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A review by tuesdaymira
Trekonomics: The Economics of Star Trek by Manu Saadia
4.0
I ended up bringing this home from the library on a whim. I was at the library looking for books about climate change and environmental sustainability, and it happened to be the the day after the topic of how replicators influenced the star trek economy came up on my morning walk I take with my husband.
Little did I know, Trekonomics was actually going to provide serious insight into the economics of sustainability and scarcity and the history of science and science fiction. I ended up taking notes, putting a lot of books on my reading list.
One of the concepts that really stands out for me is "post-scarcity is a set of economic choices. Technological progress and economic growth cannot bring us utopia on their own. They are artifacts of society, the respond to people's needs and, sometimes, demands. We cannot ask machines to distribute economic resources equally on our behalf." and "for the foreseeable future, the starship is Earth."
That said, there are areas where I found the book lacking (perhaps as a result of the author's male centered worldview). One is that there is no discussion of what a post-money reputational economy would do to the birthrate or parenting. In an economy that runs on social recognition of achievements and uses the scientific community as a model, it seems like the workplace disadvantages that already exist for women having children or being the primary care provider for children would be exacerbated.
Another is also the statement "TNG was a workplace show without any hint of the usual workplace conflicts," which I find stunning because sexual harassment is a distressingly "usual workplace conflict" that absolutely on the bridge and decks of NCC 1701-D.
Read Harder 2019: #17 a business book
Little did I know, Trekonomics was actually going to provide serious insight into the economics of sustainability and scarcity and the history of science and science fiction. I ended up taking notes, putting a lot of books on my reading list.
One of the concepts that really stands out for me is "post-scarcity is a set of economic choices. Technological progress and economic growth cannot bring us utopia on their own. They are artifacts of society, the respond to people's needs and, sometimes, demands. We cannot ask machines to distribute economic resources equally on our behalf." and "for the foreseeable future, the starship is Earth."
That said, there are areas where I found the book lacking (perhaps as a result of the author's male centered worldview). One is that there is no discussion of what a post-money reputational economy would do to the birthrate or parenting. In an economy that runs on social recognition of achievements and uses the scientific community as a model, it seems like the workplace disadvantages that already exist for women having children or being the primary care provider for children would be exacerbated.
Another is also the statement "TNG was a workplace show without any hint of the usual workplace conflicts," which I find stunning because sexual harassment is a distressingly "usual workplace conflict" that absolutely on the bridge and decks of NCC 1701-D.
Read Harder 2019: #17 a business book