Podcast appearances and mentions of manu saadia

In Star Trek's post-scarcity vision of the future, how does their economy work? How do they trade? We're joined by experts Martine G. Ræstad and Manu Saadia (author of Trekonomics) to discuss the technological and social forces shaping Star Trek's economic utopia. HOST Jarrah GUESTS Martine G. Ræstad, @mechamarty Manu Saadia, author of Trekonomics: The Economics of Star Trek  EDITOR Sue Send us your feedback! Email:  crew@womenatwarp.com Twitter/Instagram: @womenatwarp Facebook: http://facebook.com/womenatwarp Support the Show on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/womenatwarp Visit our TeePublic Store: https://www.teepublic.com/stores/womenatwarp

In this episode of Red Reviews Justin and I talk Star Trek! More specifically we talk about the economics of Star Trek and the book Trekonomics by Manu Saadia.  Before we got started we talked about Mike Rinder's cancer diagnosis and how people can go to his blog mikerindersblog.com to donate. You can get a copy of Trekonomics here https://www.amazon.com/Trekonomics-Economics-Star-Manu-Saadia/dp/1941758754 You can check out Justin's blog about Star Trek here https://www.justinclark.org/blog/the-humanism-of-star-trek-what-we-can-learn-from-the-final-frontier You can check out the full shownotes with pictures on my website - www.skepticalleftist.com You can rate and review the show here - https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-mind-of-a-skeptical-leftis-1779751 You can support the show here - - https://www.patreon.com/skepticalleftist - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/skepticallefty --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/skepticalleftist/message

Original Air Date 4/20/2022 Today we take a look at the bizarre halo effect that seems to surround Elon Musk and then thoroughly puncture it by just explaining a few things about him and his companies. Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at 202-999-3991 or email Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com Transcript BestOfTheLeft.com/Support (Get AD FREE Shows and Bonus Content) Join our Discord community! SHOW NOTES Ch. 1: The Myth Of The "Self-Made" Billionaire - Second Thought - Air Date 9-10-21 It's no secret that Americans love to hear about billionaires. You'll find them everywhere. They're on the news [Bezos space launch], have their own TV shows, movies, and even make their way to elected office. Ch. 2: Is Elon Musk a Fraud - Deconstructed - Air Date 5-14-20 Over the weekend, Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to Twitter to voice his frustrations about the ongoing Covid-19 lockdown in Alameda County, California. The billionaire entrepreneur threatened that he would take his auto factory to another state Ch. 3: Tesla SUED Over Racial Discrimination In The Workplace - The Young Turks - Air Date 2-12-22 Elon Musk and Tesla are coming under fire as the state of California is suing the company for allegedly running a “racially segregated” workplace. Black workers are reportedly concentrated in certain parts of the factory and are constantly berated Ch. 4: Elon Musk Is Not Your Friend - Some More News - Air Date 5-10-21 Hi. Elon Musk will not save us. Sorry. Ch. 5: Elon Musk's Childlike Libertarian Fantasy That Government Is The Biggest Corporation - The Majority Report - Air Date 12-9-21 Billionaire memelord Elon Musk has dropped yet another batcrap Libertarian rant for his adoring fans, this time regarding the bloodthirsty government and how he hates the pesky electric vehicle subsidies that he would (and already does) benefit from. Ch. 6: Elon Trolls the SEC - What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future - Air Date 4-8-22 With 9.1% ownership of Twitter—and a board seat—Elon Musk is the new master of Twitter's future. Why did the wealthiest man in the world just take over the world's most influential platform? Ch. 7: Elon, Segregationist & Culture War in Colorado w/ Chase Woodruff - Left Reckoning - Air Date 2-23-22 The real reason Elon Musk fleed California: incredible racism and animal cruelty charges. Also, how he's giving marching orders to Texas cops. MEMBERS-ONLY BONUS CLIP(S) Ch. 9: Elon Musk Isn't Saving Humanity w/ Manu Saadia - Tech Won't Save Us - Air Date 3-25-21 Paris Marx is joined by Manu Saadia to discuss the roots of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos' visions for space, and why they serve the billionaires' need for control, not the betterment of humanity. VOICEMAILS Ch. 10: Back on the path - Dave from Olympia, WA FINAL COMMENTS Ch. 12: Final comments on foundational ideas that help explain politics MUSIC (Blue Dot Sessions): Opening Theme: Loving Acoustic Instrumental by John Douglas Orr  Voicemail Music: Low Key Lost Feeling Electro by Alex Stinnent Activism Music: This Fickle World by Theo Bard (https://theobard.bandcamp.com/track/this-fickle-world) Closing Music: Upbeat Laid Back Indie Rock by Alex Stinnent   Produced by Jay! Tomlinson Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com Listen Anywhere! BestOfTheLeft.com/Listen Listen Anywhere! Follow at Twitter.com/BestOfTheLeft Like at Facebook.com/BestOfTheLeft Contact me directly at Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com

