Sector 001 - a relic of times past?

[C.E. Evans]

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.

It could be a matter of the Universal Translator converting designations for our ears. Someone might actually be saying "^!@ty <<~" in their native language, but the UT converts it to "Sector 001." The Borg may refer to their home as "Quadrant 1," but it comes out as "the Delta Quadrant" to us.

 

[Cicero]

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.

It seems to have had more to do with the necessities of navigation and timekeeping than colonialism. The meridian was chosen by an international conference in Washington, D.C. that had been called by President Arthur at the behest of the U.S. Congress.

At the conference, Washington—unsuitable because of its location—Berlin, and Paris were the only real competitors, due to the need for a first-rate observatory, good communications links, and a network of triangles nearby.

The most important problem turns out to be where the anti-meridian lands on the opposite side of the globe. To cause the least disruption, it needs to fall east of New Zealand and west of Canada.

France's proposal was for the Azores, which they argued were preferable because they weren't near an international capital, but the islands both lacked infrastructure and were too far west. Ultimately, twenty-one of the twenty-two countries in attendance recommended Greenwich.

 

[Ragitsu]

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.

I find it best to keep to the simplest explanation than to get lost in the weeds while ascribing semi-nefarious reasons (e.g., "colonialism") to what in all likelihood was an innocent writing decision.

 

[AntonyF]

I find it best to keep to the simplest explanation than to get lost in the weeds while ascribing semi-nefarious reasons (e.g., "colonialism") to what in all likelihood was an innocent writing decision.

Yeah but then we'd have no discussion on anything Star Trek as it'd just be "because writers" as the response to anything. Literally anything.

Also we can question writers' intent, for both deliberate and unconscious choices. The gap between TOS where a woman number one was not allowed and a black woman being on the bridge was a big thing was just 21 years. 21. We're now talking 36 years since Best of Both Worlds. What hubris to think that we we aren't allowed to discuss writing choices.

I am happy with the topic, there's lots and far ranging discussion points come up and most not "nefarious". You can find another topic if you don't like the weeds of discussion.

 

[AntonyF]

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.

As CE Evans said that may be universal translator thing. A good catch all for such things! And I understand the dissonance you talk of. We can hold the conflicting notions that it's a fictional universe but also understand it's written by people and needs to be understood by people. Which is why I like kicking about ideas like sector 001 and what it really means and how it may be used in-universe.

001 for the Borg made sense to me as they assimilated Picard and he was meant to be the bridge between species. So I guess it kind of stuck with them.

Conversely I always enjoyed that Species 8472 was Species 8472 even to Starfleet officers, proof that designations can go the other way too.

 

[CoveTom]

Also we can question writers' intent, for both deliberate and unconscious choices. The gap between TOS where a woman number one was not allowed and a black woman being on the bridge was a big thing was just 21 years. 21. We're now talking 36 years since Best of Both Worlds. What hubris to think that we we aren't allowed to discuss writing choices.

No question that things change dramatically in those time periods. However, it's worth remembering that the "woman first officer not allowed" thing was a total Roddenberry fabrication. In fact, NBC was fine with having a woman first officer. Their objection was that they didn't want Roddenberry's mistress as the actress. If he had been willing to recast the role, they would have been fine with it. Instead, he just dropped the role and made up the "we're so backward, we can't have a powerful woman character" line to make himself look better.

 

[AntonyF]

No question that things change dramatically in those time periods. However, it's worth remembering that the "woman first officer not allowed" thing was a total Roddenberry fabrication. In fact, NBC was fine with having a woman first officer. Their objection was that they didn't want Roddenberry's mistress as the actress. If he had been willing to recast the role, they would have been fine with it. Instead, he just dropped the role and made up the "we're so backward, we can't have a powerful woman character" line to make himself look better.

Interesting... I've never heard this before. Although given how many times they tried to move Voyager back to a male lead, I suspect the fight was far from simple or over.

 

[Tango]

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:

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.

Which star charts are these? That neutral zone (which one?) looks awfully close to Earth.

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

Which star charts are these? That neutral zone (which one?) looks awfully close to Earth.

