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Trekonomics - soon to be released

Only a right-winger can ask such a question.
Really horatio83, shouldn't everyone should be allowed to ask important questions? People across the political spectrum.
People on the left would never ask such a question as they embrace universalism.
The Federation clearly has universal values. For example the Klingons could never join as they are aristocratic instead of democratic and cherish death instead of life.
 
Left-wing emancipatory movements have always been centralized.

Hmm....Like Chiapas, which consist of five autonomous municipalities? Or the Free Territory of the Ukraine which was based on independent workers' councils? Or, maybe, even with what is purportedly happening in present-day Rojava
Of course there are and have been left-libertarian / anarchist movements thoughout history. Unsurprisingly they have achieved very little, if your political ideology says that do not really wanna grab state power you can hardly change very much.
So forgive me if I ignore these movements, their insignificant achievements as well as the numerous intellectuals who support them.
 
Oh jeeze, more of this "the Federation isn't really a sovereign state it's just an alliance of worlds (oh and those worlds aren't sovereign states themselves, they just have lots and lots of sovereign states on them that magically always cooperate)" nonsense?

You know, T'Girl, if you object so strongly to Star Trek's anti-capitalist, one-world-government/interstellar-government premise, maybe instead of ignoring or directly contradicting everything in Trek you don't like, you should just create your own space opera TV series instead, and have it vigorously compete with Star Trek on the free market. :)
 
But will it address who gets to live on the beach?
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Any way you look at it, Earth is a atypical world in the Federation Membership. It holds the Federation's governing body, and it holds the HQ of Starfleet.

All the more reason for new prospective members to be highly suspicious. You're approached for membership and see that this Federation organisation and it's military power all reside on this one little planet called Earth.

Hmm :vulcan:
 
Any way you look at it, Earth is a atypical world in the Federation Membership. It holds the Federation's governing body, and it holds the HQ of Starfleet.

All the more reason for new prospective members to be highly suspicious. You're approached for membership and see that this Federation organisation and it's military power all reside on this one little planet called Earth.

Hmm :vulcan:
but is Starfleet a military?
 
I tried to model a Federation economy in NationStates. It just say "Imploded".

I nailed the rest, though:
The nation's official head of religious affairs is an atheist, all industry is owned and run by the government, people reciting Shakespeare have become a common sight, and extreme political groups are outlawed. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Starfleet in Exile's national animal is the Gazelle, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.
 
I nailed the rest, though:
...and extreme political groups are outlawed.
Wow, so all a group momently in power would have to do is declare any and all rivals to be "extreme" and thereby become to only "non-extreme" political group.

Pretty slick.

citizens are barcoded to keep track of their movements
I'm guessing Rand Paul isn't the leader there.

Interesting site, looking forward to going through it later as time permits.
 
Wow, so all a group momently in power would have to do is declare any and all rivals to be "extreme" and thereby become to only "non-extreme" political group.

Pretty slick.

The way NationStates works is that every day your nation receives one or two issues, all with several choices. Usually it's a pick of extremes -- prudent, rational choices are few and far between. I banned a neo-Nazi parade (can't have these Terra Nova types running around!) and suddenly all extremists were banned.

T'Girl said:
I'm guessing Rand Paul isn't the leader there.

:lol: Nope. I play several different nations, all with different moods. Starfleet in Exile, for instance, is progressive and technocratic. One nation, which I'm trying to model after the old Dutch Republic, is much more libertarian. It doesn't even have a government, just a "small group of community-minded individuals". :lol: I play another as an insane dictator who has to date banned cars, planes, clothing, and talking too loudly. Once I tried an anarchist tribe, but it's hard to model anarchism in a game named after states where one person makes all the decisions. :lol: I just revived another, which is basically a SimCity 3000 city in NationStates form..

T'Girl said:
Interesting site, looking forward to going through it later as time permits.

It's easy to get into -- all the player does is make one or two decisions a day, and it's just played through the websites. I've had nations on here for over a decade now, off and on. A lot of old-timers do role-playing on the forums, but I've not got into that..
 
