Based solely on that quote, I whole heartedly agree. Science fiction is almost always supposed to expose something about our world through a different lens. Whilst it’s not the most elegant example, the two black & white striped races in TOS arguing over “black-white stripes vs white-black stripes” was a clear allegory for racism in our country when the show came out. District 9 is a decent allegory for something like Gaza & Israel: open air prisons and what-not.

Science fiction should (IMO) make the muddy waters of morality more clear.

A more nuanced example comes from Battlestar Galactica; wherein the human members of a concentration camp use suicide bombing as a means of rebellion. The show made sure to imply the efficacy of suicide bombing. It also made sure to expose the arguments against it. But I think during a post 9/11 world, suicide bombing was looked at as the root of all evil. Perpetrators were seen as aimless villains without a cause or reason (without a rational one, anyways). But BSG did make a compelling argument for such extreme cases of terrorist violence when your back is up against the wall.

The bajorans in DS9 also make cases for terrorism as an act of rebellion against colonizers.

I think science fiction is one of the only genres they really take a look at these topics. Other genres seem to only gleam the very tips of the morality iceberg.

Oh that’s kind of cool.

I know 7 is traditionally a lucky number, but is there any other reason the writers chose 7?

Yeah that’s a fair assessment. But I like the description that they are “careful”. I forget who wrote it, but I remember someone saying that humans rise to the top of the social ladder quickly because we are not careful. We are willing to risk our lives testing a warp drive a day after inventing it. Meanwhile Vulcans would study the warp drive mechanics for a hundred years before testing it out. Vulcans are logically driven, but their logic attempts to preserve life as much as possible (ignoring wedding traditions). Humans use our lives more like Klingons - exploring is our sole form of glory. Klingons seek glory in war. We seek out new life and new civilizations because that is our cause.

So are Vulcans careful and arguably fearful? Sure. But I like the idea of logic as a driver, so I tend to lean towards that since it’s more “canon”.

I thought it was fun! But I felt cheated with Spock and Chapel. They definitely should have had a duet. I’m also upset that they didn’t resolve it in any meaningful way at the end.

I want the episode to go philosophical. Now.

AI rights feels the most saliant to me due to the direction the newer shows are going. But I think seceding worlds would capture the current western zeitgeist much better. With Brexit in the EU and civil war rehashing in the US, seceding worlds feels like a topic that would resonate strongly with the political issues on my mind.