That's the actual title, Star Trek: Star Charts, by Geoffrey Mandel. I scribbled this map myself based on art from it (and got the sector numbers wrong, my other map is more accurate).

There's another set of maps in Stellar Cartography: The Starfleet Reference Library, which came out later, but the Neutral Zone is in pretty much the same place there.

 

[Tallguy]

TOS depicted an Earth forward section of our Galaxy. What the other cultures, who were either content sitting at home or tagging along with Earth thought of this was never explored. Sarek disapproved.

TNG didn't go far from this.

Faster than light travel was discovered (as far as the citizens of the Federation were concerned) by Zephram Cochrane who may have been from Alpha Centauri and almost certainly lived there. It was such a monumental discovery that MORE THAN ONE PLANET was named after him.

Where this line was drawn (Vulcans, Klingons, First Federation, Time Lords, Hoojibs) as far as "we got out there and look! They have this thing too!" is never made entirely clear. Until ENT, of course when it's apparently more likely to discover planets that have warp drive than not. "Nice going Zeke. It's about time!" He's as special as Mirasta Yale. (YES, I looked that up!)

"Zephram Cochrane is only special to Earth" is nonsense from a TOS and even a TNG perspective.

Why other planets don't have some kind of interstellar flight and then ZC DISCOVERED THE SPACE WARP and made everything AMAZING seems like a no-brainer. (I admit, I always liked the notion that the Klingons got warp drive from whoever had conquered them who they subsequently overthrew. I don't remember where that came from.)

So, yes. Sector 001.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Why didn't they reconcile Cochrane being from Earth and Alpha Centauri as him actually being an alien humanoid someone else abducted from a pre-warp planet and stranded on Earth, meaning he had to invent the warp drive to go home again?

 

[Tallguy]

Why didn't they reconcile Cochrane being from Earth and Alpha Centauri as him actually being an alien humanoid someone else abducted from a pre-warp planet and stranded on Earth, meaning he had to invent the warp drive to go home again?

Well there is also the possibility that Zephram Cochrane of Alpha Centauri is as much a native of AC as Lawrence of Arabia was from Arabia. It would fit the era that TOS was made in.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Which star charts are these? That neutral zone (which one?) looks awfully close to Earth.

That's the actual title, Star Trek: Star Charts, by Geoffrey Mandel. I scribbled this map myself based on art from it (and got the sector numbers wrong, my other map is more accurate).

There's another set of maps in Stellar Cartography: The Starfleet Reference Library, which came out later, but the Neutral Zone is in pretty much the same place there.

Having the Federation, the Klingons, and the Romulans all being relatively close to one another would really track with an idea that they were all competing for the territory between them during TOS (and now early DIS), which led to occasional skirmishes and even worse.

 

[Mudd]

Well there is also the possibility that Zephram Cochrane of Alpha Centauri is as much a native of AC as Lawrence of Arabia was from Arabia. It would fit the era that TOS was made in.

This is more or less what canon eventually established. He was an American from Earth who lived on AC later.

 

[Set Harth]

FC would seem to make that inevitable.

 

[Leviathan]

I always figured every fed member calls their home system Sector 001, uses their own language, and has different units of measure. The Universal translator sorts it out.

 

[Tallguy]

I always figured every fed member calls their home system Sector 001, uses their own language, and has different units of measure. The Universal translator sorts it out.

So no actual understanding, compromise, or agreement. Everyone just lives in their bubble and assumes everyone understands them.

Seems a logical progression.

 

[Crumpets]

Just naming standard, from the perspective of our exploration, makes sense.

 

[AntonyF]

Just naming standard, from the perspective of our exploration, makes sense.

It would have made sense for Earth, but why does it make sense for the Federation?

 

[Riley]

I've always assumed this was because without Terra, there really wouldn't have been a Federation. The Romulans declare war on Earth, their allies (Vulcan, Andor, Tellar, and Alpha Centauri despite ENT) join the fight and then formalize their union after the war. The charter is signed on Earth, the Federation seat is there, and Earth is in Section 001. I don't see the problem.