive is really well executed, as a prescriptive document for how we get from the modern times to this post-scarcity, it fails to address a variety of issues that would've made for some very interesting reading.
kayjpotts's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.0
dixiet's review against another edition
4.0
A very interesting read. This book addresses the question, would the utopian, money-free, poverty-free economic world portrayed in Star Trek be possible in the real world? I learned quite a bit about economics in general reading this, and as a Star Trek fan enjoyed it very much.
miocyon's review against another edition
4.0
A fun book, if a little glib, that wedded my love of sci-fi and my dilettantism in economics.
jakeyjake's review against another edition
4.0
I’m enough of a fan of both Star Trek and economics to fall into the Venn diagram area this book was written for. There’s enough here to have some thought-provoking chapters about post-scarcity and how some of the driving factors of life today (working for money) might morph into activities focused on exploration, art, and reputation.
One of the points he makes at the end is that the space exploration part of Star Trek is still very far out, perhaps 300+ years. He argues that the economic and societal picture painted by Gene Roddenberry might be more in our near term wheelhouse. I don’t know if I buy that we’re within 300 years of a society without money and in which the everyday person doesn’t have to work to to ensure their livelihood, but I think it’s an inspiring vision.
The author, like Star Trek generally, seems very optimistic about technology and human ingenuity solving all of the world’s issues. I’m a bit less optimistic. I don’t take seriously terminator-style robot apocalypses, but I don’t think the world bends naturally towards the egalitarian or universal—especially recently. And technology, while it has the potential to take us into Trekonomics, also has the potential to cause even greater disparities if humans opt for more of a Ferengi path.
Speaking of, best chapter might have been on the Ferengi. His love for the business/capitalist/greedy Ferengi is kind of charming and I liked his painting of them as caricatures of the people of the United States today. He talks through the Deep Space Nine instance of character development in which a Ferengi character overcomes his greedy nature to forego a life focused on profit. Also, Ferengi 'Rules of Acquisition' are fantastic: https://memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/Ferengi_Rules_of_Acquisition
He says the William Gibson quote always thrown around is almost true here too: The star trek future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed.
One of the points he makes at the end is that the space exploration part of Star Trek is still very far out, perhaps 300+ years. He argues that the economic and societal picture painted by Gene Roddenberry might be more in our near term wheelhouse. I don’t know if I buy that we’re within 300 years of a society without money and in which the everyday person doesn’t have to work to to ensure their livelihood, but I think it’s an inspiring vision.
The author, like Star Trek generally, seems very optimistic about technology and human ingenuity solving all of the world’s issues. I’m a bit less optimistic. I don’t take seriously terminator-style robot apocalypses, but I don’t think the world bends naturally towards the egalitarian or universal—especially recently. And technology, while it has the potential to take us into Trekonomics, also has the potential to cause even greater disparities if humans opt for more of a Ferengi path.
Speaking of, best chapter might have been on the Ferengi. His love for the business/capitalist/greedy Ferengi is kind of charming and I liked his painting of them as caricatures of the people of the United States today. He talks through the Deep Space Nine instance of character development in which a Ferengi character overcomes his greedy nature to forego a life focused on profit. Also, Ferengi 'Rules of Acquisition' are fantastic: https://memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/Ferengi_Rules_of_Acquisition
He says the William Gibson quote always thrown around is almost true here too: The star trek future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed.
kavinay's review against another edition
4.0
A clever exploration of quite possibly the most fantastical aspect of Trek: post-scarcity.
There are two big takeaways for me:
1. A future without poverty necessarily transforms the mindset of Federation citizens. It's the reason why Starfleet officers are unbelievably perfect: growing up without the toxic stress of material instability leads to even humans who are so alien to contemporary norms. The profit motive, price signal and so on are just irrelevant.
2. The Ferengi are us. They're 20-21st century humanity struggling to understand how any society could function without a reliance on capitalism.
My only minor quibble is that I think the back-half of the book is a bit more crunchy than the first. Saadia does a great job when addressing the economic concepts within the TNG/DS9 frameworks. Given the target audience, I wish he did more of that and less background work on explaining Trek conventions to the reader. How many normies are really going to bother picking up what's essentially a love-letter to policy oriented Trek fans?
There are two big takeaways for me:
1. A future without poverty necessarily transforms the mindset of Federation citizens. It's the reason why Starfleet officers are unbelievably perfect: growing up without the toxic stress of material instability leads to even humans who are so alien to contemporary norms. The profit motive, price signal and so on are just irrelevant.
2. The Ferengi are us. They're 20-21st century humanity struggling to understand how any society could function without a reliance on capitalism.
My only minor quibble is that I think the back-half of the book is a bit more crunchy than the first. Saadia does a great job when addressing the economic concepts within the TNG/DS9 frameworks. Given the target audience, I wish he did more of that and less background work on explaining Trek conventions to the reader. How many normies are really going to bother picking up what's essentially a love-letter to policy oriented Trek fans?
hazelisoffline's review against another edition
5.0
I've never had a unique thought in my life, apparently. In this book contains every thought I've ever had after an episode of star trek, followed by "ok calm down nerd it's just a TV show." We need utopian fiction and we need it now, we need to see a better way of living and allow our minds to fill in the blanks. but in the meantime, there's this book.
PS: Bajor's induction into the Federation wasn't trapped in bureaucracy hell, it was strategically declined on the advice of sisko so they could stay neutral in the dominion wars omg have you even seen the show jeez
PS: Bajor's induction into the Federation wasn't trapped in bureaucracy hell, it was strategically declined on the advice of sisko so they could stay neutral in the dominion wars omg have you even seen the show jeez