In what ways does the U.S.S. Enterprise function as a character, not just a vehicle in Star Trek? Does “she” have a personality? Do the other ships in the Star Trek universe have the same level of character development?

I feel like the Enterprise, like any vehicle or building  – because the Enterprise is a home as well as a method of transport, is a character and has a personality as a result of the ways that the other characters treat her and this is true of other ships in the Star Trek universe and also starbases like DS9.

Scott asks if you think weâ€re getting closer to realizing the Vulcan philosophy of IDIC (Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations) here on Earth. What would it take for that to happen? What would it look like? How might things be different?

I don’t really know that the Vulcans realised that philosophy fully themselves – they appear to still trip over their own prejudices especially when it comes to other species and members of their own society who aren’t like the majority.

Perhaps it would take a major crisis where everyone needed to work together for us all to see the value in everyone’s difference and appreciate them.

Why is it important to see yourself on television? Why is television an important subject for scholarly study and how does what we watch shape the world we live in?

It’s important to see yourself represented on television because it helps both you and other see that we are all part of the same society, all equally worthy of having that representation. Seeing ourselves in this way, achieving great goals, even in  a fictional universe, helps us to believe that these things are possible – which in turn helps us to actually make these things possible.