Blog by Sumana Harihareswara, Changeset founder
I only recently realized that I got some of my…
Hi, reader. I wrote this in 2002 and it's now more than five years old. So it may be very out of date; the world, and I, have changed a lot since I wrote it! I'm keeping this up for historical archive purposes, but the me of today may 100% disagree with what I said then. I rarely edit posts after publishing them, but if I do, I usually leave a note in italics to mark the edit and the reason. If this post is particularly offensive or breaches someone's privacy, please contact me.
I only recently realized that I got some of my interest in political science from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Many of the Hard Questions raised in TNG concern government policy! The Prime Directive is the opposite of the Marshall Plan. How does the Federation work? Why? Contrast to the Ekumen in Le Guin's Hainish series.
One reason I considered this lately: my class on Politics in Modern Science Fiction. Also, last night, Jeana bought tickets to tonight's midnight show of The Matrix at Act I&II on Center Street. And she told me that she remembered with great fondness that one day in class that I asked, "name a philosopher whose work you see reflected in The Matrix," and we filled half the blackboard. How terrific that was! I'll be glad to teach again.
