The Original Series Season 2 - Essential Trek Philosophy. Season 2 of Star Trek: The Original Series playfully explores human nature, what human nature is and what it could become, its place in the cosmos, and its relation to humanity's past, present, and future. From future Space Nazis in "Patterns of Force" to ancient Greek gods and Roman gladiators in space ("Who Mourns for Adonais?" and "Bread and Circuses"), TOS season 2 explores the best and the worst of human nature across the whole of hu...
May 22, 2017•1 hr 35 min
Kierkegaard and Stages on Life's Way. This time, we're talking "Soren," but not Dr. Tolian Soren from Star Trek Generations ; we're talking about the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard! Søren Kierkegaard is well-known for his "Stages on Life's Way," or three different approaches to life: the aesthetic approach (novelty, adventure, and experiences); the ethical approach (rules, duty, and responsibility), and the religious approach (sincere commitment, meaningful dedication, and authentic leaps ...
May 08, 2017•1 hr 44 min
Exploration and Expanding Knowledge. The worldview depicted in the Star Trek universe is grounded in the assumption that the pursuit of increased knowledge is intrinsically valuable, such that it is worth the risks and dangers inherent to exploration of the unknown. In this episode of Meta Treks , hosts Mike Morrison and Zachary Fruhling examine this underlying assumption of the Star Trek universe: Does knowledge have intrinsic value or merely instrumental value? What ethical and practical const...
Apr 24, 2017•1 hr 32 min
"Birthright," Parts I and II. In the sixth-season episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation , "Birthright," Parts I and II, there are parallels between Lieutenant Worf and the Ancient Greek philosopher Socrates. Both Worf and Socrates were accused of corrupting the minds of the youth, both were protesting the perceived injustices and irrationality of the established state, and both were sentenced to death by execution (a fate escaped by Worf more successfully than by Socrates!). In this episode...
Apr 17, 2017•1 hr 21 min
TNG Season 6 - Essential Trek Philosophy. In this episode of Meta Treks , hosts Mike Morrison and Zachary Fruhling compare their top picks for Essential Trek Philosophy from season 6 of Star Trek: The Next Generation . From Cartesian skepticism of the external world in "Ship in a Bottle" to transporter-related issues of personal identity in "Second Chances," season 6 of Star Trek: The Next Generation contains some of the most well-known and often-cited philosophical episodes in all of Star Trek ...
Apr 03, 2017•1 hr 10 min
The Definition of Life. "To seek out new life...." Such is the mission statement of Federation starships, to discover and learn as much as possible about life in the universe. But given the diversity of life forms in the Star Trek universe, here on Earth in the real world, and possibly elsewhere in our own galaxy, how do you recognize a new lifeform as life when you first encounter it, especially exotic or non-carbon-based lifeforms? In this episode of Meta Treks , hosts Zachary Fruhling and Mik...
Mar 27, 2017•1 hr 37 min
Cloaking Devices and the Ring of Gyges. Invisibility has a long tradition both in fiction and in philosophy, from The Ring of Gyges in Plato's Republic to The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells, from the One Ring in The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien to the Klingon and Romulan cloaking devices seen throughout the Star Trek universe. In this episode of Meta Treks hosts Mike Morrison and Zachary Fruhling discuss the ethics of invisibility. Do these fictional invisibility devices reveal the true d...
Mar 20, 2017•1 hr 25 min
DS9 Season 6 - Essential Trek Philosophy with Duncan Barrett, Part 2. In this second part of a two-part episode of Meta Treks , hosts Zachary Fruhling and Mike Morrison continue their discussion with author Duncan Barrett about their top picks for Essential Trek Philosophy from season 6 of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . Chapters Welcome to Episode 61 (00:01:08) Profit and Lace (00:03:08) Far Beyond the Stars (00:14:47) Waltz (00:34:60) Honorable Mentions (01:09:56) Recap and Final Thoughts (01:15:...
Mar 13, 2017•1 hr 31 min
DS9 Season 6 - Essential Trek Philosophy with Duncan Barrett, Part 1. In this first part of a two-part episode of Meta Treks , hosts Mike Morrison and Zachary Fruhling are joined by author Duncan Barrett to discuss their picks for Essential Trek Philosophy from season 6 of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . Much of Season 6 of Deep Space Nine can be framed in terms of Thomas Hobbes's conception of a State of Nature outside of civilized society, in which actions in war are not bound by ethical consider...
Mar 06, 2017•1 hr 22 min
Disobeying Orders. Starfleet officers generally respect the chain of command. When an order comes down the pipe from a superior officer or from the Federation council, that order is usually obeyed out of duty, honor, loyalty, and respect. But when is it appropriate for a Starfleet officer to disobey orders or defy the chain of command? When an unjust order comes from one of the many "badmirals" in the S tar Trek universe? When the lives of your shipmates are in imminent danger? Out of friendship...
