startrek
Ethics of the Final Frontier
Space: The Final Frontier. The Frontier has been an essential part of America’s mythology from the beginning. It has led to exploration, adventure- and all the problems wrapped up in seeing ‘undiscovered country’ as a land where no white man has been. Prof Matthew Wilhelm Kapell joins Paul and myself to talk about the idea…
Listen NowIs Star Fleet a Military?
What are the questions that come up when we militarize space? Is there a problem when you show up to a first contact in ship loaded with weapons? Who makes decisions when messages to the civilian oversight back home take days or weeks to be delivered? Rob McKenzie is back to talk about these issues…
Listen NowThe Value and Danger of Canon
What makes canon and continuity such a vital part of modern genre media? What are the dangers of becoming too focused on canon? MCUCast co-hosts Matthew Carroll and Jeff Randle join me to discuss these questions.
Listen NowThe Ethical Color Pie: Grouping our Favs by an Ethical System
What’s more fun than taking an ethical system from one world, and trying to find how our favorite characters from other worlds fit into it. In this episode we start with the ethical color pie from Magic the Gathering, in which we look at ethics not in terms of actions, but motivations and mind sets.…
Listen NowEthical Villains
Heroes can be boring- let’s talk villains! Rik Hayashi joins us to talk about the villains who have a point, the ones we can sympathize with, or even sometimes agree with. What makes someone a villain? What are the lines between a villain and a hero who is willing to do anything for the cause?…
Listen NowPicardian Ethics
Who has agency in Picard? Is Seven finally getting to define her own life, on her terms? Did the Romulans have a point, and why did Picard give up on the rescue and on the Federation? This week, Matthew is joined by two of his podcasting inspirations, Matthew Carroll and David C Roberson to discuss…
Listen NowThe Ethics of AI
This week, we’re joined by returning guest Rob McKenzie, and first time guest Dan McCreary to talk about the ethics of Artificial Intelligence. What is AI, and what do we mean by concepts like sentience? Why does so much sci-fi assume AI will be our enemy? And what is the moral value of robotic life?…
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