Air Date 4/20/2022 Today we take a look at the bizarre halo effect that seems to surround Elon Musk and then thoroughly puncture it by just explaining a few things about him and his companies. Be part of the show! Leave us a message at 202-999-3991 or email Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com  Transcript BestOfTheLeft.com/Support (Get AD FREE Shows and Bonus Content) Join our Discord community! What is Discord? Check out The Politics of Everything wherever you get podcasts! SHOW NOTES Ch. 1: The Myth Of The "Self-Made" Billionaire - Second Thought - Air Date 9-10-21 It's no secret that Americans love to hear about billionaires. You'll find them everywhere. They're on the news [Bezos space launch], have their own TV shows, movies, and even make their way to elected office. Ch. 2: Is Elon Musk a Fraud - Deconstructed - Air Date 5-14-20 Over the weekend, Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to Twitter to voice his frustrations about the ongoing Covid-19 lockdown in Alameda County, California. The billionaire entrepreneur threatened that he would take his auto factory to another state Ch. 3: Tesla SUED Over Racial Discrimination In The Workplace - The Young Turks - Air Date 2-12-22 Elon Musk and Tesla are coming under fire as the state of California is suing the company for allegedly running a “racially segregated” workplace. Black workers are reportedly concentrated in certain parts of the factory and are constantly berated Ch. 4: Elon Musk Is Not Your Friend - Some More News - Air Date 5-10-21 Hi. Elon Musk will not save us. Sorry. Ch. 5: Elon Musk's Childlike Libertarian Fantasy That Government Is The Biggest Corporation - The Majority Report - Air Date 12-9-21 Billionaire memelord Elon Musk has dropped yet another batcrap Libertarian rant for his adoring fans, this time regarding the bloodthirsty government and how he hates the pesky electric vehicle subsidies that he would (and already does) benefit from. Ch. 6: Elon Trolls the SEC - What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future - Air Date 4-8-22 With 9.1% ownership of Twitter—and a board seat—Elon Musk is the new master of Twitter's future. Why did the wealthiest man in the world just take over the world's most influential platform? Ch. 7: Elon, Segregationist & Culture War in Colorado w/ Chase Woodruff - Left Reckoning - Air Date 2-23-22 The real reason Elon Musk fleed California: incredible racism and animal cruelty charges. Also, how he's giving marching orders to Texas cops. MEMBERS-ONLY BONUS CLIP(S) Ch. 9: Elon Musk Isn't Saving Humanity w/ Manu Saadia - Tech Won't Save Us - Air Date 3-25-21 Paris Marx is joined by Manu Saadia to discuss the roots of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos' visions for space, and why they serve the billionaires' need for control, not the betterment of humanity. VOICEMAILS Ch. 10: Back on the path - Dave from Olympia, WA FINAL COMMENTS Ch. 12: Final comments on foundational ideas that help explain politics MUSIC (Blue Dot Sessions): Opening Theme: Loving Acoustic Instrumental by John Douglas Orr  Voicemail Music: Low Key Lost Feeling Electro by Alex Stinnent Activism Music: This Fickle World by Theo Bard (https://theobard.bandcamp.com/track/this-fickle-world) Closing Music: Upbeat Laid Back Indie Rock by Alex Stinnent   Produced by Jay! Tomlinson Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com Listen Anywhere! BestOfTheLeft.com/Listen Listen Anywhere! Follow at Twitter.com/BestOfTheLeft Like at Facebook.com/BestOfTheLeft Contact me directly at Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com

We interview Manu Saadia about the economics of Star Trek.

Paris Marx is joined by Annalee Newitz to discuss what's wrong with Silicon Valley's understanding of science fiction, and how tech leaders use it to justify terrible futures.Annalee Newitz is the author of Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age and The Future of Another Timeline. They are also the co-host of Our Opinions Are Correct and a writer for NYT Opinion and New Scientist. Follow Annalee on Twitter at @Annaleen.

Elon Musk, le patron de Tesla, a un nouveau cheval de bataille : aller sur la planète Mars... Et à long terme, développer un espace vivable pour l'homme. Et des entreprises récentes, telles Space X, se lancent dans l'exploration spatiale parce qu'elles sont persuadées que c'est rentable. Mais est-ce que cela sert vraiment à quelque chose, d'envoyer des humains sur Mars. Combien ça peut coûter de coloniser un planète hostile pour l'humain ?Dans cet épisode de Splash, Emmanuel Martin s'intéresse au nouveau caprice des milliardaires de la planète Terre : s'emparer de la planète rouge. Il échange avec Manu Saadia, économiste, et qui a publié en 2016 un livre sur l'économie dans Star Trek, intitulé Trekonomics, et Victor Dos Santos Paulino, professeur associé à Toulouse Business School, et directeur scientifique de la chaire Sirius, un institut de recherche sur l'innovation spatiale.Spla$h est une émission de Nouvelles Écoutes présentée et animée par Emmanuel Martin. Elle est produite et réalisée par Marine Raut. Coordonnée par Mathilde Jonin. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Enjoy this PREVIEW of our latest bonus episode with Trekonomics author and friend of the podcast Manu Saadia Manu joins us to discuss the greatest eco-socialist revolution you've never heard of: "The Coconut Revolution."  Subscribe now to listen to the rest!   

Elon Musk, le patron de Tesla, a un nouveau cheval de bataille : aller sur la planète Mars... Et à long terme, développer un espace vivable pour l'homme. Et des entreprises récentes, telles Space X, se lancent dans l'exploration spatiale parce qu'elles sont persuadées que c'est rentable. Mais est-ce que cela sert vraiment à quelque chose, d'envoyer des humains sur Mars. Combien ça peut coûter de coloniser un planète hostile pour l'humain ?Dans cet épisode de Splash, Emmanuel Martin s'intéresse au nouveau caprice des milliardaires de la planète Terre : s'emparer de la planète rouge. Il échange avec Manu Saadia, économiste, et qui a publié en 2016 un livre sur l'économie dans Star Trek, intitulé Trekonomics, et Victor Dos Santos Paulino, professeur associé à Toulouse Business School, et directeur scientifique de la chaire Sirius, un institut de recherche sur l'innovation spatiale.Spla$h est une émission de Nouvelles Écoutes présentée et animée par Emmanuel Martin. Elle est produite et réalisée par Marine Raut. Coordonnée par Mathilde Jonin.

Paris Marx is joined by Manu Saadia to discuss the roots of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos’ visions for space, and why they serve the billionaires’ need for control, not the betterment of humanity.Manu Saadia is the author of “Trekonomics: The Economics of Star Trek.”Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.Find out more about Harbinger Media Network at harbingermedianetwork.com.Also mentioned in this episode:Elon Musk said he’s accumulating wealth to make life multiplanetary. Jeff Bezos said he can only think to spend his Amazon “winnings” on space.In “Dark Skies: Space Expansionism, Planetary Geopolitics, and the Ends of Humanity,” Daniel Deudney outlines the two space paradigms discussed in the episode. You can also read a review of it.Werhner von Braun, who was key to the US Apollo Program, was a Nazi scientist who came to the US after World War II.Carl Sagan said “there is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. … For the moment, Earth is where we make our stand.” Elon Musk laughed at this and claimed Mars is the alternative, but Shannon Stirone explained why he is very wrong.Salvage published an editorial on the immediate need to repair the damage done by capitalism.Science fiction mentioned: Ursula Le Guin’s “The Dispossessed,” Octavia Butler, Isaac Asimov, Philip K. Dick, and Robert Heinlein.Support the show (https://patreon.com/techwontsaveus)

