OCTOBER 25, 2021 - In the Star Trek: The Next Generation season one episode, “Encounter at Farpoint,” we first meet Q, played by John de Lancie. As Q is reminding Captain Picard of the checkered history of humanity, he points out the notable example of “murdering each other in quarrels over tribal god images.” John de Lancie himself might offer the same criticism, based on a recent virtual interview for the Philadelphia Association for Critical Thinking (PhACT).

Rob Palmer, a retired aerospace engineer and activist for scientific skepticism, interviewed de Lancie about his own outlook and activism in support of critical thinking. They began at the beginning, noting that de Lancie was born in Philadelphia and raised in the area. de Lancie said early on that he struggled with dyslexia, and still does, though no one but one of his teachers knew at the time what to call it, and there was nothing to be done about it. But the first positive feedback he received came after performing in Henry V in school. The editor of the Pelican Shakespeare series saw him perform and told de Lancie’s father to encourage his son, if there was interest, to consider pursuing acting as he seemed to “have a flair for this.” Hence the acting side, but what about his concerns about religion and critical thinking?

De Lancie credits Jules Verne’s novel, Mysterious Island, which he read when he was 12 or 13, with inspiring his desire to engage with the real world as the characters had to in the novel, in which “they had problems, they were real problems, and they solved their problems in a real way.”

He was shocked to discover college students, as he was touring with Ed Asner performing a play based on the Scopes trial, who believed that God created the world in 4004 B.C. De Lancie decided he had to speak out about science education and critical thinking, which he has done since in his unique way in various venues, including the Star Trek Cruise. 

For de Lancie it all comes down to “being honest and saying what is true.”

To watch the full interview, head to the PhACT Channel on YouTube.

For even more beyond the PhACT interview, Rob Palmer also did a written interview with John de Lancie, and de Lancie spoke at CSICon in 2019.