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Star Trek - Darker than Imagined?
I enjoyed the recent podcast about Star Trek's monetary system, or lack thereof.
Just a few points - I'm a lapsed Trek geek, so people who still follow it closely can correct my errors.
* Federation Credits - There have been plot points about people trading credits, and buying things with credits at Starbases, so I think that's a monetary system of sorts. Sounds more like an allowance, but fits current military behavior. I think private citizens also have a transporter allowance, as I recall some of the books from my childhood.
* Lack of Scarcity - As Gard noted, the pricing mechanism is important for distributing scarce resources. But the world of Trek does not have scarcity. Or at least, it wouldn't if it were written correctly. Trek has replicators and near-limitless power generation capability, and a galaxy full of raw material. I seem to recall the only things that can't be replicated are dilithium and latinum, both replicator-resistant plot devices. The counterpoint to this argument is everybody running around the galaxy in ships that aren't as excellent as the Enterprise. If there's no scarcity, why not? Which leads to:
* Lack of Robots - here's the crux of the matter, I think. They haven't so much as a Roomba on Star Trek, and Data was considered very controversial by characters. Why the leap from wrenches to sentient androids, especially for dangerous work? The only thing I can come up with is that there must be a Federation ban on robots as a make-work program to give the population something to do, which leads to crews required for decent starships. As such, there must be a terrible punishment for building a robot, because I don't enjoy vacuuming or window washing. And 2/3 of newly-introduced characters working on the outside of a starship are destined to not make it back inside alive.
So, there awaits the ambitious author an excellent novel in the dark side of the Federation, which is punishment of the lazy and robot builders, and the implicit disposibility of members of the populace. Is the Federation the ultimate candy-coating?
that would be a sweet book. get on it, gard! chop chop!
I'm a lapsed Trekker as well. The similarities between the Federation and the UN turned me off. I also thought the Ferengi were the good guys, too. BTW, the Ferengi trade with precious metals. In fact, there are many instances of black-market activity.
Thanks to ElGrande and LCLReport, I have a renewed appreciation. Check out their analysis on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quoZeNx8L40
Also, check out Star Trek: of Gods and Men. It's free online from the official site: http://startrekofgodsandmen.com/main/ Feel good movie of the year!
Here is something I read about in "Against Intellectual Monopoly," which is apparently a copyleft version of star treck.
http://starwreck.com/
I haven't checked it out much myself, but may interest you all.
I always thought a series focused on the Maquis would have been interesting.
I always thought a series focused on the Maquis would have been interesting.
One of the things I'd hoped to pitch while I was a "Voyager" was to have a conspiracy inside the Federation that had worked with the Cardassians to seel out Maquis resistance locations. I wanted to set up a story whereby the entire reason the Voyager crew was stranded in the Delta Quadrant was because Tom Paris had been given information about this plan by a dying fellow prisoner when he was in lock up (he was given a second chance by the capt, at the opening of the first episode of the series, so I thought I would tie it in). I never got to pitch the idea, but I thought it would have tied it all together with the mythology of Deep Space Nine very well.
Oh well!
They still also believe that mental illness is a real disease that can be "treated" with medication. I'm talking about the episode, "Whom Gods Destroy". Now they have a whole planet for the criminally insane complete with rehabilitation, reeducation if you will.
Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it
Learned Hand
In the past men created witches: now they create mental patients.
Thomas Szasz
Relinquish liberty for the purposes of defense in an emergency?
Why? It would seem that in an emergency, of all times, one needs
his greatest strength. So if liberty is strength and slavery is weakness,
liberty is a necessity rather than a luxury, and we can ill afford
to be without it—least of all during an emergency.
F.A. Harper