Welcome back. The Breaking Smart newsletter and podcast is starting up again after a very refreshing 6-week break. I want to kick off the post-break programming with a podcast on a big question: if we are headed at least partially towards a post-scarcity world, as we seem to be, does it look more like the Star Trek universe, or the universe in Iain M. Banks Culture novels? Both are varieties of something I call involvement capitalism, which I think it’s going to emerge in the next decade one way or the other. The choices we make in the next few years will determine which flavor we end up with.1/ Over my break, I had a chance to unplug from weekly writing, and reflect on the broader theme of this mailing list, while watching the news. In case you forgot my tagline for breaking smart, this broader theme is serendipity through technology, and in the last few years, that has been a murky theme to think about. Is it the best of times or worst of times? Hard to tell.2/ I unplugged from writing, but not from media consumption. As you might know I don’t believe in that, especially when historic news is unfolding, and the last six weeks have of course been extra historic. Very much in the “weeks when decades happen” category, so I was very plugged in. 3/ The US elections happened, a second or third wave of the pandemic kicked off (depending on where you live), and multiple vaccines passed early trials, in the process pioneering a whole new class of mRNA vaccines.4/ Closer to our own set of usual topics, bitcoin neared its historic all-time highs, a DeepMind AI sort of solved the protein-folding problem, SpaceX launched its first operational crewed mission, and also launched its beta Starlink broadband services.5/ There was a small detail in that last news item that’s my jumping-off point for today. The Terms of Service for Starlink require you to agree that Mars is going to be a free planet, outside the jurisdiction of Earth governments, which is an interesting move with real consequences.6/ The thing is, if SpaceX’s plans continue to succeed, they may put a Starlink constellation around Mars and offer very cheap launch services to Mars, which would lead to a broad-based democratized Mars access at least for rovers and robots, with low-cost communications once your rover is on Mars.7/ Even if human settlement does not follow, we are on the cusp of creating at least a robotic telepresence society on Mars. And if you read between the lines of the Starlink ToS, SpaceX hopes to keep that presence an open, anarcho-capitalist zone of sociopolitical experimentation.8/ What might that look like? Well, there are two precedents to consider, one fictional, one factual. The factual one is the current state of Earth oceans, which are essentially an outlaw zone. I highly recommend William Langewiesche’s brilliant 2005 book, The Outlaw Sea, for a deep look at how the world of oceans works. Shipping, piracy, law on the seas, ship-breaking, all sorts of cool stuff.9/ The fictional one is the post-scarcity anarchist civilization called the Culture, in Iain M. Banks’ novels. We know SpaceX is inspired by that since they name their barges after Culture space ships: their current fleet of 3 comprises the drone ships Of Course I Still Love You, Just Read the Instructions, and A Shortfall of Gravitas. 10/ The two together paint a consistent portrait. The Outlaw Sea kinda does look like the fictional universe of Culture books, especially the margins of the civilization, where the Culture’s Special Circumstances agents, a sort of CIA, interfere in less advanced civilizations. 11/ The fictional plots of Culture books very much resemble British and American interventionist global foreign policy, enforced by naval power projected across the world’s outlaw seas, and directed at less-developed countries, over the last two centuries. Internally, the Culture is quite different from Britain or the US, but you could say developed US-UK societies are as close to the Culture as real earth societies get.12/ So this brings me to the idea of Involvement Capitalism. I got the idea for the name from the Culture books, where the multiple species that engage with the Culture are called Involved species, which I think is a very powerful concept. I define it as capitalism based on money as a way to engage more deeply rather than disengage from society. So the opposite of f**k-you money. More like hello-world money.13/ The core idea in the Culture books is that despite its post-scarcity abundance, the AIs and biological species of the Culture don’t retreat from the universe into either pure hedonism or spiritual retirement. They stay engaged, both with each other, and with less developed civilizations. They never stop experimenting, learning, growing, and interfering in the affairs of the universe. They are involved the way annoying parents are involved in their children’s lives.14/ The Culture is both like and unlike the Star Trek Federation, which is also a post-scarcity society built around powerful spaceships and a multi-species civilization. While both are left-leaning, powerful, and militarist without admitting it, the Culture is what you might call a neoliberal anarchy with no real rules, unlike Star Trek, which is a benevolent paternalist civilization that takes its rules very seriously, closer to LBJ’s Great Society model if that had actually worked out.15/ You could say the Culture is like the Star Trek Federation, except with AI Minds in place of charismatic captains, and no Prime Directive, only a history of interference and consequences to guide individual choices, and social consequences for making good or bad decisions as individuals. For example, there is a norm but not a rule against reading the minds of humans, and a ship that violates that law is ostracized and given a pejorative nickname. 16/ Star Trek captains try to avoid mistakes, and when they do make mistakes it’s a rare crisis. First do no harm, like doctors. Culture Minds try to learn from mistakes and come out net positive and win-win long term, but in the short term they are willing to play pretty dirty. Mistakes are not exceptional. It’s a startuppy fail-fast world with consequences. This is a pretty powerful attitude. Great power, great responsibility sort of thing.17/ Not only are you willing to take risks, you are willing to take risks on behalf of others. They are willing both to commit sins, and then ask for forgiveness and atone for the sins, a kind of ask for forgiveness not permission culture, which is a very different, and in my view, much more alive posture. 18/ Compared to the Culture, the Star Trek Federation has what Bruce Sterling called an acting dead posture. Or equivalently, to use terminology coined by Samo Burja, the Culture is a live player civilization, while the Star Trek Federation is a dead player civilization.19/ The Culture society reminds me of Hannah Arendt’s definition of a free public as one where freedom is experienced through involvement in mutuality, not going off by yourself with f**k-you money, and the moral universe is based on the risky posture of making mistakes driven by curiosity and growth motives, and then seeking forgiveness, rather than trying to avoid mistakes.20/ Now the interesting thing is that both Star Trek Federation and Culture lack a meaningful scarcity-based capitalism based on money. The Star Trek has replicator credits, but they’re not really that important. They deal with lesser species like the Ferengi, which do have a concept of money in the form of latinum plates. There’s a good book about the Star Trek economy called Trekonomics, by Manu Saadia by the way.21/ Within the Culture, again there’s no money. But sometimes there are fads and fashions that create money-like dynamics. Like in Look to Windward, where there is some trading based on scarce concert tickets. But again, for the Culture, money only comes into play when dealing with less advanced cultures. So overall, both the Federation and the Culture not just post-scarcity, but post-capitalist.22/ Let’s connect all that up to the current state of the world. The interesting thing is that despite all the political strife and pandemic-related troubles and deaths, we are actually starting to hit post-scarcity dynamics for real. Money is rapidly losing all its traditional meanings, and behaving in new ways we don’t really understand yet. One obvious sign of that