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How Did Earth Get United?

Forget Enterprise. It's junk.
Hah. It's better than your fiction at any rate.

We know for a fact it's not going to change.
Get real. Or rather, get unreal. We're not discussing the real universe here at all, but the Trek one. And the two are markedly different as far as anything after the 1980s is concerned.

First of all, nope, during WWIII they do NOT. That doesn't come until after Zefram Cochrane creates his warp drive.
Incorrect: gravity has already been mastered aboard the Botany Bay, a ship from the 1980s or early 1990s, as well as aboard the cryosatellite of "The Neutral Zone", from the 1990s. Interplanetary flight was already routine in the 1990s; planets were already conqered, and apparently Cochrane's invention just made viable and desirable the Mars colony that had until then been merely possible.

Further, antigravity has got NOTHING to do with a nuclear explosive.
It is one of the things that should tell you that the Trek universe has a much more advanced mid-21st century than our universe will have. Deal with it.

No, it hasn't. The only countries that ever lost half a million was during WW1 and WWII and one or two countries under assault by a super power later, nothing like what Q's courtroom showed at all, afterward.
Please explain. What exactly was shown at Q's courtroom that would be different from all those tin-plate-dictator countries in Africa where loss of half a million due to war-related misery is a regular occurrence?

Right, I see. "Your warp drive opened up the planets and the stars", really means, "Your warp drive was a useless pile of junk..
Please try to stay coherent. The ST:FC dialogue does not establish warp drive as an element in eliminating war and poverty or allowing Earth to recover. It merely establishes warp drive as the means by which mankind reached the stars and planets (although it doesn't preclude human journeys to planets or even stars by pre-warp means, to be sure).

And no, this does NOT mean that the USAF was in the business of lofting truly immense payloads at its enemies, as Cochrane used a MODIFIED Titan II. He did his own tinkering with the rocket, he didn't use it as he found it without any changes.
Now who's engaging in desperate bullshit rationalizations? Quit it, please. Or then stop complaining about it.

Timo Saloniemi
 
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3D Master, has anyone ever mentioned to you that you're a hysterical reactionary? Absolutely nothing Timo wrote was so angry or insulting as to be deserving of the ridiculously over-the-top ad hominem attacks you engaged in or of your absurd hyperbole.

Also:

And no, this does NOT mean that the USAF was in the business of lofting truly immense payloads at its enemies, as Cochrane used a MODIFIED Titan II.

Actually, the Star Trek Encyclopedia refers to the Phoenix's launch vehicle as a modified "Titan V" ICBM. Not canonical, but certainly a strong indication that the creators of Star Trek: First Contact did not mean to imply that the Phoenix was launched from an ICBM that was around a century old -- and an explanation for how it was able to achieve a translunar orbit, something a Titan II certainly is incapable of.
 
Forget Enterprise. It's junk.
Hah. It's better than your fiction at any rate.

Nope, it isn't.

We know for a fact it's not going to change.
Get real. Or rather, get unreal. We're not discussing the real universe here at all, but the Trek one. And the two are markedly different as far as anything after the 1980s is concerned.
Yes, we ARE discussing the Trek one, and we know from the Trek one it's not going to change. But then, you seem to like simply deleting and not answering the points that prove them.

Incorrect: gravity has already been mastered aboard the Botany Bay, a ship from the 1980s or early 1990s, as well as aboard the cryosatellite of "The Neutral Zone", from the 1990s. Interplanetary flight was already routine in the 1990s; planets were already conqered, and apparently Cochrane's invention just made viable and desirable the Mars colony that had until then been merely possible.

It is one of the things that should tell you that the Trek universe has a much more advanced mid-21st century than our universe will have. Deal with it.
Ah, there we go, and another multiple deletion, allow me to repeat them in the hope you don't delete them again:

Star Trek IV, no artificial gravity seen.

Voyager: Mars not colonized until the 2100s.

Planets colonized means no need for the Vulcans, so FC itself wouldn't make much sense.

Let's add:

Voyager: Standard, present-day like first manned Mars mission with NO artificial gravity in the 2030s.

