I'd trade any form of entertainment today for the holodeck. The possibilities are endless!
As for no competition? Sisko baseball games!!!!!
As for no competition? Sisko baseball games!!!!!
Poll Would you trade your real life to live in the ST Universe?
- Thread starter AdmiralBruno
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No, no, no!! In a "perfect society," EVERYONE gets to do what they want! And in an even MORE "perfect society" this isn't a problem at all because nobody actually wants anything...because "wanting" is an evil and destructive concept!!!
Which really makes no sense. People have to have desire for things. Or else you would need a draft to fill up Starfleet. Joseph Sisko had to want a restaurant or else he would be doing something else. Without "want" society would decay and ultimately fall.
Where did i question that?
I questioned your assertion that it was down to the attitude of someone posting in here that the world is the way it is.
In truth I'd also go further, though.
Your response to living in a world full of corruption which affords a minority of us (you and I included) far higher living conditions than pretty much anyone in history due to a few key technologies whilst many starve or face wars and natural disasters is to.....
Fantasise about living in ANOTHER world full of corruption which affords a minority much higher living conditions than pretty much anyone in history due to a few key technologies whilst many starve, or face wars and natural disasters.
Then you take offence at someone who questions the usefulness of living in this fantasy as a way of improving things because "its attitudes like theirs which keep the world the way it is".
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The DS9 view makes far more sense.
Seriously? {pops over to news site for a moment} Have you LOOKED at the world today? We could do with a better reality.
I'd give up a lot just to get my wife admitted to Sickbay for a while. She may have a permanent thing for McCoy, but I don't care if she has to put up with an EMH-Pulaski hybrid, if it gets her health finally managed properly.
There were constant wars in the 24th century. The Cardassians and Tzenkethi to name two. Massacres at Setlik III and Federation colonies being swept up by the Borg. Any time you live in is full of dangers.
Earth was attacked several times during the course of the Prime universe, and threatened with destruction a lot in TOS. People in the 24th century probably still live in a certain amount of fear towards external threats and I doubt xenophobia has disappeared due to that.
There doesn't seem to be much worry about war on earth, outside of the very rare villain attack. Meanwhile the federation is going around trying to help other species. The medical technology is way advanced as well. It's an improvement. I wouldn't trade reality for a fictional universe, but there's no doubt it's portraying a better world just based on the technology alone.
But in many ways that is the problem, when the technology is key to that improvement, humanity is not. They have reduced low level property crime through a post scarcity tech level, not through any forward leaps in morality. The core world citizens live an idyllic life doing as they please with that technology whilst most of the galaxy tears itself apart in brutality. Take away their replicators, their holodecks, their nanite and hologram workforces and what's left? They are no more "enlightened" than any other human society, arguably less so precisely because they have become too comfortable, complacent and dependent. Their society is no wiser or fundamentally better than ours, they simply have easier lives. There may not be much worry about war on earth, because they are so insulated from it by the efforts and losses of others.
"Bettering oneself" for the majority simply seems to mean filling their long empty hours with self indulgent pastimes whilst paying little heed to the outside world, not taking the responsibility that their technology and power could and should afford them. They aren't morally driven and socially conscious as a whole, they are largely just decadent.
Yes they have starfleet, but tellingly that is itself blatantly full of corruption, ambitious political machinations and petty empire building, precisely because those who find themselves in positions of power are typically those who seek that power out, money is only ever a means to that end. As for their ethical guidelines, we've seen our paragon of virtue, Piacard watch species be wiped out on his viewscreen rather than violate the letter of the Prime Directive, then spend half his career in conflict with superior officers, diplomats, alien politicians, whoever, precisely because his little bubble of idealism is so completely in conflict with the reality surrounding him. Yes he's inspirational to others, much as eloquent idealists are today, because there are so few people like him. That doesn't make him factually or morally correct, nor does it make him representative of federation citizens as a whole.
There are some genuine depictions of utopian societies throughout sci fi, The Culture novels being an obvious one, but the federation is not amongst them, nor is it in fact intended to be. This "perfect society" we keep hearing about is something that has been perpetuated throughout the fan base unquestioned largely because we have a leading character who really believes it's true.
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That's absolutely what I believe. The TNG view of 24th Century "reality" was influenced by Picard's personal philosophies and ideals. Picard's preaching does not equal reality. It's the Federation viewed through one idealist's lens.
Such pessimistic views for supposed Star Trek fans....
Sure technology is a part of it, but humanity is also fundamentally better in the future than it is now, even though of course it is still flawed. Even the French speak with English accents
Sure technology is a part of it, but humanity is also fundamentally better in the future than it is now, even though of course it is still flawed. Even the French speak with English accents
An original Star Trek fan first and foremost. They were very flawed and nothing made one believe Earth was some kind of Utopia.
How are they fundamentally better?
Encounter at Farpoint said:
Q Who? Get it? lulz.
In the future do humans stomp all over each other for financial resources? No. VAST improvement from today.
In the future do humans stomp all over each other for financial resources? No. VAST improvement from today.
I'm not sure how any fan can explain it when the show has refused to for 50 years. Humans come across pretty poorly through Voyager and Nemesis as well.
See: "Mudd's Women", "The Devil in the Dark", "The Trouble with Tribbles"
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