is that service economy workers are in the deepest s**t ever, while anyone holding stocks has been doing great. So there’s a dissonance there that’s going to get sorted out, and it’s probably going to get ugly.23/ Governments across the world have taken fiscal measures that look like close to free money. Especially if you’re in an industry like airlines, hotels, or restaurants, money is now a weird new kind of government action. It doesn’t mean what it used to. We’ve also been able to throw massive resources at vaccine development and not just develop them in record time, but do so with an entirely new method, and with higher effectiveness. And chances are it will be distributed nearly free around the world. Amazing compared to past pandemics.24/ Even better, despite the strongest efforts of the fossil fuel lobby, the renewables economy has continued to develop strongly through the pandemic, and energy is getting closer to free. And by that I mean really free, after factoring in the cost of externalities like pollution and carbon. That’s worth a bit of a bunnytrail.25/ There’s a famous paper by Nobel laureate William Nordhaus, Do Real-Output and Real-Wage Measures Capture Reality? The History of Lighting Suggests Not, analyzing the cost of artificial lighting measured in human labor hours that has some interesting implications.26/ Nordhaus shows that between prehistoric times and campfires, and modern compact fluorescent lamps (which are already obsolete btw, and being replaced by even more efficient LED lights) the cost of lighting really has dropped by a huge amount. The amount of work that bought 1 hour of light in prehistoric times now buys 53 years of light. 27/ When Nordhaus wrote the paper in 1994, you could argue it was kinda dishonest since it didn’t account for the cost of climate externalities. But now with the renewables revolution, the figure is much more honest. 28/ And it’s not just lighting. Anything based on computing and electronics has seen that trajectory. The picture in this episode has an LED, as well as a knockoff Arduino board, and it’s worth thinking about that: that board is a Chinese knockoff off an open-source project, and all the code is open source. If you bought an Arduino original, you’d pay a higher price out of goodwill for the open source.29/ We’re already into 5nm semiconductors, which means extremely low-power computing, in watts/cycle terms, and coupled with renewables, you could get solar-powered bitcoin mining on ocean barges that is literally almost free energy, not just in money terms, but in all-inclusive environmental terms, in real units like human labor.30/ So at least where artificial lighting, computing, and energy are concerned, we are getting close to Culture or Star Trek levels of post-scarcity, and the dynamics of our world are starting to reflect it. Vaccines are not free to develop today, even if they’re distributed free, but with that protein-folding breakthrough, that might go the same way.31/ So why don’t we see all this and celebrate? The thing is, post-scarcity doesn’t quite look like we expect it to, in naively idealist-utopian terms. We think it looks like the orderly Star Trek Federation, but it looks more like the chaotic Culture universe.32/ Right now the light at the end of both the Trump and Covid tunnels are visible, and it’s also very clear that the world on the other side is going to be very different on every dimension: political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental. We’re going to go straight from Covid to Climate as the next challenge.33/ Those dimensions, by the way, define what is called the PESTLE analysis framework — political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental — which I learned about recently via a project I was doing with the Yak Collective, which is a network of free agents and consultants I helped start. 34/ We just launched a project called Future Frontiers, using the PESTLE framework that you might want to check out. One of the things I hope to do with the Yak Collective in 2021 is kick off an open-source Mars rover project, betting on cheap Mars access from SpaceX. I’m looking for hackers and makers to join, so if you’re interested you should sign up. 35/ A bit of product placement PR: Next week, on Thursday Dec 10 at 8AM Pacific, we’ll be doing our first Annual Meeting, and it will be a good chance for those of you who are interested to check us out.36/ But to get back to the topic, the Yak Collective is actually one example of the sort of socio-political experiment that makes sense in an emergent post-scarcity economy of involvement capitalism, where the scarce commodity is not any kind of material resource, whether it is atoms, joules, or bits, but human involvement. 37/ Both the Star Trek Federation and the Culture represent involved postures. They don’t retreat. They explore and stay curious. They are neither individualist, nor collectivist, but try to manage that tension while remaining involved. For me, the Culture is the better model, since it is much more alive, but either model is a good one to think about.38/ What makes the Culture different from every other model of post-scarcity post-capitalism is that it’s not idealistic or utopian. It aspires to good, but accepts the necessity of mistakes, forgiveness, and messiness in a chaotic universe. In the Culture, the ultimate sin is not making mistakes, but disengaging. Involvement is good. Like in regular capitalism, greed is good, in the Culture, involvement is good.39/ Covid has shown us that traditional capitalism breaks when faced with an extreme coordination problem and necessary collective action. The US is the most powerful country on the planet, and the most powerful economy and innovation engine. Yet, it has already let almost a third of a million people die, and the number is likely to be half a million by the time we’re done. 40/ Capitalism itself is here to stay I think, but no flavor seems acceptable for the world we’re heading into, and the problems will only get worse than Covid, not easier, but also more and more things will be moving into the weird post-scarcity regimes, like lighting, computing, and energy. We don’t have a system for this.41/ Democratic capitalism leads to tyranny of the majority. Socialist flavors of capitalism as in China may do better on problems like Covid, and we can’t ignore that, but they do come at the cost of authoritarian repression with an AI surveillance state. 42/ Any sort of consensus-based approach to capitalism, as in many kinds of cooperative schemes, ends up vulnerable to veto dynamics, while more individualist leaning flavors of capitalism, like libertarianism and anarchism, end up sucked into low-level endless political life, which is ironic since that’s what they set out to avoid. In New Hampshire for instance, libertarianism went off the rails and resulted in bears running wild in a small town.43/ In all cases, I think the problem is twofold — not recognizing that post-scarcity, even in limited form, creates more chaos and confusion than a utopian peace, and the urge to retreat from involvement of any sort, which backfires, and sucks you into the worst kinds of involvement possible.44/ So what do we do? I think what we must learn to do is involvement capitalism. Stay involved, don’t ignore collective action coordination problems, don’t be idealistic about what post-scarcity means in practice, and try to have fun while figuring it all out.45/ In this newsletter, I’ve referenced a famous line, usually attributed to Stewart Brand, several times: “we are as gods, and might as well get good at it.” I want to wrap this episode with that, but with a twist: what sort of gods should we aspire to be? I think the answer is, we should aspire to be like the AI Minds that inhabit the spaceships in the Culture. The first step towards involvement capitalism is to give yourself a witty and sardonic god-name that keeps you hungry and foolish, like Steve Jobs said.So that’s it for this week. Don’t forget, if you’re interested in the Yak Collective, check out yakcollective.org, and drop by our annual meeting on Thursday Dec 10, at 8 AM Pacific.We’ll resume regular programming and subscriber-only posts next week.Note to subscribers: Billing, which was paused during my break, will resume starting today. Get full access to Breaking Smart at breakingsmart.substack.com/subscribe

