Introduction.

Welcome to The Briar Patch, a podcast that uses Star Trek as a springboard for the discussion of socioeconomics. Drawing upon more than half a century of stories told in Gene Roddenberry’s idealistic future, hosts Guinevere Liberty Nell and Patrick Devlin take you on a journey of exploration into societies, political theory, economics, and more to find out how we get from the strife-filled world of today to that tomorrow when society’s ails have been cured.

In the premiere episode, Patrick and Guinevere share their backgrounds, how and why they got into Star Trek and social sciences, and what they have planned for the show.

Chapters Intro (00:00:00) Meet Guinevere (00:02:15) Meet Patrick (00:03:00) 9/11, Security, and “Drumhead” (00:03:50) Star Trek as Fable (00:10:50) Voyager and “Critical Care” (00:12:50) Values, Mob Mentality, and Collective Will (00:15:30) United Kingdom vs. United States (00:17:00) Guinevere’s Economics Background (00:22:00) Utopia, Scarcity, and the Borg (00:26:00) Overcoming Scarcity (00:29:00) Goals for the Show (00:32:00) Why The Briar Patch? (00:34:00) Complexity of the World (00:39:00) Closing (00:48:00)

Hosts Patrick Devlin and Guinevere Liberty Nell

Production C Bryan Jones (Editor and Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Patreon Manager)