What is civlian life like in the Federation?

Boothby didn't want to build starships, Ben in TNG's Lower Decks didn't strike me as a person going for Guinan's job, Jake didn't know what he wanted to do, then you have all those human colonies that reverted away from science and technology for a natural lifestyle. I think the civilians of the Federation are the same as the civilians today - money + a bunch of aliens.

 

It's clear that the focus is on humans and Earth, but as the question was framed about the Federation and not just Earth, we should at least consider the tens of billions of non-human civilians too.

Those "bunch of aliens" probably make up the bulk of the Federation's civilian population (even if humans are seemingly more numerous than any one alien species). So in asking the question, one cannot consider an answer without including them.

And in that sense, it's anyone's guess what civilian life is like on, say, Andoria or Coridan or Betazed or Trill. Other than humans and Vulcans (and maybe Denobulans) we have no real sense of the day to day existence of most Federation species, even those fairly similar to humans. Hell, we know a lot more about the civilian lives of Cardassians, Ferengi, Bajorans and Klingons (all non-Federation species).

For bizarrely different lifeforms, like Caitians or Xindi, there's simply no way to guess unless the writers choose to show it.

I'd imagine, as other have stated, that human existence isn't much different, just minus the daily grind associated with paying the bills. Some humans, I'm sure, "do as the Romans do" when they're living on alien worlds (as seen in DS9) and most of the not-crazily-alien aliens living on Earth probably reciprocate (as seen on ENT).

 

Boothby was the kind of guy who didn't really seem to want anything, other than maybe to tend his gardens and impart wisdom to the young people. Any civilian job on a starship would probably be highly sought after purely for the benefits of exciting adventure and travel (one of the few things life on earth actually can't offer). I'm really not sure how Jake being unsure what he should do with his life is considered proof of any particular position at all.

And the human colonies that turned away from technology are fairly clearly not the subject of this kind of question...

 

I was referring to the topic currently being discussed. I don't think most Federation jobs entail scientific, engineering, academic, or creative fields.

 

I think there are very, very few people working in service related jobs, and those that do are using it as a proving ground to a more personally fulfilling career such as those I listed. Where do you see all these people working if not in areas such as science or engineering? Nobody would voluntarily stay in a service job when they don't need it to pay the rent unless it was leading to greater things.

It's true there are only so many positions at the top, but there's a huge, huge amount of positions in the middle and it's much easier to be a struggling artist due to no risk of starvation or homelessness. I would say, creatively inclined people live comfortably while struggling to improve their craft and be recognized. Scientifically inclined people have easy times finding a position on research teams. People who like to build things, tend gardens, etc take lesser roles to get experience then use that experience to get better jobs on the field.

I believe that the amount of jobs of the sort we consider 'Middle class' make up 99% of the population's jobs.

 

Could be that the person "sweeping" the hallway in "Wrath of Khan" was a cadet performing disciplinary action (read: punishment) for some academy infraction.

Sincerely,

Bill

 

^ He looked too old to be a cadet.

 

I think that 99.9% of our human sample group in Trek being Starfleet officers really gives a skewed impression. The world may have conquered hunger and illiteracy, but there must still be endless dead-end jobs. We know Earth isn't the world of I, Robot or full of Star Wars droids. People still do everything. Rom was part of a team that maintained "waste extraction" on DS9. Earth is home to billions - they must have a lot of waste extraction maintenance people.

 

Endless snarking about the primitives of the twentieth century (and their costumes, of course).

 

Case and point, Rom's waste extraction job led him to a better shift and a position of trust where he was even invited to the very high level meetings in his area of expertise.

If those waste extraction jobs aren't steps in the path to better jobs, what do you suggest gets them to come into work each day? Heck, those jobs are probably conditions for admission to schools. You do the crappy jobs while you gain the education you need for the job you want.

The Star Trek 24th century is just like modern day, if everybody in the world had a rich daddy.

 

That sounds amazing...

Why do I have to be poor?

I wouldn't enjoy their lack of tv or internet, but if holotechnology were available to the public outside of Starfleet personnel, I would probably develop a holo-addiction...

 

LCARS is their internet, it just has all the information. As for interaction, I'm sure they have holodeck based linking and co-op ability.

 

Or maybe, life in the 24th century goes something like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzqW0YaN2hoOr

maybe even this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOcKGREiY30

Or might even have comparable similiarities to this (it's not Star Trek, but has similiarities):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ET8IFxPo61w

 

It's intersting that much of the time we see people on the holodeck, their fantasies involve being in the past, and not their own present.

 

I'll trade living in 2014 for the 24th century of Star Trek. I don't care how boring civilian life might be in that future, it has to be better than now.

 

It depends if they're paid (Trek has been very contradictory on that front over the years), or if work is a requisite of having accommodation on the station. Certainly, Rom wasn't expected to go onto better things, and no one else on his waste extraction team did.

 

To a man such as myself, living with cerebral palsy that makes it pyshically impossible to work full time, and constantly having to struggle to keep what little I have, such a life would be a Godsend, and I'd never be bored by it.

I'd ALWAYS be appreciative of, and grateful for it too.

 

^ I had a stroke about 13 or 14 years ago (can't remember exactly), that qualified me for permanent disability benefits (my sole source of income now) and I'll never be able to work again. So with that aspect of it, 24th century civilian life wouldn't be bad at all.

 

Wouldn't 23rd-24th century medical breakthroughs prevent disability? Sure, people don't need to work but I doubt there will be many that can't work.

 

^ I dunno about that. Sure, some of our current diseases and illnesses might be cured, but we still see people like Christopher Pike and Mark Jamison in fancy wheelchairs. And futuristic science always seems to discover some new disease incapacitating half the crew every other week.