The Realization Of Star Trek Technologies

As Star Trek celebrates its 50th anniversary, the futuristic tools of Kirk, Spock, Scott, and McCoy continue to come to life. This book merges Star Trek scientific lore—how the science of the time informed the implementation of technology in the series—and the science as it is playing out today. Scientists and engineers have made and continue to develop replicators, teletransporters, tractor beams, and vision restoring visors. This book combines the vision of 1966 science fiction with the latest research in physics, biotechnology, and engineering.

With its vision of a bold future, Star Trek has captivated millions for decades. Its ideas of transporters and warp drives, of androids and holodecks have penetrated the cultural imagination.

In an era of reboots, restarts and retreads, J.J. Abrams' Star Trek trilogy--featuring new, prequel adventures of Kirk, Spock and the rest of the original series characters, aboard the USS Enterprise--has brought the franchise to a new generation and perfected a process that is increasingly central to entertainment media: reinvigorating the beloved classic. This collection of new essays offers the first in-depth analysis of the new trilogy and the vision of the next generation of Star Trek film-makers. Issues of gender, race, politics, economics, technology and morality--always key themes of the franchise--are explored in the 21st century context of "The Kelvin Timeline."

In an increasingly global and multilingual society, translators have transitioned from unobtrusive stagehands to key intercultural mediators-a development that is reflected in contemporary media. From Coppola's Lost in Translation to television's House M.D., and from live performance to social media, translation is rendered as not only utilitarian, but also performative and communicative. In examining translation as a captivating theme in film, television, commercials, and online content, this multinational collection engages with the problems and limitations faced by translators, as well as the ethical and philosophical aspects of translation and Translation Studies. Contributors examine the role of the translator (as protagonist, agent, negotiator, and double-agent), translation in global communication, the presentation of visual texts, multilingualism in contemporary media, and the role of foreign languages in advertisements. Translation and translators are shown as inseparable parts of a contemporary life that is increasingly multilingual, multiethnic, multinational and socially diverse.

Media narratives inform our ideas of the future - and Games are currently making a significant contribution to this medial reservoir. On the one hand, Games demonstrate a particular propensity for fantastic and futuristic scenarios. On the other hand, they often serve as an experimental field for the latest media technologies. However, while dystopias are part of the standard gaming repertoire, Games feature utopias much less frequently. Why? This anthology examines playful utopias from two perspectives. It investigates utopias in digital Games as well as utopias of the digital game; that is, the role of ludic elements in scenarios of the future.

The first monograph analysing all legal regimes applicable to the use of less-lethal weapons.

The Moral Case for Profit Maximization argues that profit maximization is moral when businessmen seek to maximize profit by creating goods or services that are of objective value. Traditionally, profit maximization has been defended on economic grounds. Profit, economists argue, incentivizes businessmen to produce goods and services. In this view, businessmen do not need to be virtuous as long as they deliver the goods. It challenges the traditional defense of profit maximization, arguing that profit maximization is morally ambitious because it requires businessmen to form normative abstractions and to cultivate a virtuous character. In so doing, the author also challenges the moral basis of corporate social responsibility. Proponents of CSR argue that businessmen can do good while doing well. This book argues that businessmen already do good by maximizing profit, drawing upon the histories of the wheel, the refrigerator, and the shipping container, as well as the biographies of J. P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and Thomas Edison to demonstrate the role of values in the creation of material goods and the role of the virtues in value creation. The author challenges readers to rethink the relationship between profit, value, and virtue.