Because some things can't be replicated.
@TwoJakes, I know about Robert Picard refusing to use replicators, but when did O'Brien say the same thing about his family?
How would a society with no money work?
- Thread starter Gingerbread Demon
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Because some things can't be replicated.
@TwoJakes, I know about Robert Picard refusing to use replicators, but when did O'Brien say the same thing about his family?
But unlike electricity, there are people in Star Trek saying that money no longer exists. At least for Earth. If we take Star Trek IV and Kirk's reaction to money (multiple times) into account, than there has been no money used on Earth since before Captain Picard was born. The only member of Sisko's Federartion staff that seems to have experience with money is Dax, who is 300 years old, and not human. This would mean her symbiont would have been around since before the founding of the Federation and certainly before human contact with Trill.
There are also people mentioning and using Federation credits. So who are you going to believe?
The simple fact is, the Federation uses money when a writer wants it to, and doesn't use money when another writer doesn't want it to. Nothing more complicated than that.
I think we've already covered this. The Buttsech's! No really think it through. In a world without money what happens to the "worlds Oldest Profession"? Yeah, They're not THAT enlightened. There is still some sort of unit of exchange going on. I think Kirk and Scotty were widely viewed as "Major Engines of the Galactic Economy" back during their 5 year mission. (remember that whole Scotty being blamed for slicing up hookers episode? His heart belonged to the Enterprise. His loins could be rented out at an hourly rate.)
To me, that has always just meant money in terms of notes and coins. I can accept that but there are too many things that contradict the idea of no currency at all. I think credits are very much part of Federation life.
There was a Voyager episode - can't remember which one - where Janeway talks about the time she bought an artifact from a Vulcan, who immediately jacked up the price when he found out she was in Starfleet.
The absence of a thing does not mean it does not exist. No one in Star Trek mentions using the bathroom either, so folks don't need to dispose of bodily waste? lol
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ST The Voyager home - Kirk states they still use 'money' meaning they needed cash to get around in 1980's USA.
Real Life - cheques are going the way of the do do in the U.K, some of my friends are surprised I still own a cheque book does it mean they don't have a method to pay their bills just because they don't use cheques any more?
Real Life - cheques are going the way of the do do in the U.K, some of my friends are surprised I still own a cheque book does it mean they don't have a method to pay their bills just because they don't use cheques any more?
Amusing. I hear Vulcan Love Slave rendered the oldest profession obsolete, once they ported it to Xbox
In all seriousness, it may be a bit more like Logans run, goodness knows, Roddenberry definitely intended for that in his vision.
But he stated money, the concept itself, not cash, etc, the method by which it is represented and exchanged.
Amusing. I hear Vulcan Love Slave rendered the oldest profession obsolete, once they ported it to Xbox
In all seriousness, it may be a bit more like Logans run, goodness knows, Roddenberry definitely intended for that in his vision.
But even Logan's run clearly had a mechanism of exchange tied to the crystals. Remember they had the impoverished feral zone. It's just Logan and Francis were at the top of the heap in terms of compensation. Logan's run was essentially a utopian view of a Soviet system. One where the cops, those with the direct authority over others have the greatest rewards or societal compensation. Notice how they had no restrictions. No one to tell them no. They lived absolutely hedonistic lifestyles at the expense of those they bullied.(The real world examples of that includes Venezuela. Clearly not as pretty as Logan's Run.) Logan's Run was actually a subversive counterpoint to Rodenberry's type of vision. It was all about rationing of resources masked by artificially limiting lifespans and population. False Utopia through complete dependence.
So the Federation just gives you this non-Federation currency to use as you please in the non-Federation galaxy? (Isn't that called a salary?).
Why would Quark accept a form of currency that has no worth other than as a token? Clearly it does have worth and when all the aliens turn up on Earth wanting to cash-in their Federation currency for goods and services.. they can.
Ergo... Federation has a currency.
Actually the subject comes up a number of times. Kirk is sitting on the lidded toilet in the brig in Final Frontier. The subject of "Waste Disposal Units" is mentioned in DS9 periodically. Voyager has an episode who's travails included none of the toilets working. And we can never forget Trip's horrifying soliquay to schoolchildren on how you poop in space in Enterprise.
In other words "Shit Happens" even in space.
Money still exist. They just don't need to use money on Earth because of the Government Subsidies. But outside the Earth, they still use money. If there is no money, how can Picard able to buy something in Risa? How can Crusher buy clothes in the station of Far Point, how can the Federation personnel buy drink and gamble in Quark? If they are not being paid, they won't have any capability to buy anything. Specially in the Quark.
Now, if they don't need money on Earth, who have the right to live on an elite, expensive condo and who haven't? There are two possibility in here. One is that all the house or apartment on Earth is the same. There is no longer elite or poor area. This is basically a communist style of distribution. Second, people with great merit will have bigger right to use luxury service. That mean, people who work on Starfleet is considered the elite, and they can get the best service on Earth.
Ok, there is another flaw of this "Paradise" without money world / Federation. If everything free, people from the whole Galaxy will come to the Federation and live illegally there. How the government handle this matter? They may have abundant energy, but there is nothing that we call limitless. There is always limit unless you say "bull****" in here. Maybe the government (Federation) can handle the live of 1.000 billion people. But the number will quickly raise significantly without control, and that will reset everything again. there won't abundant energy for everyone, anymore. It will back to zero. Means, you'll need money all over again.
This problem is also true to the government subsidies on Earth. People from the whole Federation will move and live illegally on Earth. Just imagine what will happen if 100 billion people live in our planet (and not everyone are human) just because everything is free here?
So I can say that there are two option to solve this problem. Money still exist, the live is very tough here so people prefer to live in another planet, or they limit the people who can live on Earth. The less capable / less merit will have to live in the other planet.
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That actually is one of the things that makes sense. Federation personel in non Federation postings would likely receive a stipend in some form of local currency for living expenses and such. The Federation would hold hard currency reserves, probably based on some Latinum/Dilithium combination, from which the duty stipends would be drawn. That would be necesary for Galactic trade regardless. Even the Soviet Union North Korea and Cuba maintained hard currency reserves for those purposes.
Kirk notes local people are "still using money" after watching a woman buy a newspaper out of a vending machine. I believe it was the use of physical money that he was commenting on. There was frequent mention of credits during TOS, so Kirk knew about money, it was physical money that gave him pause.
Two movies after TVH we learn that Kirk sold a house on Earth.
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