Star Trek DS9 - Past Tense, nothing even hinting at artificial gravity.

Star Trek FC itself, nothing even hinting at artificial gravity.

Voyager 11:59; nothing hinting at artificial gravity.

Voyager Futere's End, nothing hinting at artificial gravity. In fact, a ship using the type propulsion that society would have had everywhere, is treated being captured on film as something shocking and unknown. Also, nothing hinting at any Eugenics Wars (called WWIII by the way) seems to be fought anywhere at the time. (And considering the guy had a time ship from the 29th century to work with to introduce it, that's pretty telling I'd say.)

Etc. Etc. Etc.

Seeing as DS9 puts the Eugenics wars in the 22nd century, maybe it's time to face it; something changed the Star Trek timeline, and no artificial gravity was being had in the 80s and 90s.

Please explain. What exactly was shown at Q's courtroom that would be different from all those tin-plate-dictator countries in Africa where loss of half a million due to war-related misery is a regular occurrence?
:rolleyes: You actually don't know? I actually have to explain that to you?

Un ff-ing believeable.

First of all, they're run by a dictator from the get-go. There's no falling, they simply are.

Second, they're a COUNTRY run by a dictator. What's different from the first point you ask? (:sighs: ) They're a COUNTRY! COUNTRY! They have a functional government for a country, no matter how bad.

That's the OPPOSITE of what Q was about, he wasn't going about countries. The whole world has fell into that. FELL. And what was it? Oh, yeah, go back and watch it: reduced to city states where a judge ruled supreme. A type a feudal system harkening back to the dark and middle ages.

All across the GLOBE. (After all, if didn't happen just about anywhere, Q might as well have chosen a 20th century bad country. Hell, he could have gone to the actual middle ages, and indeed get something that was practically across the globe.)

What's the point of putting HUMANITY on trial using one of their darkest periods, when it wasn't really that dark and it happened in only a handful of particular bad places? That's not letting humanity judge itself, that's humanity being judged by one small minor black plotch of itself. It's judging a human by the one tumor he carries, which will soon be surgically removed, it's ridiculous.

Picard, indeed, would have called him on it to, as would Data, especially when Q went, "You disbanded the UN, removed lawyers," etc., they would have said, "Incorrect, that's just a small minority that did that, that the rest of humanity at the time found just as reprehensible as we, and we assume you, today."

Right, I see. "Your warp drive opened up the planets and the stars", really means, "Your warp drive was a useless pile of junk..
Please try to stay coherent. The ST:FC dialogue does not establish warp drive as an element in eliminating war and poverty or allowing Earth to recover.
:lol: I'm the one who has to stay coherent? Maybe YOU should try and stay coherent. Nowhere did I mention even once anything about FC dialogue establishing the elimination of war and poverty, but you know, reading is difficult.

It merely establishes warp drive as the means by which mankind reached the stars and planets (although it doesn't preclude human journeys to planets or even stars by pre-warp means, to be sure).
Oh, wrong, it indeed DOES preclude human journeys, and colonizations, and especially stars by pre-warp means. After all, if the planets were already opened by pre-warp means, Cochrane's warp drive wouldn't have opened them, it would merely have expanded what was already opened earlier.

And no, this does NOT mean that the USAF was in the business of lofting truly immense payloads at its enemies, as Cochrane used a MODIFIED Titan II. He did his own tinkering with the rocket, he didn't use it as he found it without any changes.
Now who's engaging in desperate bullshit rationalizations? Quit it, please. Or then stop complaining about it.
I'm not making bullshit rationalizations, I'm making pointed observations.

3D Master, has anyone ever mentioned to you that you're a hysterical reactionary? Absolutely nothing Timo wrote was so angry or insulting as to be deserving of the ridiculously over-the-top ad hominem attacks you engaged in or of your absurd hyperbole.

Attacks and absurd hyperbole?

I made no such things, I simply proved him wrong.

But I supposed bring up evidence to prove someone wrong is ad hominem attacks and absurd hyperbole these days.

I suppose when someone is wrong I should pat him on the back and tell him he's completely right, no doubt.