I nailed the rest, though:
...and extreme political groups are outlawed.
Wow, so all a group momently in power would have to do is declare any and all rivals to be "extreme" and thereby become to only "non-extreme" political group.
Not that I expect libertarians/anarchists to understand this simple fact but no stable society can tolerate political extremism of any kind.
Of course we all know the history of the first half of the 20th century, a stable society must also not tolerate conditions which lead to discontent that unloads itself into extremism, it must not merely forbid it but also not be a catalyst for extremism.
 
Oh jeeze, more of this "the Federation isn't really a sovereign state it's just an alliance of worlds (oh and those worlds aren't sovereign states themselves, they just have lots and lots of sovereign states on them that magically always cooperate)" nonsense?

You know, T'Girl, if you object so strongly to Star Trek's anti-capitalist, one-world-government/interstellar-government premise, maybe instead of ignoring or directly contradicting everything in Trek you don't like, you should just create your own space opera TV series instead, and have it vigorously compete with Star Trek on the free market. :)

The name of the place, is Babylon Fiiiiive
 
Okay folks.

Let's keep it in the realm of Star Trek, please. And be nice, damnit!

:scream:
 
but is Starfleet a military?
Yes, although I get the impression that while offense/defense is job one, after that Starfleet functions as a general "do everything" organization. Passagers, freight, inspections, exploration, you name it.

All the more reason for new prospective members to be highly suspicious. You're approached for membership and see that this Federation organisation and it's military power all reside on this one little planet called Earth.
If a new series ever materializes, one of the thing I like to hear is that the Council is no longer on Earth. Perhaps it regularly rotates among the Members homeworlds, remains for a period (five years?), and then moves again. In the materially advanced future this shouldn't be too much of a problem. The Federation Council rents out something like a modern convention center and lot's of nearby office space for however many years and meet there.

No fixed location.
 
... and have it vigorously compete with Star Trek on the free market
Surely Sci you meant compete in a heavy regulated and highly taxed market?
When will libertarians/anarchists take the effort to learn some basic classical economic and understand that a market without regulation cannot be free? For example without a strong government that enforces competition you soon get oligopolistic structures.

Free doesn't mean free from government interferences, free doesn't mean anarchy. Free means more or less competitive market with internalization mechanisms for externalities (e.g. CO2 taxes).

A free market and a strong central government go hand in hand. The former without the latter is anarcho-capitalism and the latter without the former is communism. Neither have much to do with a free market system.
 
but is Starfleet a military?
Yes, although I get the impression that while offense/defense is job one, after that Starfleet functions as a general "do everything" organization. Passagers, freight, inspections, exploration, you name it.

All the more reason for new prospective members to be highly suspicious. You're approached for membership and see that this Federation organisation and it's military power all reside on this one little planet called Earth.
If a new series ever materializes, one of the thing I like to hear is that the Council is no longer on Earth. Perhaps it regularly rotates among the Members homeworlds, remains for a period (five years?), and then moves again. In the materially advanced future this shouldn't be too much of a problem. The Federation Council rents out something like a modern convention center and lot's of nearby office space for however many years and meet there.

No fixed location.

IIRC, the 1976 Star Trek: Star Fleet Technical Manual by Franz Joseph depicted the Federation's seat of government as actually being a space station, in interstellar space rather than any particular star system. So the implication seemed to be that the Federation Council was based out of that station.

I don't know how realistic this idea is, but it is kind of nifty.
 
In Star Wars, the capital and Senate is located on Coruscant, which was one big city planet.

It looks like it didn't belong to any one group, so it's culturally a neutral planet. Which was probably just as well.

Star Fleet was very human-centric. Probably a little too human-centric if you were from another member world.

Diana Troi once told someone she was only half human because her mother was from Betazed, and her father "was a Starfleet officer". Even the Klingons called them out on it.

If Admiral Layton's coup had worked, an earth human would have had total control of the Federation's only military. It was probably easier to attempt because Starfleet and the Fed capital were located on his world.

The fact that they mention no earth president or no earth leaders intervening period, makes the whole thing even more odd.
 
Diana Troi once told someone she was only half human because her mother was from Betazed, and her father "was a Starfleet officer".
Which apparently was all that was required to inform the average person that her father was a Human.

If Admiral Layton's coup had worked, an earth human would have had total control of the Federation's only military.
I prefer to think that the majority of Starfleet wouldn't have followed him any longer than it took to get the word out. Initially probably, but not for too long.
 
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