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Do you think the 24th century earth has junkies and addicts?

Counseling for what through?
Paris was never a marque zealot, he was bored and looking for something to do.

For being so bored and clueless that he joined a pack of terrorists. You don't need to have schizophrenia to need therapy any more than you need to have diabetes to visit a doctor.

No, it really isn't

How so?
 
You don't need to have schizophrenia to need therapy any more than you need to have diabetes to visit a doctor.
To be receiving medical therapy yes you do need to have something wrong with you. If you don't have diabetes, why would you be receiving therapy for that condition?
 
To be receiving medical therapy yes you do need to have something wrong with you. If you don't have diabetes, why would you be receiving therapy for that condition?
You're missing the point. You can still see a doctor even if you don't have diabetes. It's not about treating that one condition. You can still see a therapist if you don't have schizophrenia.

Tom Paris thought it would be a good idea to join terrorists, and not because he cared about their plight. He would have benefited from therapy.

Also, re Braxton, how so?
 
We have to realize some of the utopian, perhaps unrealistic or futuristic ideas about human behavior that trek was pushing at the time.

Humans don't get bothered by being called names, they don't grieve, they don't want things, they don't settle disputes with their fists, they don't fear death, they don't judge attractiveness by physical appearance, they don't bother with on screen entertainment anymore (TV), ect.

They would probably say there are no drug addicts in the 23-24th century.

These are some really nice things to think about, but are they saying all of earth is like this? No human whatsoever can be bothered by an insult?
 
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We have to realize some of the utopian, perhaps unrealistic or futuristic ideas about human behavior that trek was pushing at the time.

Humans don't get bothered by being called names, they don't grieve, they don't want things, they don't settle disputes with their fists, they don't fear death, they don't judge attractiveness by physical appearance, they don't bother with on screen entertainment anymore (TV), ect.

They would probably say there are no drug addicts in the 23-24th century.

These are some really nice things to think about, but are they saying all of earth is like this? No human whatsoever can be bothered by an insult?

If you called a Jedi or a rabbi a bad word, would he loose his shit and seek revenge? It's not that they don't get that negativity is being thrown their way, but they get what's worth getting worked-up about and what isn't. They thought and studied and became more together individuals. Humans of the Federation aren't different from us physically -- it's not that kind of "evolution" -- but they're the us we kinda wish we were if we'd been raised better and didn't have to deal with the 9-5 and anonymous dicks on the internet and the like.
 
I often see people describe the 24th century with people of our time "adjusted" for it. I think that's in error. It's very difficult to imagine what people will be like. We don't know what sociological issues have been solved by then. Right now, we're a mess. Much worse than most people care to believe. We're lucky we've come this far. But we're heading into a dark time. I don't want to believe it... I really don't. I want a brighter future. Yet, we've got a severe sociological disconnect going on and nobody is really addressing it. Keep looking at the symptoms but not the illness.

We can't have harmony if those with the most money and power remain selfish and fall easily into the hands of corruption. We've seen it happen time and time again. Eventually society suffers an erosion... and a once powerful nation becomes a lesser player on the global scene. The USA is heading in that direction. The bi-partisan friction is obsessively ideological and frighteningly dysfunctional. The middle class MUST prosper. MUST be given the tools to do so. You financially starve those people and make it insurmountable to afford a quality education, and it atrophies. You end up with an extreme disparity. And eventually there is a revolt. The wealthy will think that they can protect themselves with sophistication and fortification, but it won't last. Desperate people are far too resilient.

The danger is that if the more humane nations are economically and militarily surpassed by oppressive nations (like China), you'll see another world war. Because if you really examine China up close, you'll find that they have an expansionist doctrine just waiting to be engaged. They want to rule the world. So does Russia. The USSR wasn't stable. They were always looking for opportunities to annex. And when technology makes crossing an ocean pretty quick and easy, nobody is safe.

At this rate, I think the 24th century will have junkies and addicts. The only way we'll get around that is if we have a collapse, and a full "reboot." And what societies that are built are strict about fairness. It won't be unbridled capitalism or highly restrictive socialism. Somewhere in between. And then we'll rebuild. Just hope that there isn't a kind of "book burning" that takes place, where recorded media from the 20th and 21st centuries are destroyed because they are from a time where things were dysfunctional, and leaders fear it'll spread the wrong message, affect culture in a negative way. I'd hate to think of all the good we created in this time gets wiped out.
 
