Reason and R Street Present: The Politics of Star Trek

Thursday, August 4, at 6:30 PM

Reason Magazine
1747 Connecticut Ave NW
Washington, DC

(Reception to follow)

With the next installment of the long-running space opera to be released this July, there are some important questions we must examine: Was the Prime Directive responsible foreign policy, or was the Federation missing an opportunity to spread democracy? What would the invention of replicators do to the free market? Is Kirk more libertarian than Picard? How should policymakers regulate holodecks? What does the half-century long history of the Star Trek franchise say about the development of American liberalism?

Our panel of experts will answer these questions and more with a deep discussion of the political philosophy of Star Trek and other contemporary science fiction.

Featuring:

Nick Gillespie
Editor-in-Chief, Reason.com & Reason TV

Eli Lehrer
President, R Street Institute

Ilya Somin
Professor of Law, George Mason University

Nika Nour
Director of Federal Government Affairs, Entertainment Software Association