van Geffen on Gender and Racial Identity in the Star Trek Universe @hannaaahhxx @UniLeiden

Hannah van Geffen has published Gender and Racial Identity in Star Trek; Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Star Trek: Discovery (Master's thesis, University of Leiden, 2018).

"Captain! There's a Warp Core Meltdown!" @scifipolicy

Have you ever wondered why those Star Trek spaceships seem to have so many malfunctions? This subreddit thread explores that question and proposes some answers, including that aliens just refuse to work in Federation engineering because Federation technology is, well, bad, and that the way human Federation folks approach problems is well, weird. as in, not scientific. Sort of seat of the pants, in fact. (Of course that adds to the drama, but if your own species tends toward the logical, it can be frightening). Source here, more commentary here. Via @scifipolicy.

It does pose the question, however: Doesn't Starfleet have, oh, I don't know, regulations that require inspection of starships and contracts that require build of those ships to certain specifications, and research into technology, and things like that? I smell a law review article.

Star Trek's Legacy: The EU Takes Note

The French TV network ARTE (funded by the European Union) has produced a number of tv episodes in honor of Star Trek's 50th anniversary. Each four-minute video has a particular theme (origins, the ST economy, etc.)  Here's a list.

Episodes 1, 3, and 8 discuss law-related themes, and all are worth watching. Episodes are in English or there are English-language subtitles.

Via @F_Defferrard.

Star Trek's Attractive Vision of the Future

The Guardian on the enduring appeal of Star Trek's vision of life, love, and the liberal.

More Law and Star Trek: The Practicality of the Prime Directive (via @arstechnica)

ArsTechnica investigates whether the Prime Directive could ever be a universal rule of law. Here, with lawyers!

Law, Tech, and Star Trek

The ABA For Law Students Blog has posted Searching for the Mr. Spock in You, a piece about the importance of being knowledgeable both about technology and the ethics of its use. A nice mind meld among law, tech, and pop culture (can one mind meld three things at once?)

Twitter thanks to Rick Peltz-Steele @RJPeltzSteele.

A New Article on Law and Star Trek From Fabrice Defferrard

New on Star Trek and law:

Fabrice Defferrard, Star Trek: paradigme juridique et laboratoire du droit, 45 Revue generale de droit de l'universite d'Ottawa 613-635 (2015).