Feb 27, 2017•1 hr 17 min
Dimensions. Reflecting on dimensions has a long history in popular culture, from the geometrically minded satirical novella Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott to the 1937 film The Fourth Dimension by director Jean Painleve. But how is the relationship between different dimensions explored in the Star Trek universe? From a plane of two-dimensional beings in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Loss," to higher-dimensional beings like members of the Q continuum wi...
Feb 13, 2017•1 hr 30 min
"Sacred Ground" and Religious Explanations. What happens when a scientist has a religious experience not fully explainable by science? When Kes's life falls in jeopardy, Captain Janeway, with tricorder in hand and eagerly willing to face any challenge she might face, volunteers to participate in a religious ritual to petition the Ancestral Spirits of the Nechani (or rather, the Bajorans of the Delta Quadrant...) and plead for Kes's life. In this episode of Meta Treks , hosts Zachary Fruhling and...
Feb 06, 2017•1 hr 18 min
Voyager Season 6 - Essential Trek Philosophy. In this episode of Meta Treks , hosts Mike Morrison and Zachary Fruhling are joined by Kay Shaw (associated producer of Meta Treks and co-host of Trek.fm's dedicated Voyager podcast, To The Journey ) to discuss their top picks for Essential Trek Philosophy from season 6 of Star Trek: Voyager . From questions of personal identity in the death and resurrection of Lyndsay Ballard in "Ashes to Ashes" to the trouble with conspiracy-theory reasoning in "Th...
Jan 30, 2017•1 hr 40 min
Ferengi Virtue Ethics. From the fur-wearing, whip-wielding villains of the early seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation to the more developed and nuanced Ferengi in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , profit is the underlying motive for practically all Ferengi action. In this episode of Meta Treks , hosts Zachary Fruhling and Mike Morrison discuss Ferengi virtue ethics, or which character traits uniquely define the Ferengi. But is this drive for profit an essential biological or psychological Fereng...
Jan 16, 2017•1 hr 14 min
Paradoxes of Motion. From the ancient Greek philosopher Zeno of Elea to the 20th century physicist Albert Einstein, philosophers and scientists for thousands of years have been preoccupied with attempting to understand the seemingly paradoxical nature of motion. In this episode of Meta Treks , hosts Mike Morrison and Zachary Fruhling discuss three of the most famous paradoxes of motion: Zeno's Arrow Paradox, Zeno's Dichotomy Paradox, and the Twin Paradox from Einstein's Special Theory of Relativ...
Jan 09, 2017•54 min
Children of Time. In the Deep Space Nine episode "Children of Time," Captain Sisko and company discover a planet with a colony of 8,000 descendants of the Defiant crew, the Defiant having been marooned 200 years in the past as a result of the attempt to escape the quantum bubble surrounding the planet. Forced to choose between saving the life of Major Kira and preserving the timeline and lives of their 8,000 descendants (dashing any hope of returning home to their lives and families on Deep Spac...
Jan 02, 2017•1 hr 31 min
Enterprise Season 3 - Essential Trek Philosophy. Season three of Enterprise , with its Xindi story arc, is firmly situated in the post-9/11 era, concentrating principally on the ethics of justified warfare as a response to acts of terrorism. In this episode of Meta Treks , hosts Mike Morrison and Zachary Fruhling discuss the philosophical themes and their top picks for Essential Trek Philosophy from season three of Enterprise . From consequentalist considerations about preemptive strikes to dupl...
Dec 26, 2016•1 hr 18 min
Scientific and Medical Ethics. In Deep Space Nine , we learn that the Bajoran scientist Dr. Mora Pol helped Odo achieve his full potential as a sentient, shape-shifting life form. Odo, however, carried deep-seated resentment for his initial treatment under Dr. Mora and for some of Dr. Mora's more invasive research methods. In this episode of Meta Treks , hosts Zachary Fruhling and Mike Morrison discuss issues of scientific and medical ethics in Star Trek , including whether one is ever justified...
Dec 05, 2016•1 hr 13 min
Logical Positivism. What separates meaningful language from non-meaningful language, genuine science from pseudo-science, and productive philosophy from unproductive philosophy? In the early 20th century, a philosophical movement known as "logical positivism" attempted to specify criteria that could be used to demarcate meaningful language from non-meaningful language. These logical positivists, such as Rudolf Carnap and A.J. Ayer, claimed that only empirically verifiable statements are meaningf...
Nov 28, 2016•1 hr 24 min
Stoicism. In this episode of Meta Treks , hosts Zachary Fruhling and Mike Morrison search for examples of stoicism in Star Trek . As an ancient Greek and Roman school of thought, stoicism emphasizes suppression of harmful emotions, recognizing the ebb and flow of the cosmos, the impermanence of all things, dutifulness and steadfastness in labor, acceptance of things beyond your control, acceptance of suffering as part of nature, and striving to make order where you are able. From Marcus Aurelius...
