Trekonomics: The Economics of Star Trek by Manu Saadia

"Manu Saadia has managed to show us one more reason, perhaps the most compelling one of all, why we all need the world of Star Trek to one day become the world we live in." — Chris Black, Writer and Co-Executive Producer, Star Trek: Enterprise What would the world look like if everybody had everything they wanted or needed? Trekonomics, the premier book in financial journalist Felix Salmon's imprint PiperText, approaches scarcity economics by coming at it backwards — through thinking about a universe where scarcity does not exist. Delving deep into the details and intricacies of 24th century society, Trekonomics explores post-scarcity and whether we, as humans, are equipped for it. What are the prospects of automation and artificial intelligence? Is there really no money in Star Trek? Is Trekonomics at all possible?

A clever exploration of quite possibly the most fantastical aspect of Trek: post-scarcity.

There are two big takeaways for me:

1. A future without poverty necessarily transforms the mindset of Federation citizens. It's the reason why Starfleet officers are unbelievably perfect: growing up without the toxic stress of material instability leads to even humans who are so alien to contemporary norms. The profit motive, price signal and so on are just irrelevant.
2. The Ferengi are us. They're 20-21st century humanity struggling to understand how any society could function without a reliance on capitalism.

My only minor quibble is that I think the back-half of the book is a bit more crunchy than the first. Saadia does a great job when addressing the economic concepts within the TNG/DS9 frameworks. Given the target audience, I wish he did more of that and less background work on explaining Trek conventions to the reader. How many normies are really going to bother picking up what's essentially a love-letter to policy oriented Trek fans?

The author had quite a few inciteful things to say about the economics of star trek and what it means in relation to the real world. I enjoyed the comparisons. The authors extensive background in economics really helps ground science fiction ideals in real world theory. I would recommend this to anyone who thinks deeply about star trek and the lessons we can gleam from the show to aspire to recreate in the world we live in.

It got a little ranty at times and there were sections that didn't seem to have much to do with the economics of Star Trek.
But overall it was interesting and I rather liked the section on early SF influences on Trek.