NationStates Jolt Archive

Woo! With the rather suprising sucess of the "Favorite Star Trek Race?" thread, I have decided to start a discussion thread about STAR TREK! Woo! Discuss.

i'm watching it right now! :D


edit: voyager, series 7, disk 4, episode 1... whatever its called...

It's times like this I wish I knew the Klingon word for "Wankers!" ;)

My kids get to go to their first convention this summer :D

My kids get to go to their first convention this summer :D
lucky! :p

Sometimes they use money, and some times they say they don't use money. Which is it? Are they all commies or what? Are the Ferengi the only capitalists left in the galaxy?

Sometimes they use money, and some times they say they don't use money. Which is it? Are they all commies or what? Are the Ferengi the only capitalists left in the galaxy?

Maybe they just have automatic systems generate their energy without their interference, supply it to everyone, and then people could use it to power replicators to make stuff. You'd rarely have to buy anything.

Maybe they just have automatic systems generate their energy without their interference, supply it to everyone, and then people could use it to power replicators to make stuff. You'd rarely have to buy anything.
near unlimited resources coupled with a toning down of wants (the end of consumerism) leads to capitalism and money being irrelevant.

its a fundamental change in society...


and to my knowledge (to answer the question) i don't believe the federation use money. certainly starfleet don't (they barter with alien races which do use money). goes to show that things can have worth in a practical sense even without a pecuniary value...

Maybe they just have automatic systems generate their energy without their interference, supply it to everyone, and then people could use it to power replicators to make stuff. You'd rarely have to buy anything.
But energy generation would then have to be limitless to work. Damn starships are running out of dilithium every 3000 light years!

a toning down of wants
Um... except for generating a whole deck-full of holograms when they have free time.

I love Star Trek, but I do get the feeling that some of the cultures are rather simplistic. The entire Ferengi culture (and there's only one, it seems), for example, centers around money. The entire Klingon culture (again, only one) centers around war.

I love Star Trek, but I do get the feeling that some of the cultures are rather simplistic. The entire Ferengi culture (and there's only one, it seems), for example, centers around money. The entire Klingon culture (again, only one) centers around war.
Honourable war, to be specific, but yes, the cultures are just the expansion of single ideas. Still interesting though.

I love Star Trek, but I do get the feeling that some of the cultures are rather simplistic. The entire Ferengi culture (and there's only one, it seems), for example, centers around money. The entire Klingon culture (again, only one) centers around war.
Yeah. Gene Roddenberry was a lazy bastard when it came to imagination.

Maybe they just have automatic systems generate their energy without their interference, supply it to everyone, and then people could use it to power replicators to make stuff. You'd rarely have to buy anything.

The problem with that theory is, that the Star Trek universe didn't have replicators until the 'Next Generation' time period. The theory behind humanity's rapid progression to the stars was the discovery of the warp engine, meaning all of humanity 'worked together' to make it into space.

Trouble is, how exactly? I highly doubt there were limitless resources on Earth, yet they somehow transcended polital systems and the need for money? Maybe everything was powered with rainbows and care bear stares?

Not to mention an incredible lack of motivation. Think about it... if you didn't have to work, in order to make money to pay bills, then why even get a job? Who does the 'dirty' work? Where's the need for innovation if there's no reward at the end of all of your hard work? Certainly technology would solve many of these issues over time, but apparently all of these things were solved before humanity made the big exploratory leap.

Um... except for generating a whole deck-full of holograms when they have free time.
very well: material wants.

The problem with that theory is, that the Star Trek universe didn't have replicators until the 'Next Generation' time period. The theory behind humanity's rapid progression to the stars was the discovery of the warp engine, meaning all of humanity 'worked together' to make it into space.

Trouble is, how exactly?
I suspect they succeeded in that by ignorning dissenters.

The problem with that theory is, that the Star Trek universe didn't have replicators until the 'Next Generation' time period. The theory behind humanity's rapid progression to the stars was the discovery of the warp engine, meaning all of humanity 'worked together' to make it into space.

Trouble is, how exactly? I highly doubt there were limitless resources on Earth, yet they somehow transcended polital systems and the need for money? Maybe everything was powered with rainbows and care bear stares?

Not to mention an incredible lack of motivation. Think about it... if you didn't have to work, in order to make money to pay bills, then why even get a job? Who does the 'dirty' work? Where's the need for innovation if there's no reward at the end of all of your hard work? Certainly technology would solve many of these issues over time, but apparently all of these things were solved before humanity made the big exploratory leap.

The thing is that only officially does the Federation not have a currency. The groups of people we get to see in the show are the soldiers/diplomats/explorers of the Federation. They're given everything they could want or need due to their vital nature within their society. We don't see the factory workers or farmers almost at all. Technically, the Federation operates without a currency, where everyone can get everything they want for free. However, what the Federation officially maintains and what reality actually is are two very seperate things, which many episodes illustrate.