Nov 21, 2016•1 hr 16 min
The Original Series Season 3 - Essential Trek Philosophy. Season 3 of Star Trek: The Original Series is sometimes criticized for having lost its way without the creative direction of Gene Roddenberry. But in this episode of Meta Treks , hosts Mike Morrison and Zachary Fruhling compare their top picks for Essential Trek Philosophy from season three of Star Trek: The Original Series . From philosopher-kings in "Plato's Stepchildren" and philosophical zombies in "Spock's Brain," to the Marxist and ...
Nov 14, 2016•1 hr 26 min
Larry Nemecek. Episode 47 of Meta Treks can mean only one thing: Larry Nemecek! As a renowned Trek authority, friend of the Trek.fm network, and creator of Trekland's Portal 47 , Larry joins hosts Zachary Fruhling and Mike Morrison for a discussion about the past and future of Star Trek . On the heels of the 50th anniversary of the premier of Star Trek , and with a new Star Trek television series, Star Trek: Discovery , a mere months away, Larry, Zachary, and Mike share their thoughts on Star Tr...
Nov 08, 2016•1 hr 51 min
Federation Exceptionalism. In this episode of Meta Treks , hosts Mike Morrison and Zachary Fruhling are joined by Duncan Barrett, co-author of Star Trek: The Human Frontier , to discuss the concept of exceptionalism in Star Trek . Mike, Zachary, and Duncan consider various forms of exceptionalism, both here in the real world and in the Star Trek universe. Are humans exceptional lifeforms with unique properties and abilities compared to other life forms here on Earth? In the Star Trek universe, d...
Oct 26, 2016•1 hr 42 min
The Animated Series - Essential Trek Philosophy. In this episode of Meta Treks , hosts Zachary Fruhling and Mike Morrison are joined by Aaron Harvey, Trek.fm's art director and host of Saturday Morning Trek , to discuss their top picks for "Essential Trek Philosophy" from Star Trek: The Animated Series . Although Star Trek: The Animated Series is written off by some fans as a mere cartoon with no official place in the Star Trek canon, Zachary, Mike, and Aaron show that The Animated Series is fil...
Oct 17, 2016•1 hr 40 min
Borg Perfection. Resistance against the Borg quest for perfection is usually futile. But what does perfection mean to the Borg, and how does this quest for perfection compare with the human quest for betterment? In this episode of Meta Treks , hosts Mike Morrison and Zachary Fruhling share a philosophical analysis of the concept of perfection, including its meaning for the Borg, its relation to the human condition, the spiritual role perfection plays for the Borg, and arguments from the history ...
Oct 10, 2016•1 hr 22 min
The Trill. In this episode of Meta Treks , hosts Zachary Fruhling and Mike Morrison dive into the mud pits for a philosophical exploration of the Trill. From the etymology of the term "symbiont," to the precise nature of the shared consciousness between a symbiont and its host, to gender fluidity and identity, Zachary and Mike share multiple lifetimes of philosophical experience about all things Trill. Chapters Welcome to Episode 43 (00:01:07) Initial Thoughts on Dax and Trill Consciousness (00:...
Oct 04, 2016•1 hr 34 min
Kevin C. Neece and The Gospel According to Star Trek. In this episode of Meta Treks , hosts Mike Morrison and Zachary Fruhling are joined by author and speaker Kevin C. Neece to discuss his new book, The Gospel According to Star Trek: The Original Crew . This first book in the Gospel According to Star Trek series explores the constructive connections between Star Trek and Christian theology. Kevin C. Neece argues that the humanism expressed in Star Trek is compatible with a rich tradition of Chr...
Sep 19, 2016•1 hr 35 min
Justice. In this episode of Meta Treks , hosts Zachary Fruhling and Mike Morrison discuss the Next Generation episode "Justice." This first-season TNG episode deals with a range of issues in philosophy of law and punishment, such as the concept of strict liability, intrinsically wrong crimes versus statutory crimes, ignorance of the law as a defense, the death penalty as a deterrent, and the role of intentionality in determining culpability. Chapters Welcome to Episode 41 (00:01:07) Initial Thou...
Sep 12, 2016•1 hr 24 min
TNG Season 7 - Essential Trek Philosophy. Season 7 of Star Trek: The Next Generation contained innovative and previously unseen visual depictions of abstract philosophical concepts such as the concept of emergent properties (TNG: Emergence) and the concept of an infinite number of possible worlds (TNG: Parallels), along with consideration of important ethical and environmental issues such as conservation of natural resources (TNG: Force of Nature). In this episode of Meta Treks , hosts Mike Morr...
Sep 05, 2016•1 hr 32 min
Return to Tomorrow. In this episode of Meta Treks , hosts Zachary Fruhling and Mike Morrison continue the discussion from The Ready Room episode 201 about the Original Series episode "Return to Tomorrow." Zachary and Mike discuss the core philosophical themes of this TOS episode, including mind-body dualism, trans-humanism and future evolution, dependence on technology, sensualism and physical embodiment, and this TOS episode's commentary on religion and the afterlife. Chapters Welcome to Episod...
Aug 29, 2016•1 hr 20 min
