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Sector 001 - a relic of times past?

AntonyF

AntonyF

Official Tahmoh Taster
Admiral
What do we think of Sector 001?

I have as the years gone by increasingly become annoyed by the Earth-centricity of the Federation. But a certain irony hit me last night while watching Times Arrow's Part 1.

Samuel Clemens says "The eminent scientist Alfred Russell Wallace has revived the theory that Earth is at the centre of the stellar universe." The implication being he's a kook with old fashioned views.

Yet in the very same episode Picard says they've returned to Sector 001. Which to me sounds an awful lot like Earth being the centre of the universe... or at least the galaxy, then everything emanates from there. Or is there a more scientific basis that I'm missing?

Also on a more practical level you had races like the Malcorians who thought they were centre of the universe and seen as 'not ready' for the reality they weren't, yet if they started a joining process would be told no no you're not the centre of the universe however the numbering system starts with our Earth funny that.

Would something more neutral be a better way to do it? Also why is it that 001 I think is only mentioned in relation to earth, but not readily used as a designation system?
 
C.E. Evans said:
IMO, having Earth in Sector 001 is as arbitrary as having Earth in the Alpha Quadrant.
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I'd say having the Federation capitol in Sector 001 isn't arbitrary at all. Who knows, whatever sector that contains the federal government may be considered 'Sector 001' in Federation terminology.

Interesting to see if they designate the Betazoid system as Sector 001 now that it will be the seat of the federal government in the 32nd century, post-Burn.
 
I'd argue that the Sector 001 designation changes based on where the capitol is located sort of like in the U.S. whatever plane the President is on changes its designation to Air Force 1. For the three centuries of the Star Trek universe we are most familiar with, 22nd thru 24th, it's been Earth. It could change based on wherever the capitol of the Federation is moved to.
 
BillJ said:
I'd say having the Federation capitol in Sector 001 isn't arbitrary at all. Who knows, whatever sector that contains the federal government may be considered 'Sector 001' in Federation terminology.
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IMO, when the Federation sector map was established someone decided to officially designate the region Sector 001 rather than Sector 0 (or simply the Earth Sector). And a committee said "Yeah, Sector 001 will work. Why not?"
 
C.E. Evans said:
IMO, when the Federation sector map was established someone decided to officially designate the region Sector 001 rather than Sector 0 (or simply the Earth Sector). And a committee said "Yeah, Sector 001 will work. Why not?"
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Or someone designated them in accordance to a drawn-up hierarchy based on where the government is currently at. I mean, it isn't like it is hard to change terminology on a map and I doubt anyone is sending their mail with Sector 001 in the sending or receiving address. ;)
 
BillJ said:
Or someone designated them in accordance to a drawn-up hierarchy based on where the government is currently at.
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That's my point. They decided to give that particular designation to the region where their capital was. They could have named it anything (like "Sector Prime" for example), and it still would have been just the designation that was given to it by a government entity.
 
Tosk said:
Plus, why do you assume 001 means that our system is the 'center of the galaxy'?
We don't know where Sector 000 is, after all.
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Well my assumption, and I may be wrong which is part of this discussion, is that I would imagine the numbers emanate out from that point. Making it the centre. And if you are mean to be a federation of equals, if you were a race like the Malcorians you could take umbrage with that.

Ragitsu said:
A show made in the United States tends to appeal to United States citizens.
A show created by humans tends to put humans front-and-center.

Is this odd?
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I'm trying to have an in-universe discussion here. So anything may be odd if we want to break the fourth wall. WhY HuMaN Num3rals?! We could be reductive as much as we want.

Akiraprise said:
I'd argue that the Sector 001 designation changes based on where the capitol is located sort of like in the U.S. whatever plane the President is on changes its designation to Air Force 1. For the three centuries of the Star Trek universe we are most familiar with, 22nd thru 24th, it's been Earth. It could change based on wherever the capitol of the Federation is moved to.
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That's interesting and that's the kind of stuff I wanted to dig around into. This would also explain why it's Sector 001 more than one in TNG but we never other sector numbers. That it's more a designation than strictly navigational....

Ray Hardgrit said:
It seems to me it's like how 0 longitude runs through Greenwich. It had to be somewhere, they chose there, it's not a big deal.
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Well that's an interesting thing in itself as Greenwich Mean Time has been tied to colonialism, putting the UK at the centre and pushing control over colonised nations to its timekeeping. And if the sector system was set from Earth outwards it would be a future version of that.

C.E. Evans said:
That's my point. They decided to give that particular designation to the region where their capital was. They could have named it anything (like "Sector Prime" for example), and it still would have been just the designation that was given to it by a government entity.
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I find this theory interesting.

Also another theory I read after posting this thread was that 001 was the first Federation member, 002 was the second etc. However I don't think there's any evidence of that, just a theory.
 
Looking at star charts I've found on Google it seems like Earth might be in the far bottom right corner of sector 001, so it could be something like this:

star-trek-map1.png

Or they could be numbered clockwise, or the grid could be in the wrong place, or sector 2 could be above sector 1... I haven't got a clue.
 
Okay I tried doing something wild and actually read what it said in the Star Charts instead of making guesses, and it says that the sectors were numbered in order of when they were explored by manned vessels.

star-trek-map2.png

Sol is on the corner of eight sectors, numbered (clockwise) 8, 6, 4, 1 on the top (with 1 in the top left) and 2, 5, 3, 7 on the bottom.

Vulcan is below in sector 5, Andoria is above in sector 6, Tellar is below in sector 7.

I think it's best to keep Earth's sector as 001, it's already confusing enough as it is.
 
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If the hero characters want to refer to Earth as Sector 001, then, fine, whatever. It maybe Earth centric, but Earth is the capital of the Federation and it makes sense that they would designate their homeworld in such a manner. What got silly was later where we see the Borg and the Dominion also think of Earth as Sector 001, as opposed to their own homeworlds. Or that various aliens on Voyager think of their own quadrant as the Delta Quadrant and refer to Voyager's home as the Alpha. And yes, I do know that this is done for narrative shorthand and convenience, mostly for the audience's sake. Still somewhat irritating, though.
 
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