Prepare to boldly go where no IFer has gone before! To the future of society, where we eliminated the need for money, and hunger is a thing of the past thanks to REPLICATORS! Inspired by Star Trek, super IFer Kyle Crichton comes to us with this week's IF! What The If We lived in a post-scarcity society?! The book mentioned in this episode is called "Trekonomics" written by Manu Saadia. https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/27040338-trekonomics The NASA Artemis Accords can also be found here: https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis-accords/index.html — Got an IF of your own? Want to have us consider your idea for a show topic? Send YOUR IF to us! Email us at feedback@whattheif.com and let us know what's in your imagination. No idea is too small, or too big! --- Special thanks to Kyle Crichton for his help with the show. --- Want to support the show? Click a rating or add a review on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app! itunes.apple.com/podcast/id1250517051?mt=2&ls=1 Don't miss an episode! Subscribe at WhatTheIF.com Keep On IFFin', Philip & Matt

Trekonomics, with Manu Saadia. “The economics of the future are somewhat different,” Captain Jean-Luc Picard tells Lily Sloane in Star Trek: First Contact. “You see, money doesn’t exist in the 24th century.” But the “primitive” 21st-century human is instinctively appalled: “No money? You mean you don’t get paid?” To some viewers, the post-scarcity economic system that underpins the Star Trek universe—what author Manu Saadia calls “Trekonomics”—can seem equally baffling. But is the utopian future of the Federation really as improbable as the creation of warp drive or the transporter? Or is Star Trek, as a cultural product of American capitalism, produced by relatively well-paid entertainment professionals, just fundamentally ambivalent when it comes to some of its most sacred ideals? In this episode of Primitive Culture, host Duncan Barrett is joined by Saadia for a look at both the imaginary economics of Star Trek and the real-world economics of getting the show on the air—and turning a profit from it. We also discuss the link between economic conditions and “evolved” human behavior, the thorny question of human nature, and the extent to which—in attempting to predict the future—all economic theories are really little more than science fiction. Host Duncan Barrett Guest Manu Saadia Production Duncan Barrett (Editor and Producer), C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Amy Nelson (Associate Producer) Tony Black (Associate Producer) Clara Cook (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager)

Trekonomics, with Manu Saadia. “The economics of the future are somewhat different,” Captain Jean-Luc Picard tells Lily Sloane in Star Trek: First Contact. “You see, money doesn’t exist in the 24th century.” But the “primitive” 21st-century human is instinctively appalled: “No money? You mean you don’t get paid?” To some viewers, the post-scarcity economic system that underpins the Star Trek universe—what author Manu Saadia calls “Trekonomics”—can seem equally baffling. But is the utopian future of the Federation really as improbable as the creation of warp drive or the transporter? Or is Star Trek, as a cultural product of American capitalism, produced by relatively well-paid entertainment professionals, just fundamentally ambivalent when it comes to some of its most sacred ideals? In this episode of Primitive Culture, host Duncan Barrett is joined by Saadia for a look at both the imaginary economics of Star Trek and the real-world economics of getting the show on the air—and turning a profit from it. We also discuss the link between economic conditions and “evolved” human behavior, the thorny question of human nature, and the extent to which—in attempting to predict the future—all economic theories are really little more than science fiction. Host Duncan Barrett Guest Manu Saadia Production Duncan Barrett (Editor and Producer), C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Amy Nelson (Associate Producer) Tony Black (Associate Producer) Clara Cook (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager)

Talia talks with Manu Saadia, author of "Trekonomics," about 2020's protests, the rot at the heart of America, the moral core of the country being on the streets, racism from America to Paris, and the role of literature in times of revolution. We also discuss three short and remarkable chapters focusing on Ahab, his pipe, and dreams.Sound art and production by Ilana Weinstein.Theme song by Noam Hassenfeld.

Once again we're talking coronavirus, with returning guest Manu Saadia. We talk about what is to be learned from the various approaches different countries have taken, how Democrats are bungling the crisis, and how we might seize the moment to change prevailing ideological orthodoxy, and push through vital reforms. Enjoy! You can find Manu's book Trekonomics here.

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Subscribe now to hear the full discussion!

This time we've got a real live Frenchman on the pod! Manu Saadia, author of the book Trekonomics, comes on to discuss two scholarly analyses of the Yellow Vests protests, their complicated class and racial politics, and how Emmanuel Macron's presidency is playing out. Is he the Mayor Pete of France? Listen to find out!

What happens when two Trek fans and one Trek/Econ fan read a book about the economics of Start Trek? well they have a lot to say. We read Trekonomics by Manu Saadia. Join our book club and read with us! Tell us what you though of the book and our review in the comments. If you enjoy the show why not tell your friends. Thanks for listening ^_^ Produced by Me Music: “Funnysong” by BenSound (www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music) Sound effects: “Punch_02” by Thefsoundman (www.freesound.org/people/thefsoundman/) You can find more of Josh (Mr.Man) over here (www.facebook.com/MrMan01/) You Can't find more Garner or Alyx, they are Final Frontiers.

