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A review by jakeyjake
Trekonomics: The Economics of Star Trek by Manu Saadia
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.