10 Life Lessons from Star Trek

In the world of Star Trek, a red shirt is like a death sentence. Dress for success to avoid being zapped, eaten, or otherwise maimed by life.

The borg are the ultimate conformists, wiring themselves together to form a hive mind. Think for yourself to avoid being assimilated.

Tribbles were little furry balls of pure cuteness, but they became a serious problem. The same goes for any animal… cute idea, but it takes real work.

Who’s better: Kirk or Picard? The correct answer is, of course, “who the hell cares? Let’s discuss something that matters.”

Whether on Starship Enterprise or Starship Earth, everyone needs to get along, be you black, white, French, Klingon, android, or bearded.

So if Spock and Data were the smartest ones in their crews, why weren’t they in charge? Because the smartest person around is never running the show.

Despite their technology, the crew of the original Enterprise were always caught by surprise on every new planet. Don’t be caught by surprise: figure out what you’ll need on nature trips before you leave.

The holodeck was used for training exercises, but occasionally an evil Genghis Khan simulation will escape, or else you find yourself with a robot dressed like Sherlock Holmes. If you rely on technology too much, this could happen to you!

Q, the godlike being who enjoyed pranking the Enterprise, was nothing more than a cosmic bully. Picard always played his game and emerged victorious.

Observing from a distance is called the Prime Directive, but the Enterprise crew violated it every time. Consequently, there were the occasional white-furred, horned ape maulings. Stay out of other people’s business to minimize such maulings.