Suppose Earth was destroyed

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Two things to make clear first:

* I haven't seen Beyond yet. Use spoiler tags please.

* I posted this here because I want both realities to be explored in light of this question.

Okay. So, suppose Earth was destroyed, either as NuTrek Vulcan was, or some other way.

Given that there are many colonies remaining Humans in transit between worlds could eventually settle on, would there be as much of an effort to establish a New Earth, or would it be seen as speciesist to want to preserve and restart Human civilization's central base of operations, as it were?

Are those Humans living on other worlds for generations Human anymore, or practically aliens because they've developed sub-cultures on long established colony worlds?

Would people disperse among alien worlds and dilute to the point of being erased as other cultures absorbed them?

Would Humans care that Earth was gone (aside from having lost most of their relatives and friends). Where is home anymore?

 

[BillJ]

Go see Beyond. That way we don't have to spoiler tag a film that has been out for two-plus months now.

 

[Tenacity]

Riker said in Nemesis that destroying Earth would cause the Federation is cease to exist. I take that to mean that Earth is the linch pin that keeps the Federation from simply breaking up.

Even in the 24th century (imo), the majority of the Human population still lives on Earth. Off world hundreds of millions of Humans are on other species world, colonies, and ships. I don't think Humans living offworld for only several generations would stop being Humans.

I definately think Humans and others would "care."

 

[David Strickhouser]

It would be as if thalaron radiation or the omega particle had been released in the Alpha Quadrant -- devastating for the Federation.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

With the UFP having been around for 100/200 years (depending on if this is TOS or TNG era), with 150+ members some of which have been present since the day the Federation came into being and the organisation has been shown to be politically stable for pretty much the entirety of Trek, then it's safe to assume that it would continue with the loss of Earth. The Council would be relocated to another member world (let's say Vulcan) whilst Starfleet Headquarters would most likely be moved to another planet for greater security (we'll go with Andoria).

Humans from Earth that were evacuated would most likely settle on Mars or possibly colonise another nearby planet to become New Earth, with the full force of the Federation and Starfleet behind them to get settled as quickly as possible. There would be a period of disruption with all these changes, but humanity is shown to be a robust and hardy people who can prevail against all adversaries they face, whilst the allies they have in the Federation would ensure its continuation whilst those of Earth got back on their feet.

It always really irks me when the destruction of Earth somehow leads to the downfall of everything else, it reeks of the "homo sapiens only club" mentality that flies in the face of all things the Federation (and Trek itself) is all about.

 

[psCargile]

Hurrah! Good bye cruel world.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

It always really irks me when the destruction of Earth somehow leads to the downfall of everything else, it reeks of the "homo sapiens only club" mentality that flies in the face of all things the Federation (and Trek itself) is all about.

But it is kind of centered around Earth. Or so it seems to be. If you live on another planet and see Earth as "just another place where stuff happens", like Earth Humans might see Tellar Prime, then maybe you don't consider it such a great loss in the scheme of things.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Ideally, the Federation should be able to go on without Earth. What could probably be the "but..." in that idea could be a notion that Earth is the glue that keeps the otherwise disparate member worlds together that are all individual sovereignties in their own right. There might not have been a Federation in the first place without Earth as a guiding unifying force, and in its absence, many members could essentially go "screw this" and go back to what they were originally. Another possibility is a breaking up of the Federation into smaller nations, with some following the Vulcans, others the Andorians, and so on.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

But it is kind of centered around Earth. Or so it seems to be. If you live on another planet and see Earth as "just another place where stuff happens", like Earth Humans might see Tellar Prime, then maybe you don't consider it such a great loss in the scheme of things.

I'm not saying Earth doesn't have a role to play, but it is not the be all and end all of the Federation. Starfleet will have multiple large-scale facilities on dozens of worlds (as well as stations and outposts), from which the military forces of the Federation could be commanded, whilst if Earth was targeted and there was even just a few seconds of warning then the UFP government would be beamed up to a designated ship for their evacuation to another, safer world (though never established in the canon, it is only logical that considerable effort would be made to ensure the safety of the ranking members of the government, with contingency plans in place should the worst case scenario be faced). It's a prominent planet, but so is Vulcan and the NuTrek universe hasn't fallen apart with the loss of that Founding Member.

