Star Trek has a cartoonish version of utopia that isn't very well thought out or even internally consistent; it is claimed at some points that the Federation doesn't use money, but there are many cases in which currency or trade or receiving pay for work or gambling or "credits" are mentioned. The idea of a flourishing economy with trade but no medium of exchange is ridiculous. Even if your economy is based on barter, there has to be a standard of value, and even if that standard is bushels of rice or Stones of Jordan, that's still a medium of exchange. The concept of personal wealth is also not so easy to do away with. If there's no money, can you still own property? How is that property acquired? No one can have everything that they want, no matter how prosperous the economy; resources are never infinite. What if I want my own starship? There are plenty of cases of privately-owned starships (Cyrano Jones, Kasidy Yates), so we know it's possible... how did they get them? Does everyone who wants one get his own starship? Why would anyone work on someone else's ship if they could each have their own? How can I ever get anyone to do some work or perform a service for me if I have no way of compensating them? What if I want a
fleet of my own starships? Who decides whether I can have what I want? If two people want the same thing (or the same service, or whatever), there has to be some way of deciding who gets it, and no matter what you call that medium or process, it still amounts to a currency of some sort.
Grayhome wrote:I was having a conversation with my elders about developing nations and if they will ever be able to match developed nations in terms of economic prosperity and stability. My elders did not believe that this could ever take place, due mostly to interior corruption brought about by the exploitation of foreign powers, and the energy requirement. I countered that energy production (in the form of more advance nuclear, or perhaps fusion or thorium power plants) supplemented with the increasing rise in the efficiency of clean energy sources (thermal, wind, tidal, solar) would have the potential to meet the prerequisites necessary to produce a developed nation. There would of course need to be heavy investment from developed nations both in technology and capital but I think that the incentive for this initial investment does exist in the form of a vastly increased global consumer base.
I suppose I am wondering if you, Arioch, believe that humanity will ever achieve the ultimate utopian ideal that was represented by the Star Trek universe. If so, how will we go about doing this? If not then what factors will prevent us from progressing?
I think with access to information and education (which now seems will be universally inevitable everywhere), even the poorest developing countries can prosper, provided that they have access to enough energy. There's a lot of investment and effort in this right now. When I was a child, nobody ever believed that China and India could ever feed themselves, much less become prosperous, or that certain totalitarian countries could ever embrace enlightenment values. Things have clearly changed. But energy will be key for all nations, both developing and developed; most other resource problems (like a lack of clean water) can be overcome if you have sufficient energy. If we can't get sufficient clean energy, the road ahead will be rough.
Utopia in the sense that all
needs can be provided for is possible, and I'd argue that we're pretty close to that today in most countries. But as Kirk himself says in some episode I can't remember, humanity isn't meant for utopia; we evolved in a competitive world, and are biologically programmed for ambition, always wanting more. All you have to do is look at the ridiculous self-destructive lives of rich people to understand that no amount of wealth or power is ever enough, and that plenty does not guarantee happiness. Compared to when I was a child, the United States is now experiencing an unprecedented level of prosperity, innovation, social justice and peace... but people still seem to complain just as bitterly as I remember them doing in 1979 when the US economy was failing, there was
real energy crisis, unemployment and inflation were both in double-digits, industrial pollution was on the rise, Iran was holding American hostages, and we were living under the constant threat of nuclear war with the Soviet Union. Humans aren't built for contentment. No matter how much resources you generate, they will always be finite and people will never agree on how to allocate them, so there will always be some level of strife (even if it is only political or economic). And though I think the era of conflict between nation-states is coming to an end, the conflict between opposing ideologies is as strong as ever.
I'm optimistic and idealistic about humanity's capability for accomplishing remarkable things; I am confident that we will find our way. But I'm pretty sure that it won't ever be easy.