And no, this does NOT mean that the USAF was in the business of lofting truly immense payloads at its enemies, as Cochrane used a MODIFIED Titan II.

Actually, the Star Trek Encyclopedia refers to the Phoenix's launch vehicle as a modified "Titan V" ICBM. Not canonical, but certainly a strong indication that the creators of Star Trek: First Contact did not mean to imply that the Phoenix was launched from an ICBM that was around a century old -- and an explanation for how it was able to achieve a translunar orbit, something a Titan II certainly is incapable of.

That only proves my point even more. Timo mentioned the Titan II being used, not me. So his whole bit about the Titan II being much more than it could, is a pile of bullshit.
 
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Earth will never be united while we still have leaders like Bush and Cheney in the United States. People like them get their power from war and misery. They have no interest in ending that.
 
Earth will never be united while we still have leaders like Bush and Cheney in the United States. People like them get their power from war and misery. They have no interest in ending that.

President Bush and Vice President Cheney are good men who have done a good job for the United States, and thus the world.
 
They are murderous scum and they are traitors to the United States and so are their followers.


Earth will never be united while we still have leaders like Bush and Cheney in the United States. People like them get their power from war and misery. They have no interest in ending that.

President Bush and Vice President Cheney are good men who have done a good job for the United States, and thus the world.
 
Cut out the off topic political discussion. There are other places for that. If you're going to argue bitterly over things that divide people, it had sure as hell better be Star Trek related :p
 
Sorry.

You know there is nothing to prevent Earth history in Star Trek from being retconned to reflect military conquest by the U.S. and other western nations.

And I believe that a conventional military conquest of the Earth by the U.S. and allies would be a far, far more appealing prospect than the various nuclear war suggestions we've seen in Star Trek.
 
Sorry.

You know there is nothing to prevent Earth history in Star Trek from being retconned to reflect military conquest by the U.S. and other western nations.

And I believe that a conventional military conquest of the Earth by the U.S. and allies would be a far, far more appealing prospect than the various nuclear war suggestions we've seen in Star Trek.
Why not just stick to what has been written? Sure Nuclear war isn't very appealing, but thats the story we have.
 
Sorry.

You know there is nothing to prevent Earth history in Star Trek from being retconned to reflect military conquest by the U.S. and other western nations.

And I believe that a conventional military conquest of the Earth by the U.S. and allies would be a far, far more appealing prospect than the various nuclear war suggestions we've seen in Star Trek.
Why not just stick to what has been written? Sure Nuclear war isn't very appealing, but thats the story we have.

Because Star Trek has been around 42 years.

It will probably be around in 42 more. Just like other TV classics have been around for decades.

Forty two more will put Trek in the year 2050.

I think it will look pretty odd that Trek continues to refer to various nuclear and/or World Wars that have never occurred.

Remember one of the reasons the two Eugenics Wars books by Pocket were written the way they were was that the editors wanted Star Trek "history" to be OUR history, and not some kind of alternate universe.
 
Sorry.

You know there is nothing to prevent Earth history in Star Trek from being retconned to reflect military conquest by the U.S. and other western nations.

And I believe that a conventional military conquest of the Earth by the U.S. and allies would be a far, far more appealing prospect than the various nuclear war suggestions we've seen in Star Trek.
Why not just stick to what has been written? Sure Nuclear war isn't very appealing, but thats the story we have.

Because Star Trek has been around 42 years.

It will probably be around in 42 more. Just like other TV classics have been around for decades.

Forty two more will put Trek in the year 2050.

I think it will look pretty odd that Trek continues to refer to various nuclear and/or World Wars that have never occurred.

Remember one of the reasons the two Eugenics Wars books by Pocket were written the way they were was that the editors wanted Star Trek "history" to be OUR history, and not some kind of alternate universe.
And it was the most god awful piece of fanwank disguised as professional fiction I have ever read.

Since they aren't about to re-edit those episodes, I think we're stuck with those wars. Though I wouldn't be surprised if those references are downplayed in future. If the new Trek film is a success we might be dealing with a new continuity anyway. Hard and fast dates are always a problem in serial fiction set in the future, especially if those dates are too close to the present. Better to keep it vague or set far enough in the future that it wont matter.
 