 

[locutus101]

The thing is that we don't know the statistics. What percentage of humankind live on earth? Is it 90 percent, 50 percent, 10 percent?

I for one was surprised, appalled even that only ten thousand Vulcans lived off world, after thousands of years of space faring!

 

[F. King Daniel]

In Trek's world, the fall of Earth means the fall of the Federation. Whether it makes sense or not. Humans somehow got Vulcans, Androians, Tellarites and others to put aside their differences and team up, despite them all being out in space for decades or centuries longer than us. Seemingly, humans invented the concept of co-operation

 

[Kemaiku]

Well, if you've killed all the cute cuddly things, what point is there carrying on.

I mean to hell with utopia, you kill all the kittens and you might as well pack up and go home.

 

[locutus101]

Well, if you've killed all the cute cuddly things, what point is there carrying on.

I mean to hell with utopia, you kill all the kittens and you might as well pack up and go home.

You think Earth is overrun by cats?

 

[USS Triumphant]

I've always had this image in mind that Earth is mostly empty, anyway - there are a few huge cities like San Francisco and Paris, a scattering of small little communities like the town near the shipyard in Star Trek 2009 and the place Picard was from and the place where Sisko's dad had his restaurant, and beyond that, a lot has been given back to native peoples who want to live their traditional lifestyle, and to animal habitats.

So I guess my answer would be that if it was something that allowed the recovery of the planet, the Federation would probably finish turning it into a wildlife preserve and museum planet. And if not, then I suspect that museums and memorials would be set up on the other human inhabited worlds. Either way, the capital of the Federation would probably move to Alpha Centauri, since the Andorians, Vulcans, and Tellarites *know* that it's the humans who brought them together and that keep them together - our special trait (in Trek) of being adaptable enough to meet almost any species at least half-way (as Quark put it, our "insidiousness", like root beer ).

However, I suspect there's a "catastrophic events" team on the planet where the Guardian of Forever is, and other similar plans in place, that mean that this would never happen, anyway. Not without a fight with the temporal powers that be, anyway.

 

[ItIsGreen]

Humans developing different cultures on other planets/colonies wouldn't stop them being human, just as people with different cultures here on Earth are still human. Even in the world of Trek, humanity isn't just one big homogenous superculture.

As for whether the Federation would collapse without Earth, I think that's somewhat overstated for dramatic effect many times, however I do think that Earth's role in the Federation is somewhat that of a mediator/peacekeeper between the many different member worlds and races who may have incompatible viewpoints and/or historic disagreements - see Archer wrangling the Vulcans, Andorians and Tellarites in "United".

 

[locutus101]

I think Earth's cultural influence over the Alpha Quadrant is overrated. It's likely that most of the millions of inhabited star systems therein, don't even know that it exists.

 

[Tenacity]

if Earth was targeted and there was even just a few seconds of warning then the UFP government would be beamed up

As opposed to beaming up a identical number of children instead ?

The member world could always send more (different) representatives to where ever the councils meets now that Earth is gone. Really, the council gets in the lifeboats first?

Excuse my language, but what fucking scum.

 

[locutus101]

As opposed to beaming up a identical number of children instead ?

The member world could always send more (different) representatives to where ever the councils meets now that Earth is gone. Really, the council gets in the lifeboats first?

Excuse my language, but what fucking scum.

When Vulcan was about to be destroyed, Spock didn't try to save any children. In fact they could have used their resources to randomly beam up as many Vulcan children as they could, but they didn't.

 

[The Wormhole]

As opposed to beaming up a identical number of children instead ?

The member world could always send more (different) representatives to where ever the councils meets now that Earth is gone. Really, the council gets in the lifeboats first?

Excuse my language, but what fucking scum.

That's the way it is in the real world. In the event of an emergency the government and head of state are the priority to be evacuated.

 

[locutus101]

That's the way it is in the real world. In the event of an emergency the government and head of state are the priority to be evacuated.

In "Mars Attacks!" they failed to do that, though; Jack Nicholson was killed while there were still (thousands?) of people on Earth.

However, I agree that, though we've never been in that situation, that's likely whom they would save first.