Building her entire personality around being a biological entity… echoes of TERFdom.

ST:NG was reportedly blocked from much gay commentary by a producer, a lack which is painfully glaring in retrospect for a show that tries to be on the cutting edge of social progress.

Both, I think.

Some people strive for excellence, but it should be healthy personal quest, not an insecure thirst for validation. In my ideal post-scarcity society, self- and other-acceptance is as important as achievement.

You might get something out of the book about the achievement society–Burnout Society, by German-born Korean philosopher by Byung-Hul Chans–or a video on the same by your favorite philosophy youtuber.

Sounds like a recipe for burnout for me personally; to me that is a hell society where people hide their dissapointment in me with their encouragement that I could do better. I’ve come a long way from perfectionism to satisficing on good enough.

The nut of the many…

Thinking about this more, I think The Enterprise has a realism advantage in that most of the crew has subject-area competence–that is they have to know engineering, or medicine, or navigation, or tacitcs, or whatever. These are things that can be taught and tested and developed.

I think where The Federation Office corps strays is in a few areas:

1a) multiple areas of competence–like everyone is always WORKING so hard to get BETTER at everything, like why do people need to also master classical instruments as well as advanced fluid dynamics? It reflects a striving typical among Ivy League merit-obsessed individuals, which is a real thing, but it also doesn’t ever criticize this mindset.

1b) the Science is Science trope, common SF trope --where a doctor might also know about quantum capacitors and an engineer might have enough basic biology to whipup a cure for a rapidly spreading degenerative illness. I still remember an episode with Kira and Odo getting stranded because neither of them knew shit about fixing engines and I’m still recovering from the shock.

2. Emotional intelligence – everyone seems to be on a pretty even keel, which is unusual for the driven types from 1a.

3. Command as meritocracy. Maybe someone in the military can speak to this, but in my view organizations have always been chock-a-block with ass-kissers and incompetent aristocrats. An actual command consistently competent is less believable than teleporters.

I think the Orville really shines at 1a–they have some seriously flawed characters.

Who does the struggle well? Futurama is the only one I can think of.

Low key one of the obnoxious things about sf in general and ST in particular is how sickeningly competent everyone is. Lower Decks makes a feint against it, but then falls into it. I was so happy that the pilot in The Expanse was a self-admitted bus driver, but then he turned into “the best damn pilot in the galaxy.”

I guess I’m at the age where I value relatability more that wish-fulflliment, the age I realize I’ll always be more Barclay than I’ll ever be La Forge.