Immigration on Federation Earth and the Sol system

[Nyotarules]

Real life immigration in Europe and North America is a big topic. Considering generally people migrate for a better economic life, since life on Earth in the Star Trek universe seems to be the case where the standard of living is pretty good globally (no poverty etc), there would be little reason for economic migrants from the South of the planet to the North, or from East to West. For example, the standard of living on the African continent would be pretty much the same as Western Europe and North America, so there would be less need to move around globally, 'for a better life' until molecular transportation becomes the norm probably by the TNG era.
However with a United Earth state, 'free' movement of labour should also be a norm, with the UT if one wants a new job/career, people should be able to apply for work if they live in London but want a job in Cairo. Nation states like Japan which today are 99% mono cultural, should be as diverse as the USA.
Most of the migration should be offworlders from other Federation planets, rather than humans moving from nation to nation.
What say you guys?

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Migration on a planet would be a non-issue, with transporters people can easily beam from one corner of the globe to the other in a matter of seconds. Immigration/emigration would also be nothing to worry about, with replicators in use then there is no drain on resources for those seeking to settle of Earth in the short or long term. Universal translators would ensure there were no language barriers while aspects of other species cultures would no doubt be taught at all levels of schooling (for example, everyone would know that most Vulcans suppress their emotions, so would know not to expect public displays or outbursts from them). For those that were unsure of a species or their customs then they could readily and easily access that data through their PADD, from a public terminal or by asking a computer for more information.

Citizens from a Federation member world would be permitted the chance to travel to any other member world freely and without restriction, though those from planets outside the Federation wouldn't have such liberties and may have conditions placed upon their stay they would still be welcome, so long as they didn't break any local laws.

 

[1001001]

I would imagine the Federation would work like the EU, with rights of free travel, etc.

In Generations, the El Aurians were referred to as "refugees", so the concept still exists, and again I would imagine the Federation's response was EU-like.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

One of the many reasons why I'm baffled that the UK voted for Brexit

 

[Nyotarules]

One of the many reasons why I'm baffled that the UK voted for Brexit

After the Windrush Scandal I am not surprised, ethnic and racial prejudice is alive and well and living in the (dis)United Kingdom.
To all EU migrants, especially Eastern Europeans.....welcome to my world

 

[eschaton]

This sort of gets to one of my big issues with the federation as a setting. It basically shows an Earth/Human Culture which is.

1. Even more open and tolerant of others than today, yet...

2. Demographically speaking is not all that different from 20th/21st Century America, except maybe a bit whiter.

If one is true, two cannot be true. If Federation Earth is this post-racist (for humans anyway) multicultural wonderland, where we know interracial/intercultural marriage is no big thing, we should expect that after 2-3 centuries of mixing, nearly everyone is some shade of brown, and individual national identities barely exist any longer.

And yes, I do understand that this would have been politically impossible during the era TOS was being filmed, and given the acting pool during the Berman Trek era finding multiracial cast for everything would have been hard. Still, it makes no sense within universe why the vast majority of people we see easily fall on one pole of our contemporary "race" spectrum.

 

[Marynator]

I'd imagine many people would relocate for marriage and family reasons, so by like the 24th century you'd probably see a lot of migration but on small scales just over time. I feel you'd probably also see lots of humans moving off Earth to other Federation worlds or new colonies, so I don't think there'd be like huge overpopulation at all, it probably all balances out. And Earth isn't the only planet in the Federation where life is good, I'd imagine many colonies and member worlds would also be just lovely places to live.

 

[Nyotarules]

This sort of gets to one of my big issues with the federation as a setting. It basically shows an Earth/Human Culture which is.

1. Even more open and tolerant of others than today, yet...

2. Demographically speaking is not all that different from 20th/21st Century America, except maybe a bit whiter.

If one is true, two cannot be true. If Federation Earth is this post-racist (for humans anyway) multicultural wonderland, where we know interracial/intercultural marriage is no big thing, we should expect that after 2-3 centuries of mixing, nearly everyone is some shade of brown, and individual national identities barely exist any longer.

And yes, I do understand that this would have been politically impossible during the era TOS was being filmed, and given the acting pool during the Berman Trek era finding multiracial cast for everything would have been hard. Still, it makes no sense within universe why the vast majority of people we see easily fall on one pole of our contemporary "race" spectrum.

