Abstract
The progressive dialectic was initially identified by Karl Marx and later acted upon by Leon Trotsky. The progressive dialectic is artistically represented in the United Federation of Planets—the fictional interstellar political entity in Star Trek that humans lead. The failure to speculate about the absolute and pursue the progressive dialectic is to precipitate disaster for humanity. Star Trek, in artistically conveying the progressive dialectic, makes the specific argument that if humanity/civilization is to survive/thrive, then capitalist values have to be abandoned and neoliberalism has to be replaced.