Thanks for being on top of things and thanks for this instance
NVariable
joined 1 year ago
When a character endures for 60 years, as Kirk has, it’s going to need an update. I’m not knocking Chris Pine, but I think what he was given to work with was shallow.
Kirk had a lot of layers to him, but he was also developed in the 60s cultural context. Hugh Hefner was a sexual freedom icon. The culture up until then was incredibly puritanical. Kirk being so lascivious and women loving him for it was liberating.
Now, we’re much more in touch with reality. Men in positions of power being sexually suggestive with women they employ is deplorable. We live in a different world now.
To endure as an icon, Kirk has to change. Nice to see more thoughtful writers get a chance to bring the character to this generation. I sincerely hope that decades from now new writers will adapt Kirk to make him outgrow our archaic and comparatively barbarous values.
A thought experiment occurred to me. What is the absolute best subject for a zero tolerance policy? Genocide is the first thought. The most horrific evil that could ever be inflicted.
But let’s say hypothetically, there was a virus that was highly-transmissible and has a 100% fatality rate. A virus killing all of mankind. And let’s say somehow this virus is sentient. We have no idea how it works, but we can confirm that it thinks, feels, etc. The virus is provably sentient for our hypothetical purposes.
If someone develops an absolute cure to the disease, it will save everyone, but it will also wipe out the sentient virus. That is technically genocide, but it saves all life from death. Should a zero tolerance policy govern? Or can we at least have a conversation about wiping out the sentient virus?
“I’m calling in sick and playing video games today. They better not bother me unless there’s a battle or first contact. I was so much happier on the garbage scow.”
The shakedown crew figures everything out. That’s the job.
One of the all-time best episodes of all of trek.
A murder mystery with no suspects. Forever.
Zero tolerance policies ensure injustice in outlier cases. Yes, it’s unethical to interfere in a civilization’s development 99.9% of the time, but there are always exceptions. Ignoring outliers is pretending your system is above the fundamental laws of the universe.
The actors’ strike is unique in that compromising on AI kills the existence of their profession. Once their likeness and voice can be replicated by machines, they are all fired and have zero job prospects moving forward.
TPTB will churn out endless drivel at zero cost, pay actors nothing, and drown the world in more shallow, meaningless deepfake AI culture.
They’re going after the arts first for a reason.