I would expect an interracial marriage to be no big deal and interspecies relationships to be the new taboo for say the first 50 years of the Federation, assuming it takes about 2 generation for beings to integrate without freaking out. However even where old prejudices are dealt with, people tend to socialise with the people around them. I would expect the Americas and parts of Europe for historical reasons to be more diverse than say South east Asia. Human colonies should definitely have a major mixed population, if racial prejudice is gone among humans, then folks won't care whom mates with who

 

[eschaton]

I would expect an interracial marriage to be no big deal and interspecies relationships to be the new taboo for say the first 50 years of the Federation assuming it takes about 2 generation for beings to integrate without freaking out. However even where old prejudices are dealt with people tend to socialise with the people around them. I would expect the Americas and parts of Europe for historical reasons to be more diverse than say South east Asia. Human colonies should definitely have a major mixed population if racial prejudice is gone among humans then folks won't care whom mates with who

Yeah, there are so many people in central China, for example, that it's unlikely even with random migrants moving in over time that the look of people would change very quickly. I do think that Starfleet officers would presumably be much more likely to be multiracial than the average human though, given many would meet their partners through work, and presumably one would be more likely to become an officer if they had parents who served as well.

 

[Herbert]

After the Windrush Scandal I am not surprised, ethnic and racial prejudice is alive and well and living in the (dis)United Kingdom.
To all EU migrants, especially Eastern Europeans.....welcome to my world

Sadly, it's alive and well all over the world. We can never hope to attain a united earth scenario as long as we allow things to divide us and too many of us even in 2018 still allow that to happen.

 

[Herbert]

Most of the migration should be offworlders from other Federation planets, rather than humans moving from nation to nation.
What say you guys?

I don't know about 'most' but I'm sure that would happen. However, there would also be plenty of Terrans moving off world for many reasons. Star Trek is replete with such examples

 

[lawman]

This sort of gets to one of my big issues with the federation as a setting. It basically shows an Earth/Human Culture which is.

1. Even more open and tolerant of others than today, yet...
2. Demographically speaking is not all that different from 20th/21st Century America, except maybe a bit whiter.

If one is true, two cannot be true. If Federation Earth is this post-racist (for humans anyway) multicultural wonderland, where we know interracial/intercultural marriage is no big thing, we should expect that after 2-3 centuries of mixing, nearly everyone is some shade of brown...

As you note, it's really an artifact of real-world casting limitations. But in-universe, it's worth considering how the ethnic makeup of Earth may have been affected by the major wars between our time and Trek's, and their aftermath... first the Eugenics Wars, then later Colonel Green's war, and then finally the full-blown World War III, all arguably had greater impacts in Asia / the Eastern hemisphere / what we think of as the "developing" world than they did in America / the West.

 

[Gavin70]

I would also imagine that the development of teleporters and replicators would mean that people could spread out over much more of the planet. No need for people to congregate around cities or food bowls. Desert areas could be developed and people could easily live on one side of the world and work on the other.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

^ We did see that Mojave had been terraformed.

 

[Shaka Zulu]

^ We did see that Mojave had been terraformed.

And there's also aquatic cities like New Martim Vaz, as mentioned in the TNG episode
The Survivors.

 

[Samuel]

Perhaps the Third World War that "killed 600 million people, most major cities in ruins" (Riker, First Contact) hit Asian, African, and South American populations extremely hard. And that hundreds of millions in those areas that survived were rendered sterile by radiation exposure.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

^ There's no evidence to support that. Even in radiation fallout had affected fertility then negotiations with the Vulcans would likely have included assistance in that (and many other medical) issue. Troi does say that after First Contact that within 50 years disease was no longer on Earth.

 

[Nyotarules]

Perhaps the Third World War that "killed 600 million people, most major cities in ruins" (Riker, First Contact) hit Asian, African, and South American populations extremely hard. And that hundreds of millions in those areas that survived were rendered sterile by radiation exposure.

Chances are its the nuclear, nations states that are most effected, none of the countries of South America or Africa have nuclear weapons. Cochran and his crew are living in Montana, using an old nuclear warhead to build a ship. I bet most of the Eastern and Western seaboard of the US are devastated, the Canadian border was probably the best place to live for US citizens cos the South Americans refused to take em as refugees (historical payback perhaps).

 

[Nyotarules]

^ There's no evidence to support that. Even in radiation fallout had affected fertility then negotiations with the Vulcans would likely have included assistance in that (and many other medical) issue. Troi does say that after First Contact that within 50 years disease was no longer on Earth.

And it would not take that long to repopulate those places.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

By the 24th century when you look at the blight humanity has become, dominating numerous Starfleet ships and stations not to mention who knows how many colonies, I would say there is nothing wrong with the human drive to propagate the species.