Jeremiah sits down with writer Manu Saadia to discuss recent French fuel tax protests and French politics. Patreon subscribers get access to full interviews which run twice as long, exclusive bonus episodes, and access to our sticker-of-the-month. If you like what we do (and want custom stickers each month) consider supporting us at patreon.com/neoliberalproject.  

It's a wealth of discussion this week as Manu Saadia, author of Trekonomics, joins the show to talk about what's in Picard's wallet! The "no money" economy of the Federation has always been one of its major selling points, but how would a system like that actually operate? Manu and I discuss the "economic plumbing" of the UFP, as well as what it might take for us to reach a similar economic reality. We also touch on "unlimited cookies", the responsibility of ownership, reputation as currency, the socioeconomic benchmark of smoked salmon, wielding soft economic power, and how the Federation could buy the entire galaxy without breaking the Bank of Bolius!Plus, we've got news about Discovery Season 2, a report from last weekend's screening of the DS9 Documentary, What We Leave Behind, and we look ahead to this weekend's Destination Trek in Birmingham!By Spock's beard, this is a great episode!Get Trekonomics on Amazon!https://amzn.to/2Csh78DBone up before the documentary with Paula and Terry's Deep Space Nine Companion and see her pics from the screening!https://amzn.to/2pZ9yPhhttps://trekmovie.com/2018/10/17/report-and-photos-cast-and-crew-of-star-trek-deep-space-nine-at-la-screening-of-what-we-left-behind/Follow Manu on Twitter!http://www.twitter.com/trekonomicsListen to our "Runaway" recap show!https://www.spreaker.com/episode/15883656Get updates from Ella from Destination Trek!http://www.twitter.com/gondorgoldhttp://www.instagram.com/generationsgeekSuit up with our new T-shirt!https://www.teepublic.com/t-shirt/3296844-suit-up?store_id=180187Join our crew on Patreon and get access to our new feature, Stellar Commentaries!http://www.patreon.com/eistpodClick through our Amazon link on enterprisingindividuals.com to support the show!http://www.enterprisingindividuals.comhttps://www.amazon.com/?tag=jet01-20&linkCode=ezFollow us on Twitter and Facebook for Trek news and updates!http://www.twitter.com/eistpodhttp://www.facebook.com/eistpod

It's a wealth of discussion this week as Manu Saadia, author of Trekonomics, joins the show to talk about what's in Picard's wallet! The "no money" economy of the Federation has always been one of its major selling points, but how would a system like that actually operate? Manu and I discuss the "economic plumbing" of the UFP, as well as what it might take for us to reach a similar economic reality. We also touch on "unlimited cookies", the responsibility of ownership, reputation as currency, the socioeconomic benchmark of smoked salmon, wielding soft economic power, and how the Federation could buy the entire galaxy without breaking the Bank of Bolius!Plus, we've got news about Discovery Season 2, a report from last weekend's screening of the DS9 Documentary, What We Leave Behind, and we look ahead to this weekend's Destination Trek in Birmingham!By Spock's beard, this is a great episode!Get Trekonomics on Amazon!https://amzn.to/2Csh78DBone up before the documentary with Paula and Terry's Deep Space Nine Companion and see her pics from the screening!https://amzn.to/2pZ9yPhhttps://trekmovie.com/2018/10/17/report-and-photos-cast-and-crew-of-star-trek-deep-space-nine-at-la-screening-of-what-we-left-behind/Follow Manu on Twitter!http://www.twitter.com/trekonomicsListen to our "Runaway" recap show!https://www.spreaker.com/episode/15883656Get updates from Ella from Destination Trek!http://www.twitter.com/gondorgoldhttp://www.instagram.com/generationsgeekSuit up with our new T-shirt!https://www.teepublic.com/t-shirt/3296844-suit-up?store_id=180187Join our crew on Patreon and get access to our new feature, Stellar Commentaries!http://www.patreon.com/eistpodClick through our Amazon link on enterprisingindividuals.com to support the show!http://www.enterprisingindividuals.comhttps://www.amazon.com/?tag=jet01-20&linkCode=ezFollow us on Twitter and Facebook for Trek news and updates!http://www.twitter.com/eistpodhttp://www.facebook.com/eistpod

So how about that Captain Picard show? In this "Kickers of Elves Special Edition" we talk with author Manu Saadia about Star Trek, "corporate fanfic," and a bevy of additional topics, ranging from fandom fatigue, the fermi paradox, and even the opiod crisis. Go buy Trekonomics: The Economics of Star Trek!

When there’s a shakeup behind the scenes of Star Trek Discovery, it’s time for Ben and Adam to grip the mics and share the news. But when emotions get hot our hosts pivot to a chat with fellow Trek fan Manu Saadia about his thoughts on the current era of Sci-Fi and his fantastic book "Trekonomics."Is season 2 still a go? Who’s driving the Disco now? Does Manu drop any economics spoilers? It’s the episode that brings the heat but cools off with democratic socialism.

For Episode 7, Shashank and Barry get the distinguished pleasure to speak with Manu Saadia, author of 'Trekonomics'. This is the essential book on the discussion of what a 24th Century economy would really look like, socially, politically, and, of course, economically. Manu's book also challenges contemporary views on scarcity and offers changes to our own society. In our interview, we discuss the real-world implications of Trekonomics, along with deep dives into the salient points within his book. This was a joy to record and we hope you enjoy listening!

For Episode 7, Shashank and Barry get the distinguished pleasure to speak with Manu Saadia, author of 'Trekonomics'. This is the essential book on the discussion of what a 24th Century economy would really look like, socially, politically, and, of course, economically. Manu's book also challenges contemporary views on scarcity and offers changes to our own society. In our interview, we discuss the real-world implications of Trekonomics, along with deep dives into the salient points within his book. This was a joy to record and we hope you enjoy listening!

