The Federation in the far future

^I took it to mean that by the 31st century, humans and aliens had mingled so thoroughly, that no-one really thought of him- or herself as being from a particular planet and belonging there (more than on any other planet). So earth as a globe may still be around, but it doesn't have the special feel for humans anymore it still had in the 24th century. Much like 'yeah I live in location X but it could just as well have been location Y in the general neighbourhood'.

The question itself would even be a bit alienating perhaps from Daniels' perspective. Perhaps similar to talking with an ancient greek about our megacities with millions upon millions of rich people (from his perspective), and he suddenly wonders where we keep all our horses if there is so little grass in our huge cities. Our answer could be 'it depends a bit on what you mean exactly by horses', because we would understand that he would also mean by horses the functions they filled in his time (transport, other muscle power, warfare), things that we have solved differently, even though the horses themselves still exist in relatively modest numbers.

 

In the 31st century schoolchildren have the ability to send messages back in time. So probably, the future is a terrifying paradoxical mishmash of people warning themselves off from every small mistake they ever make. Kids giving themselves answers to tests, teachers then warning themselves to change the questions, men telling themselves not to bring up certain topics to their girlfriends.

A dystopia of social serenity where nobody ever makes mistakes or offends everyone because they are warned by themselves for every mistake.