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I used to think that Trek's WWIII would have been that wake-up call for Earth, but I don't anymore. That suggests that people are logical and would hear it. Such people wouldn't need WWIII to hear it. What would really happen isn't a reboot, based on the finest principles of the past, but what already happened in the past. Warlords (later monarchs) pitting desperate ignorant faction against desperate ignorant faction and it'd take thousands of years to get back to where we are today, let alone a brighter future after. The history would be lost and whatever was recovered would be interpreted by different factions in wildly different ways, suiting their world-views. That's the optimistic perspective. The thought that we'd ever recover from global nuclear war is almost fantastically optimistic. Maybe that's why the death toll was so low in FC. Radiation, cancer from the radiation, dust blocking out the sun and making the air unhealthy to breath. A sparse population and weak, diseased, genetic pool. Finally, there was that DS9 episode where there was no Federation ("Past Tense"?) and the Romulans expanded to Alpha Centauri. Was anyone left on Earth to enslave?

But I digress. I think what saves the future is thought and communication. I think the people who are the most violent don't consider different scenarios and consequences (another reason to love science-fiction and just fiction overall) and that isolation breeds selfishness and ignorance -- we need to say "ow" to each other when we're hurting each other and learn to interact more effectively. I think our phones and internet are exposing to us how ignorant we have been and stimulating us to learn, and the chaos of it all is our still figuring out how to set our new internal limits and external manners.

Despite our current toxic conversations, we're living in a period of unprecedented global peace, global poverty levels have been falling off a cliff for a while, and murder/rape/crime levels are far lower than they were a few decades ago. I'm concerned about this new resurgence of nationalism and bigotry, predictable after years of economic stagnation, but I think there are non-destructive means to harness a better future.

...I think all of that was a digression in fact. The reason I don't think there are junkies on Earth is because these people have made an effort to solve the world's problems and help each other out. Why would that end at harmful narcotics? How would the broader stuff be possible without more together individual stuff? What Would Mr. Rogers Do?

EDIT: someone do a photo-manip of Fred Rogers wave-boarding on the rings of Rigel VIII, waving with a Saurian Mai Tai in one hand and a Starfleet communicator on his tropical spacesuit, neighbors of countless species flying by, waving back...
 
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In the Star Trek universe its 'the aliens have landed' that is the wake up call for humanity. If the Klingons had discovered Cochran, humans would be turned into cannon fodder or slaves. The whole planet might be overrun by addicts or someone might consider it a good idea to augment the race to get rid of the Klingons and hope there are no side effects.
 
I think the federation probably either had the medication and science knowledge to either obviate addictions immediately or the counseling and psychological knowledge to compassionately and effectively help those with such problems.
 
What if people choose to pursue recreational drugs? think they are illegal? impossible to find? i think this forum underrates how many functioning addicts there are out there who don't desire abstinence, or let their finances decay enough to force quitting.
 
If you called a Jedi or a rabbi a bad word, would he loose his shit and seek revenge? It's not that they don't get that negativity is being thrown their way, but they get what's worth getting worked-up about and what isn't. They thought and studied and became more together individuals. Humans of the Federation aren't different from us physically -- it's not that kind of "evolution" -- but they're the us we kinda wish we were if we'd been raised better and didn't have to deal with the 9-5 and anonymous dicks on the internet and the like.

Interesting thing about comparing Jedis and 24th century humans; in many ways they are a lot alike.
The thing with the Jedis is, in the original trilogy, they were seen as wise mysterious mystics.


Have you noticed that in the prequel trilogy fans thought they came off as self righteous, arrogant jerks almost? It was the way they were portrayed. They gave weird advice like "if a loved one is in danger, don't try to save them, don't miss them or worry about them. That is attachment".

As for Trek, is some of this stuff over idealistic or realistic? Can an entire planet word full of humans not be bothered by insults? No conflict, don't settle problems with their fists, no addictions?
 
Somehow I think human nature was radically changed between the 20th and 24th centuries. The human beings of Picard's era were in a lot of ways better-more compassionate, more rational, more ambitious, less malicious, than we are.
 
Somehow I think human nature was radically changed between the 20th and 24th centuries. The human beings of Picard's era were in a lot of ways better-more compassionate, more rational, more ambitious, less malicious, than we are.
Like Sisko said its easy to be a saint in Paradise, and like Quark said take away humans creature comforts and they are as barbaric as anyone else.
 
Humans never change, they just change targets.

I think if from childhood you're taught to have slaves, you'll always think that there's a natural order to life and some race should always be your slave, even if you emancipate the one you started out with.

These days most of us think differently.
 
I still think that in the 24th century, getting high will not be considered a vice, but instead the highest and most exquisite form of personal artistic experience, especially as the experiences are engineered to remove any negative effects on physical and psychological health. Why won't anyone run with this idea? Show us a future human society with values radically different from ours!

Kor
 
I still think that in the 24th century, getting high will not be considered a vice, but instead the highest and most exquisite form of personal artistic experience, especially as the experiences are engineered to remove any negative effects on physical and psychological health. Why won't anyone run with this idea? Show us a future human society with values radically different from ours!

Kor
They are radically different, humans mating with others species is not considered bestiality. In our world mating with another human with different skin colour is still scandalous in some places and on a par with bestiality.
 
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