It shouldn't be about dominance anymore. Humanity is too varied and there's simply too many of us - not to mention that governing people by limiting their freedom severely limits human potential and social progress. I think it should be about collaboration. We need to realize on a larger scale that we're all creating this reality together.

Nobody has the right to come up with a system that takes away my rights to freedom of expression and information, simply because they don't like what I'm looking at or doing. Morality is subjective at best - it's a social construct. However, it's important to respect that everybody is going to have different moral standards for themselves and we have to respect that they know what works in their own lives. Certainly there are things that I like and things that I dislike. But instead of working towards censoring things that I dislike (namely anything that encourages stupidity, superficiality and the herd mentality), I work towards creating content that I find amazing. I recognize that all people have a right to freedom of expression* and create more of what I want to see in the world, instead of limiting the voices of others.

The point I'm trying to make is this: I don't think that any one specific group gets to decide what's right for everybody else and culturally police the rest of society as they see fit. I can only decide what's right for me and you can only decide what's right for you. We have basic things that we decide we don't want in society - murder, theft, exploitation, hate groups. But we also have to realize that there are many grey areas that require discussion. Problems begin when there is no discussion - when the right refuses to listen to the left and vice-versa.

We're all creating society together, it's up to us to create a system together that works for everybody. I know some people think this is impossible - but I want to point out that it is going to be impossible as long as we never actually challenge that assumption. We owe it to each other to respect each other enough that we can talk to one another and build a society together in which we can all live well.

Nobody has a monopoly on reality - least of all governments and corporations - who are almost always looking out for their own benefit and not that of others. Also - diversity is absolutely key to the survival of the human species. This is so very important and it's a huge reason why it's absolutely crucial to keep the flow of information and ideas in society as open and unimpeded as possible.

It's my hope that even though society is so individuated in the 21st century, that we can start to value even those we don't understand. That we can be more tolerant and give each other the space to live a full life. All of us have an equal right to life. None of us has the right to control anybody else's life.

* I think there are cases in which we do limit this freedom, and those limits involve personal safety... It's an extensive discussion and I'm not going to get into here (but feel free to post your thoughts in the comments).

Episode: TNG Transfigurations (3x25)

In a sentence: The crew saves the life of an alien whose ship crash-lands on a nearby planet. Upon becoming conscious, he is unable to remember anything about his past or identity. He begins to demonstrate extraordinary healing abilities while Dr. Crusher discovers that his body is undergoing a mysterious genetic transformation.

Who are we? Where did we come from? Where are we going?

Trek episodes that deal with any of these questions (or even attempt to) eventually make my all-time favorites list. As I've been faced with a slew of somewhat disappointing episodes lately (enter Frame of Mind - urgh!), I totally didn't expect 'Transfigurations' to make it to this list earlier today.

The theme of evolution is a fascinating one. 'Transfigurations' documents an alien species in the process of making an evolutionary jump to a new non-physical state of being. The movement to the new form includes being able to demonstrate remarkable regenerative powers (being able to heal oneself and others) and even teleportation.

What I particularly liked about this episode was the fact that it provided an interesting discussion of the socio-political implications of the evolutionary jump. The alien in question - referred to as John Doe - is pursued by authorities from his home planet who want to destroy those like him. They fear him. Having powers beyond their control, he is a threat to their authority. They try to convince him (and others like him) that what they're experiencing is a disease that will eventually kill them.

This episode leaves me considering these things right now that I find really exciting:

1. What is the next evolutionary step for humanity? It's interesting to consider expanded abilities (like psi and healing) as a possible direction for where we may be heading.

2. Can you picture consciousness without physical existence? Can consciousness exist in non-physical forms of life? 

3. Is centralized authority ultimately averse to evolution? Do current authoritarian power structures actually prevent evolution (perhaps in a social and intellectual and not so much biological sense, in our case)? If so, then is the transformation of systems of centralized authority perhaps something we actually need to do in order to further our growth as a species?

I'm curious to hear what you think!

Related episode: Evolution (3x01)

Episode: TNG: Cause & Effect (5x18)

In a sentence: The Enterprise is caught in a temporal causality loop forcing the crew to relive the circumstances leading up to its destruction over and over again.

Whether I've been seeking these out consciously or not, I've been watching a lot of episodes relating to either time travel or temporal anomalies. I'm fascinated by the idea of the time, and more specifically, the question of whether or not we can 'step out' of regular space time (see Journey's End). I'm realizing that I want to understand more about how human beings perceive and understand time and what exactly we understand about it. We can navigate in every direction of space, but not in time - this is something I've always wondered about. Our understanding of time constitutes the limits of our present knowledge. And I wonder, too, if this is also just a biological limit - the limit of our bodies: we simply cannot perceive the space-time continuum in any other way due to our sense organs and how they function.

But the mind is a funny thing and it creates change in our experience. I feel like our minds have always enabled us to push forward, beyond physical limitation. And there's also the idea about us being pure consciousness. Having the ability to function on levels that are not just physical or biological.

I believe we are fundamentally consciousness. Awareness. That is something that I consider to be beyond (or different from, or more fundamental than) mind. Not the body or the mind - pure awareness. Then I begin to wonder - can we begin to experience time differently than how we currently do? 

One thing I find fascinating about this episode is that the Enterprise crew begin to experience deja vu as the timeline repeats itself. It leads me to wonder if it's possible that we have senses that can help us navigate time in other ways, senses that perhaps we're just not totally aware of right now.

I watched Trekkies about a week ago, and it immediately re-ignited my partially forgotten love of Star Trek: The Next Generation. It was the note on which the film ended that really did it for me: people love Star Trek because of the ideals it espouses.

Star Trek represents humanity at our best, or at least at trying our very best. It's a compassionate (but not fluffy) view of human society in a very cynical age. Since then I've been watching an episode of ST:TNG every day (at least) and have found it incredibly inspiring. I feel like I'm returning to my roots, so to speak, since the sense of the wider universe was one of the first things in my life that I felt real love for.

It's reminded me about where I want to be in life and what I really want to say and explore in my art. It keeps me focused on my fundamental ideals and helps me remember how important sharing, discovery and exploration generally are in life. It keeps my head tilted toward the stars, so I don't pay too much attention to the gutter (unless the episode involves, say, Deanna Troi's mother). Those are all the things I love about Trek.

And then there's stuff like this:

(Image: memory-alpha)

Here are some of the episodes I've seen in the last week, most of them are some of my favourites:

• Where No One Has Gone Before (1x06)
• Journey's End (7x20)
• The Chase (6x20)
• Yesterday's Enterprise (3x15)
• Evolution (3x01)
• The Best of Both Worlds (I and II) (3x26)
• Who Watches the Watchers (3x04)
• Parallels (7x11)

I'll write about one episode every day and any related thoughts and feelings. It might just be a few lines or a series of scattered thoughts, but I'd like to record some of these impressions for sharing and future reference.

As far as television goes, Star Trek is truly memorable. It deals with so many often serious themes in an intelligent manner that is far from heavy-handed. It constantly brings the good guys themselves under scrutiny, revealing their weaknesses and self-doubt and it is incredibly concerned with the evolution of the human species. All these are truly remarkable accomplishments, especially considering the medium. 

Star Trek is everything I could wish for in a TV show and I'm so glad that at some point of time, it existed.