The Borg

Star Trek: The Next Generation deviates pretty interestingly from it’s predecessors. Where earlier Star Trek series focused on a Socialism-like environment, which seemed to be working well surprisingly. However, The Next Generation seems to cast a rather unpleasant light on Socialism in the Borg.

The Borg are a unified hive mind that show no individuality or emotion at all. This seems like the show is going greatly against governments that encourage that, such as Communism or Socialism, however the star fleet exists in a fairly Socialism-like universe. With the existence of replicators, there is no need for anything, which means no real economic classes. There is a social structure, but it exists purely to keep things working, not to enforce any kind of power or economic imbalance. This contrast is interesting by itself, but the fact that it shows up in an American science fiction show just enhances it for me.

Star Trek has had an interesting history with having undertones of political opinions in multiple episodes, and The Next Generation is a continuation of that trend. The Borg represent a dark side of something usually supported by Star Trek

What a Hiro

We’ve read more than one short story in class in the past few weeks, so I know there’s a lot I can talk about, but I want to focus on “Snowcrash” Today.

I’ve only read 1 chapter of “Snowcrash”, and it was amazing. What stuck out to me though was the author’s satirical depiction of the future world, and it seems there was real meaning behind all the humor. Stephenson seems to have a pretty substantial libertarian following, and his libertarian views show greatly in “Snowcrash”. In the story, everything is privatized, creating a governmental system based on letting the people pay for what they want. I myself am fairly libertarian, as I believe that forcing people to send large portions of their income to an organization that rewards them with almost nothing in return is unfair.

Another thing that stuck out to me was the pretty clear wealth divide that Stephenson depicted. The poor live in storage units and in a land controlled by the Mafia and other gangs, while the middle/upper class live in city-state like suburbs. Stephenson also says a shockingly low number of people would own computers, and we all know how wrong that is.

All in all, what I read of “Snowcrash” was funny and interesting, and at least it didn’t involve weird alien babymaking.