New Trek Series ideas

[black campbellq]

I agree, I'd like to know a bit more about how the Federation actually survives without imploding on itself.

Starfleet. Nothing like a giant, powerful military...oop! I mean group of explorers...to keep things orderly...

[marty4286]

I'm a very very tiny minority in Trek fandom.

I personally, seriously believe that the Federation, at least during the TNG era and beyond, is a communist-like military dictatorship.

Yet I'm still a fan. That doesn't really reflect on me well

[Captain Otto]

Just for the theory: Per se Communism is not a really bad idea at all, but so far no government on earth that claimed or claims to be communist really is. Most (that means all of them as i'm hard pressed to find an exception) of them are just oppressive totalitarian One party regimes using the label.

Communism is just a theory that IMHO will never work out in reality, and I doubt it would function in Trek.

The Federation seems to be just a more powerful Version of the UN (dominated by Humans). Not everything is quite right as well, hence the existence of the Maquis, a closer look certainly reveals frictions in the perfect picture Picard wants the TV Audience to have of the Federation.

[Tricky]

Comrade Marty is pretty close; but I don't think it's a Military Dictatorship; look at Nazi Germany, or the Earth in the Starship Troopers movies: The military is certainly in control, disagree and you're just gone.

But Fed society definately seems like the communist ideal: Everyone works to the betterment of society, there is no underclass ('cept those androids...), and everyone has access to the means of getting what goods (replicator) and services (ever notice how SF gets called in for just about everything?) to ensure they stay happy and productive.

So, who won the Cold war? (the real one, not the Temporal one)

[JALU3]

It's amazing when one has unlimited amounts of energy with a machine that can create almost unlimited amounts of material . . . to a materialistic capitalistic society.
So in truth, the ones who have the real economic power are the energy producers and the replicator producers. And if it's the government . . . then I guess it can be very close to socialism.

[Captain Otto]

I think the socialism idea in trek boils down to raising living standards with replicator tech past the point where there is no point in accumulating wealth.
as everyone gets what he needs.
I just wonder if someone is provided all he needs by public wellfare, there must be many people who are complacent with there lives, never moving, living day by day without a purpose and withaout having to worry about paying bills.
Live there appears to be really boring.

But what about the era before the 24th century?
Kirk had no real replicator, just a food dispenser as i recall.

[Tricky]

See, that's what I've thought about the Trek/Fed society: Despite the utopian overtones, I can't believe that everyone is just doing what they are doing because they like it.

I guess since we have only seen a couple of non-fleet FED people (Sisko's dad is my prime example), we really don't see what real 'day-to-day' life is like, but when I think of how a resurant works TODAY, I can't belive that all that work is done for free, especially when you consider that at Sisko's of New Orleans they don't use replicated food, so someone had to go out and catch fish (or raise them on a farm), clean and process them, cook them and serve them. I dont think the Bubba-Gump shimp boats (or the Bubba-Gump-Feslick aquacultre center) are out there shrimpin away because that's their way to 'enlighten themselves'. And what of the busboys?

OK, i'm gonna stop reading so much into it now!

[JALU3]

It's not the striving to be a great cook, or enjoying shrimp fishing that I can't imagine people doing. I mean some people enjoy that . . . hunting, fishing, farming, cooking . . . actually working. But it's all those really messy, labor intensive, and back breaking jobs which I can imagine people not doing. But with all this almost free, limitless energy, and technology . . . I am sure they have come up with machines controlled by people which take out alot of those undersireable elements that make those jobs so undesireable.