It is hard not to turn to politics when discussing a united Earth.




Cut out the off topic political discussion. There are other places for that. If you're going to argue bitterly over things that divide people, it had sure as hell better be Star Trek related :p
 
Sorry.

You know there is nothing to prevent Earth history in Star Trek from being retconned to reflect military conquest by the U.S. and other western nations.

And I believe that a conventional military conquest of the Earth by the U.S. and allies would be a far, far more appealing prospect than the various nuclear war suggestions we've seen in Star Trek.
I think it's best to believe that WWIII was a conventional war until some idiot decided to use nukes. This idiot happened to be the leader of the ECON. In retaliation and with much better targeting systems, the Allies launched a nuclear salvo that effectively destroyed the Middle East and much of Asia. A more comprehensive history needs to be established about this era on screen or in the books (even though they're not considered canon, it would at least be one explanation). I think a conventional war that was ended quickly with nuclear warheads makes the most sense. The West and its allies were the victors but it was a high price for them. The East was utterly crushed.
 
Sorry.

You know there is nothing to prevent Earth history in Star Trek from being retconned to reflect military conquest by the U.S. and other western nations.

And I believe that a conventional military conquest of the Earth by the U.S. and allies would be a far, far more appealing prospect than the various nuclear war suggestions we've seen in Star Trek.
I think it's best to believe that WWIII was a conventional war until some idiot decided to use nukes. This idiot happened to be the leader of the ECON. In retaliation and with much better targeting systems, the Allies launched a nuclear salvo that effectively destroyed the Middle East and much of Asia. A more comprehensive history needs to be established about this era on screen or in the books (even though they're not considered canon, it would at least be one explanation). I think a conventional war that was ended quickly with nuclear warheads makes the most sense. The West and its allies were the victors but it was a high price for them. The East was utterly crushed.

Seeing as Colonel Green wasn't an Asian but a Caucasian, it's more like the other way around.
 
Yes, we ARE discussing the Trek one, and we know from the Trek one it's not going to change. But then, you seem to like simply deleting and not answering the points that prove them.

I'm truly sorry for you if you feel you have proven "it's not going to change" for a television series that is all about the premise that it is going to change.

You seem to have gotten the entire process backwards. What is established as a Trek fact is that WWIII had the end results of 37 or 600 million dead, depending on whom you ask and how. That is something you have to accept. You cannot go and claim that "in fact" billions died, because that is simply untrue in the Trek universe. No matter how much "proof" you pile on to support the claim of billions, you are still dead wrong and do not even deserve any sort of point-by-point rebuttal.

Voyager: Standard, present-day like first manned Mars mission with NO artificial gravity in the 2030s.

Emphasis mine. Error yours. Ares IV was not the first manned mission to Mars by any Trek account.

As for the other points of "no gravity manipulation seen", they are simply pre-empted by the Trek fact that antigravity did exist and was available to the builders of the DY-100 series of spacecraft, which were considered outdated by the 21st century.

How was the Apollo program visible in ST4? It wasn't. Doesn't mean it didn't exist in the Trek universe - indeed, other Trek pieces establish it as having happened, although possibly not exactly in the manner it happened in our universe. Bits of Trek establish interplanetary manned flight in the 1980s, while no bits establish it didn't happen back then.

Seeing as DS9 puts the Eugenics wars in the 22nd century, maybe it's time to face it; something changed the Star Trek timeline, and no artificial gravity was being had in the 80s and 90s.

That is of course a workable hypothesis. Perhaps ENT changed things? Oh, wait...

Do remember, though, that DY-100 remains a feature of the VOY universe as well. Not only is the model seen as a cutesy set decoration piece, the not-first Mars flight described for the 2030s is said to have been followed by a rescue mission that took a week to get to Mars. That's DY-100 performance for you, and flat out impossible with the sort of real-universe technology that you rather absurdly seem to cling on to.

