What Capt. Kirk would say

Editor, Index-Tribune:

$15 an hour is not rational, Phineas Worthington says. He reminds me of a cold Spock or Data on Star Trek: “… but that is not logical”… “I am not programmed to feel emotion…”. This appeal to pure reason is laughable, on Star Trek and in the I-T; it’s obviously such a limited frame.

We all know it was Captain Kirk who got the job done, he the Epicurean sensualist warrior, not the Platonic intellect or Aristotelian/ Lockean empiricist. Kirk, the bag of contradictions and emotions, by the seat of his pants, always got laid, always did in those aliens, always showing why we could be optimistic about our future. The robots and Vulcans were mere sidekicks, tools Kirk and Picard used as proxies to show by comparison that it was a full, messy boat of humanity that prevails, not stiff, unresilient reason alone.

Spock would raise his eyebrows, quizzical, not quite understanding, seeing Kirk’s unpredictable, delightful impulsiveness and heart: Spock knew Kirk was always right. Captain Kirk says: $15 an hour, at least until the human race no longer needs money.

Fred Allebach

Sonoma