I'm no utopian at a personal level, but we need more utopian visions in contemporary culture so we can extricate ourselves from the prison of cynicism and despair.

One angle I'd be particularly keen to see is how we got from a money-based society in the 21st Century to the money-less society of the 24th Century…

As with much of ST, they would do better - and it would be more socially effective - if those themes were depicted as normal assumptions, rather than "overt socially! relevant! messaging!" (Which is tiresome and ultimately off-putting no matter what one's agenda might be.)

Nope, they're just assholes. Nothing against hunting or hunters whatsoever, but if you see a rare animal on someone else's land, the prudent thing to do is check first, not shoot.

I second that motion.

Responsible and ethical journalism does not pay its sources, ever. Hard rule.

So... you're comparing Obamacare - which grew out of a conservative think-tank proposal, and is shot through with Republican ideas, btw - with Jim Crow laws? Well, I encourage you to support the GOP's efforts in this struggle. It's working so exceedingly well for them so far!

SCOTUS ruled that it is constitutional, in case you weren't paying attention. Which apparently you weren't.

Your thinking on this is fundamentally wrong-headed. If his construct was not simply a tool to get his audience to consider extreme possibilities, then it may be said his non-evidence based belief in the likely existence of sentient beings elsewhere in the cosmos was an emotional quirk. While one could legitimately…

I'm pretty sure you have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.

There's a reason this quote became an instant classic: because it's totally spot-on.

I think "q-m" refers to "quantum mechanical".

Well said.

Walter White, worse than Joffrey? Not a chance.

It's right to be skeptical of any hypothesis - that's how science works. But in terms of credentials, as one of the other commenters pointed out Penrose is indeed a quantum physicist. However this does not go far enough. It doesn't matter whether he (or Hameroff) is or not; some of the greatest breakthroughs come from…

Can you elaborate?

Seems like this must result in fumes that aren't good for you.

What is this?

One thing I would have like to have seen is Iain Banks-approved artistic renditions of spacecraft, orbitals, humanoids, and drones featured in the Culture series. He didn't go into great detail about many of the characters and hardware and I for one sometimes have difficulty envisioning what he was trying to convey.

We'…

Can you provide a successful example of such a movie that didn't also rely on conflict/tension to drive the plot forward? (I'm not asking aggressively - I simply am not aware of any.)

"Why can't Hollywood have scientists exploring simply for the sake of gaining knowledge?"

Because movies require tension and drama. It's hard to make exploration exciting to spectators. Note that even 2001 and Europa Report required forms of conflict (man v. nature, man v. technology). Also, you have to give some…