What's the point, really? You can't hang on forever. There will be no Cochrane born in the 2030s, no warp drive breakthrough in the 2060s, in our universe. There aren't any Vulcans for real. But all those things will happen in the Trek universe, which is different.

Oh, yeah, go back and watch it: reduced to city states where a judge ruled supreme. A type a feudal system harkening back to the dark and middle ages.

Thank you, oh thank you, for finally telling what exactly in "EaF" makes you think billions died on Earth.

You are, of course, completely wrong. (In saying that your interpretation is the only correct one, as usual, of course. In saying that it is a possible one, you would have a point. But you'd still be wrong about the body count.) What we see in the court is never even hinted at being a global phenomenon. As you say, Q could have picked any kangaroo court from Earth's past; that he picked one from 2079 tells us exactly nothing, except that the writers of "EaF" dared be innovative.

As for Q's charges of savagery, he never claims that the 2079 court would have been the source of his charges. For all we know, he felt this court to be one of the more equitable and acceptable incarnations of humanity... What Q has on trial is the entire history of mankind, which certainly features far more barbaric acts and settings than the (relatively orderly) apocalyptic courtroom seen here.

Oh, wrong, it indeed DOES preclude human journeys, and colonizations, and especially stars by pre-warp means. After all, if the planets were already opened by pre-warp means, Cochrane's warp drive wouldn't have opened them, it would merely have expanded what was already opened earlier.

Pure semantics, and dubious ones at that when the one speaking is making a sales pitch. We know the planets were opened to us in the 1980s already, but we also know there wasn't enough incentive to go there a second or a seventh time. The same with the Moon: people in the 2050s had been there, done that, gotten the t-shirt - but there was no New Berlin there yet.

You have to admit that the late establishing of the first Martian colony in 2103 cannot have been the result of technological problems as such, because surely it could have been done basically overnight already with the technology of the 2050s that allowed Cochrane to make his test flight. Moreover, if Cochrane's technology did represent a turning point, why the 40-year gap? As per Troi's sales pitch, Earth recovered before Mars was colonized, so colonization of space cannot have been a major deciding factor in the recovery process.

I'm not making bullshit rationalizations, I'm making pointed observations.

Yes, I know. Like "Cochrane took a perfectly ordinary Titan II from the 2050s and modified it on his free time so that it outperforms a Saturn V". Not really an observation, but speculation, and baseless at that - but that's just semantics, and I decided to be lenient with semantics above already.

I also know you have a perfectly rational explanation for why Cochrane didn't become the richest man on post-apocalyptic Earth thanks to these fantastic skills, and didn't retire to his tropical island as planned. But once again, you're engaging in ass-backward deduction: you know the right answer, but you still start from the evidence, and when it gives you a different answer, you ditch the right one.

Try doing it in a slightly modified way: accept the right answer as a bit of evidence in an iterative process. You will then observe whether the process is missing an occasional bit of evidence, an omission that biased your earlier attempts which provided the incorrect answer.

That only proves my point even more. Timo mentioned the Titan II being used, not me. So his whole bit about the Titan II being much more than it could, is a pile of bullshit.

Darling, I was only trying to be kind to you. The missile we saw was a Titan II recast in a science fiction role. You wanted to argue that Titan II and its realistic ilk is what the future Trek folks will have. But the fact of the matter is that what they have is something they call Titan V (offscreen, that is), a missile that outperforms all of today's (or yesterday's) rockets by such an absurd margin that today's laws of physics must have been broken.

No matter how hard you fight, Trek as a setting is about a fictional future, not about a factual present or past. Trek as a message may be about today's woes, but the message is carried by technologies we can barely dream about. And these technologies often hold the promise of great destruction, as apparently witnessed in WWIII (like you say, the 2008 nuclear arsenal would have been unlikely to give a globally disastrous outcome, and would have had trouble kicking up a real nuclear winter, too). But Trek as a setting or as a message does not overrule Trek as a pseudohistory, in which we know that 37/600 million people died, a court approximately like Q's existed, Cochrane discovered warp, the Vulcans came, and Earth united. This is what did happen, and a thread discussing how it happened cannot start from the premise that it did not.

Timo Saloniemi
 
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