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Trekking Through Compliance

Trekking Through Compliance – Episode 4 – Ethical Lessons from The Naked Time

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider The Naked Time, which aired on September 29, 1966, Star Date 1704.2.

Story

A landing party from the Enterprise beams aboard Psi 2000, an ancient planet about to break up. They find all six of the station’s crew dead. However, the circumstances are bizarre since the life support systems have been switched off, and everything in the station is frozen solid.

As Psi 2000 shows a shift in a magnetic field (and mass!), the Enterprise begins a close orbit requiring constant vigilance. Meanwhile, Sulu abandons his post for a jaunt at the gym, believing himself to be a rapier-brandishing French cavalier. Riley takes over the engine room and declares himself Captain. He demands ice cream for the entire crew and begins a ship-wide broadcast of his rendition of classic Irish ballads (his favorite being “Kathleen”).

While all this is happening, Nurse Chapel infects Spock and professes to love him. This is extremely difficult for Spock, especially since the infection is causing him to become excessively emotional. Spock then passes the infection on to Kirk, who begins exhibiting paranoia and a loss of ability to command. Bones finds the antidote just in time, and Riley is dislodged before his wrenching ballads permanently damage the audience’s ears.

After mixing matter and antimatter at a colder-than-recommended temperature according to an untested intermix formula, the Enterprise is thrown into a time warp, which causes the chronometer to run backward. This allows the Enterprise to escape the planet’s breakup, returning it 71 hours into the past and, therefore, before any events.

Commentary

In this episode, the focal points are the bizarre events that occur when a landing party from the Enterprise encounters a deadly contagion, leading to erratic behavior among the crew. The analysis draws nine key ethical lessons relevant to the compliance profession: self-control, accountability, transparency, respect for others, moral leadership, decision-making under pressure, understanding human vulnerabilities, the consequences of ethical lapses, and a commitment to ethical standards. The episode highlights how Star Trek can serve as a rich source of moral and compliance insights through vivid descriptions and character evaluations.

Key Highlights

  • Episode Summary: The Naked Time
  • Key Moments and Character Highlights
  • Ethical Lessons from ‘The Naked Time’
  • Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Resources

Excruciatingly Detailed Plot Summary by Eric W. Weisstein

MissionLogPodcast.com

Memory Alpha

Categories
Trekking Through Compliance

The Science of Star Trek-The Naked Time and Warp Drive

Welcome to the Science of Star Trek, a podcast series inspired by my review of Star Trek, the Original Series in the summer podcast special series Trekking Through Compliance.In this series I am joined by Astrophysicist and  Healthcare Futurist Ben Locwin. In this podcast we consider the TOS episode The Naked Time as a starting point for the consideration of the science around the warp drive.
A landing party from the Enterprise beams aboard Psi 2000, an ancient planet about to break up. They find all six of the crew manning the station dead. Crewman Joey unwisely removes his gloves is contaminated by a red liquid. As Psi 2000 shows a shift in magnetic field and mass, the Enterprise begins a close orbit requiring constant vigilance. Unfortunately, an infected Lt. O’Reilly has turned off the warp engines. To restart the warp engines, matter and antimatter must be mixed in a controlled implosion. However, after mixing matter and antimatter at a colder than recommended temperature according to an untested intermix formula, the Enterprise is thrown into a time warp which causes the chronometer to run backwards. This allows the Enterprise to escape the breakup of the planet, returning it 71 hours into the past and therefore before any of the episode’s events took place.
Highlights include:

  1. Why must you suspend your disbelief for this episode?
  2. How would a warp drive work in practice?
  3. Why does E=MC²control this issue?
  4. What is antimatter?
  5. What is the time wise effect on high speed travel?