(REBROADCAST EPISODE) In this week’s special episode, David compares and contrasts the economics of the Star Wars and Star Trek universes. He is joined by Zachary Feinstein, an Assistant Professor at Washington University in St. Louis, and Manu Saadia, author of *Trekonomics.* Topics include the economic fallout from the destruction of the Death Star, the absence of money in Star Trek, and whether a universe can really eliminate scarcity. Original episode: https://soundcloud.com/macro-musings/feinsteinsaadia David’s blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com/ Macro Musings podcast site: macromusings.com David’s Twitter: @davidbeckworth Manu’s *Trekonomics* website: trekonomics.tumblr.com/ (you can order the book, *Trekonomics,* here as well) Manu’s Twitter: @trekonomics Zach’s faculty profile: sites.wustl.edu/fictionomics/ Zach’s Twitter: @FictionomicsWU Related links: “It’s a Trap: Emperor Palpatine’s Poison Pill” by Zachary Feinstein arxiv.org/pdf/1511.09054.pdf “The Case for the Empire” by Jonathan Last www.weeklystandard.com/the-case-for-…/article/2540

On the Overthinking It Podcast we tackle the first half-season of Star Trek: Discovery with special guest Manu Saadia. Episode 496: Michelle Yeoh With A Goatee Is Still Out There originally appeared on Overthinking It, the site subjecting the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. [Latest Posts | Podcast (iTunes Link)]

A truly terrible episode! Eddie tries to explain Trekonomics, and Sarge almost pukes over oomax. Also, I reference the book Trekonomics by Manu Saadia, which you should check out here! https://www.facebook.com/TrekonomicsBook/   RECOMMENDED VIEWING   Encounter At Farpoint (TNG Season 1, Episodes 1 & 2) Hide And Q (TNG Season 1, Episode 10) Q Who? (TNG Season 2, Episode 16) Deja Q (TNG Season 3, Episode 13) Captain’s Holiday (TNG Season 3, Episode 19) Qpid (TNG Season 4, Episode 20) True Q (TNG Season 6, Episode 6) Tapestry (TNG Season 6, Episode 15) All Good Things... (TNG Season 7, Episodes 25 & 26)

In this episode, we decide to break the ice and watch the Star Trek movie First Contact. Is global thermonuclear war a necessary prerequisite for realizing the utopian vision of Star Trek? How did a Titan II ICBM help humanity go where no man has gone before? Why did Zefram Cochrane get a statue before Lily Sloane? Tim, Gabe, and special guest Manu Saadia (author of Trekonomics: The Economics of Star Trek) answer these questions and more. You can follow Manu Saadia on Twitter @Trekonomics. We greatly enjoyed his book, Trekonomics: The Economics of Star Trek (May 2016). (Tim edit on 9/18: There was an encoding error in the original podcast file. It should be fixed now) Before we get noticed by some Vulcans, we recommend checking out: -F. White, The Overview Effect: Space Exploration and Human Evolution, 1998 -Disaster at Silo 7, TV Movie,1988 -Command and Control, Documentary, 2016 -Peter Brannen, The Ends of the World: : Volcanic Apocalypses, Lethal Oceans, and Our Quest to Understand Earth's Past Mass Extinctions, June 2017 -The Next Generation, “The Best of Both Worlds,” Season 3, Episode 26, June 1990 Also check out the sources below to learn more about the subjects in this episode – you can also access these links on our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com. Thanks to TrekCore.com for some of the sound effects used in this episode. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on iTunes, Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay Music, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, Facebook, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube. Enjoy!

American Banker is pleased to bring you Breaking Banks, hosted by Brett King, and featuring the editors of American Banker.   This week's show is a remix of Brett King's interview with Bruce Cahan, Stanford professor and creator of GoodBank and Manu Saadia, author of Trekonomics, a book about the economics of Star Trek. In the second half, Sam Maule, director and senior practice lead at NTT Data Americas, and Marc Hochstein, editor in chief of American Banker, speak with John Hope Bryant, American Banker Innovator of the Year and creator of the "Silver Rights Movement."  

In this week’s special episode, David compares and contrasts the economics of the Star Wars and Star Trek universes. He is joined by Zachary Feinstein, an Assistant Professor at Washington University in St. Louis, and Manu Saadia, author of *Trekonomics.* Topics include the economic fallout from the destruction of the Death Star, the absence of money in Star Trek, and whether a universe can really eliminate scarcity. David’s blog: http://macromarketmusings.blogspot.com/ David’s Twitter: @davidbeckworth Manu’s *Trekonomics* website: https://trekonomics.tumblr.com/ (you can order the book, *Trekonomics,* here as well) Manu’s Twitter: @trekonomics Zach’s faculty profile: https://sites.wustl.edu/fictionomics/ Zach’s Twitter: @FictionomicsWU Related links: “It’s a Trap: Emperor Palpatine’s Poison Pill” by Zachary Feinstein https://arxiv.org/pdf/1511.09054.pdf “The Case for the Empire” by Jonathan Last http://www.weeklystandard.com/the-case-for-the-empire/article/2540

Manu Saadia, author of Trekonomics joins us to talk Star Trek, podcasts, books and more! Hosts: Craig Damlo, Paul Alves Guest: Manu Saadia NEW: Help support the show and become a patron at http://www.bookguys.ca/patreon GET A FREE BOOK FROM AUDIBLE WITH A FREE TRIAL at http://www.audibletrial.com/bookguys Follow Manu Saadia on Twitter:  http://www.twitter.com/trekonomics Visit http://www.reddit.com/r/bookguys and submit your favorite book news stories! __ Books Discussed During This Episode: Trekonomics by Manu Saadia Up Til Now by William Shatner Islands In The Sky by Arthur C. Clarke Noon 22nd Century by Arkady Strugatsky & Boris Strugatsky __ Hunter S. Thompson in a shootout with his neighbor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHeSC_Ws5Ic&feature=youtu.bePublished On August 13th, 2016. Support Book Guys Show by donating to the tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/bookguys Find out more on the Book Guys Show website. Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/bookguys/2d84970d-c209-42b2-983a-76b898b81595 Check out our podcasting host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free, no credit card required, forever. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code bookguys for 40% off for 4 months, and support Book Guys Show.

