The Bonding.   When Lieutenant Marla Aster is killed unexpectedly during an away mission under Lieutenant Worf's command, Worf takes young Jeremy Aster under his wing by participating in the Klingon ritual known as "R'uustai" ("The Bonding"). In this episode of Meta Treks: A Star Trek Philosophy Podcast, hosts Mike Morrison and Zachary Fruhling explore the philosophical themes of death and loss. Mike and Zachary discuss meaning and the existential absurdity of life and death, the sociological and cultural role of rituals, Jeremy Aster's escapism and the illusion of happiness, the finality of death, and the sense of powerlessness in the face of death. Finally, Mike and Zachary continue the turbolift debate between Captain Picard and Counselor Troi about the wisdom of allowing children to live aboard a starship.   Chapters Welcome to Episode 24 (00:01:07)  Synopsis of TNG "The Bonding" (00:06:00)  Initial Thoughts (00:06:46)  Death, Meaning, and the Absurd (00:12:20)  Emotions and Death (00:16:47)  Worf and Jeremy Aster (00:21:55)  The Role of Ritual (00:25:43)  Death, Pluralism, and Cultural Relativism (00:30:31)  Exploration and Meaning - The Challenger Explosion (00:41:21)  The Finality of Death (00:43:11)  The Role of Death in Life (00:45:25)  Escapism and the Illusion of Happiness (00:48:22)  Subjective Meaning vs. Objective Meaning (00:52:18)  Deep Space Nine - "It's Only a Paper Moon" (00:57:20)  Cross-Cultural Connections (01:03:45)  Children on the Enterprise - A City in Space (01:09:53)  Final Thoughts (01:18:41)  Hosts  Mike Morrison and Zachary Fruhling   Production  Dennis Castello (Editor and Producer) Norman C. Lao (Executive Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Charlynn Schmiedt (Executive Producer) Patrick Devlin (Associate Producer) Will Nguyen (Content Manager) Richard Marquez (Production Manager)   Send us your feedback!  Twitter: @trekfm  Facebook: http://facebook.com/trekfm  Voicemail: http://www.speakpipe.com/trekfm  Contact Form: http://www.trek.fm/contact  Visit the Trek.fm website at http://www.trek.fm/  Subscribe in iTunes: http://itunes.com/trekfm   Support the Network!  Become a Trek.fm Patron on Patreon and help us keep Star Trek talk coming every week. We have great perks for you at http://patreon.com/trekfm