Star Trek gives us a glimpse of [the] future hurtling toward us at dizzying speed, and shows us the kind of men who will build that world, successfully cope with its challenges, and remain free of any nerve-shattering traumas from future shock. Weekly, they confront the inconceivable … and come safely to terms with it.

The cure for future shock is not less technology, but more. Science fiction shows us how it is possible to use that technology to confront a universe which is not basically inimical to human life, and to carve out a comfortable place to live there. (p. 92)

Star Trek's message is multifold. One part of that message embodied in Spock is conveyed by means of the fictionalist's indispensable tool: conflict. Spock is a classic conflict recipe.

Good action stories have clear-cut external conflicts—man against beast, man against nature, man against man; kill or...