Trekonomics (Piper Text) Star Trek is set in an amazing utopian universe of faster-than-light travel, of “beam me up, Scotty,” and Vulcan salutes. It’s also a universe where war and poverty have been eradicated, money doesn’t exist, and work is indistinguishable from leisure.  In this ground-breaking book, timed to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of Star Trek’s first episode, Manu Saadia takes a deep dive into the show’s most radical and provocative aspect: its detailed and consistent economic vision. Could we create such a utopia here on Earth? And why has Star Trek’s future had such staying power in our cultural imagination? Trekonomics looks at the morals, values, and hard economics that underpin the series’ ideal society, and its sources of inspiration both inside and outside the science-fiction canon. After reading this book, you’ll be able to answer the question: If you could live in Star Trek’s economic utopia, would you want to? Manu Saadia was born in Paris, France, where he fell into science fiction and Star Trek fandom at the age of eight. He studied history of science and economic history in Paris and Chicago. His work on Trekonomics has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Financial Times,The Wall Street Journal, and Business Insider. He also appeared on the panel “The Amazing Economics of Star Trek” along with Paul Krugman at New York City’s Comic Con in 2015. Manu Saadia is a contributing writer for Fusion.net. He lives in Los Angeles with his son and his wife.

Scientists predict alien contact timeline, ‘Stranger Things’ on Netflix (8:45), ‘Trekonomics’ book interview with Manu Saadia (13:13), Lucasfilm and Star Wars teams with Magic Leap to pioneer ‘mixed reality’ entertainment (43:54).

Could we finally be about to crack this source of potentially unlimited clean energy - thanks in part to a plethora of private sector tech startups? Laurence Knight travels to one such company, Tokamak Energy in the UK, to hear from plasma physicist Melanie Windridge. Meanwhile the BBC's David Willis reports on the string of secretive new fusion initiatives along the Pacific Coast, and the Silicon Valley money backing them. Plus, could fusion energy open the way to the economic abundance and space travel portrayed in Star Trek? Laurence speaks to Trekonomics author Manu Saadia. (Picture: Plasma inside a Tokamak fusion reactor; Credit: Tokamak Energy)

On the Overthinking It Podcast, we remember times that Prince touched our lives and we talk with author Manu Saadia about his book “Trekonomics” on the economics of the Star Trek universe. Episode 408: Boldly Going, and So Forth originally appeared on Overthinking It, the site subjecting the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. [Latest Posts | Podcast (iTunes Link)]

This is the second part of the 'Best of 2015' of the Economic Rockstar podcast. This episode provides you with a glimpse of what type of guests and conversations I've had on the show this past year.   Previous episodes that feature in this Best of 2015 are:  022 Josh Angrist on Taking the Con Out of Econometrics. 060 Manu Saadia on Trekonomics – The Economics of Star Trek: Scarcity, Productivity and Public Goods 017 Marina Adshade on Understanding Economics the Sexy and 'Hard' Way. 049 Jon Haywood with Jez Groom on How a Cleverly Designed Nudge Can Change People’s Behavior – Including How We Pee. 019 Mark Thornton on the Decriminalization of Marijuana and the Skyscraper Curse. 027 Craig Medico on How Economics Saved My Career, How I’m Embracing Technology in the Classroom and Why I’m off to Wrestling School. 020 George Magnus on The Age of Ageing, China and the EU. 028 Alice Louise Kassens on Nudging Students to Study Economics and Why Mainstream Media Should Publish Research on Mental Health. 030 Kim Holder on Rockonomix and Teaching Economics Through the Lens of Sport, Music and Movies. 045 Jon Manning on the Art of Pricing and How Economic Theory Has Got Pricing All Wrong. Check out the shownotes at www.economicrockstar.com/sixtysix

Manu Saadia fell into science fiction and Star Trek fandom at the age of eight, back in Paris, France, where he was born and raised. Manu  studied history of science and economic history in Paris and Chicago. After many happy years in the Ivory Tower, he yielded to his childhood passion for the future. Manu embarked on his continuing mission to explore strange new worlds by boldly going where many have gone before: Los Angeles, CA, where he advise and (occasionally) builds tech companies. Manu received the 2005 Wayne C. Booth Graduate Student Prize for Excellence in Teaching at the University of Chicago. His book, Trekonomics, is currently available for pre-order at www.inkshares.com and will be released in 2016. In this episode you will learn: why Manu Saadia wrote Trekonomics. about the Star Trek Economics panel at Comic Con. why economists love Star Trek. about inkshares and how it can help authors publish their book. how traditional media rather than social media boosted pre-order sales of Trekonomics - an ironic outcome. when Manu’s interested in economics and Star Trek collided. about the work of Isaac Asimov and how his stories are a discourse on economics. how the stories of robots and the future by Asimov influenced and shaped the storyline in Star Trek. about the replicators in Star Trek and how they solve the problem of economic scarcity. about the Ferengi’s and how they represent capitalism and trade. why The Federation or the humans in Star Trek do not use money but have a foreign account to trade with the Ferengi’s. and much much more. Check out the shownotes page and links mentioned in this episode at www.economicrockstar.com/manu-saadia  Subscribe to the Economic Rockstar podcast on iTunes and never miss an episode.

On this episode of Slate Money, author of the upcoming book Trekonomics, Manu Saadia, joins host Felix Salmon of Fusion, Cathy O’Neil of mathbabe.org, and Slate’s Moneybox columnist Jordan Weissmann to discuss:    •How the universe of Star Trek functions without money? •If we can we ever reach a post-scarcity society? •Just what Google is up to with their new umbrella company Alphabet?   Slate Money is sponsored by Volvo. Experience the Wonder of Summer. Have a month's payment on Volvo and spend your summer doing the things that matter to you. Plus, get up to five years full coverage, including wear and tear. Go to volvocars.com/us.   And by Zip Recruiter. With Zip Recruiter you can post your job to over 100 job sites with a single click, and an interface that's easy to use. Right now, you can try Zip Recruiter for free. Go to ziprecruter.com/slatemoney.   And by Credit Karma. Don't pay for your credit score. With Credit Karma, you can see your credit score right now absolutely free. Just text the word M-O-N-E-Y to 89800 to download the free Credit Karma app and get started.     Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Singularity" - Manu Saadia, author of the forthcoming book Trekonomics, joins Scott to discuss Singularity (ENT S2E9). The economics of the Star Trek universe are discussed, as is why so many Enterprise episodes feature scenes in the bathroom, the merits of T’Pal, and whether or not Capt. Archer is a good captain (spoiler: he isn’t). Apologies for some of the audio in this episode, it would seem Skype isn’t a fan of Enterprise. Next on Random Trek: TOS’s Mirror, Mirror. Host Scott McNulty with Manu Saadia.