
Is The Federation the Ultimate Communist State? - musha68k
http://www.kyradesign.co.uk/kate/opinion/trek.html
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dalke
"Clearly, the Federation are the metaphoric U.S. of A."

Really? I thought the Federation was the metaphoric United Nations? For
example, from
[https://web.archive.org/web/20110718082040/http://woodygoula...](https://web.archive.org/web/20110718082040/http://woodygoulart.com/wg/trekology/star-
trek/gene-roddenberry/) :

> “Roddenberry admits there are hidden covert messages in the show. There’s an
> anti-war message, with the United Federation of Planets as an ideal United
> Nations.

"On several occasions, the fact that the Federation uses no money is
mentioned. Either, in the 24th century, humankind, and in fact most of the
galaxy, has regressed to a barter system"

Anthropologist David Graeber, in "Debt: The First 5000 Years", argues that
"debt and credit historically appeared before money, which itself appeared
before barter. This is the opposite of the narrative given in standard
economics texts dating back to Adam Smith." (Quoting Wikipedia.)

While I have not the background to know if this is correct, I don't think Adam
Smith had that background either. Graeber's view does help interpret the non-
monetary social systems that appear in a company or other large organization.
I think it's a good caution that a phrase like 'regressed to a barter system'
may be too simplistic to be meaningful.

"a slightly worrying situation when Deanna is able to trace all of the
descendants of a re-animated 20th century cryogenically preserved woman on the
Enterprise computer. It seems as though starships are equipped with data files
(including addresses and photos?!?) for every citizen on Earth. Worried? You
should be"

It's worrisome that the 24th century equivalent of Facebook, and or Mormon
geneologists, have data caches in every starship? Should the good citizens of
Iceland be worried about the Íslendingabók?

