“Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.
This is known as "bad luck.”
~ Robert Heinlein
I’ve been considering why we continue to disbelieve Heinlein’s accurate assessment. Being one of the greatest science fiction writers of his time, I began to look at science fiction’s place in pop culture and noticed most of it, especially in TV and movies, had a political undercurrent, Star Trek especially.
Gene Roddenberry came up with perhaps the most iconic (and progressive for the time) science fiction vehicle when “Star Trek” hit televisions across America in 1965 through 1969. Star Trek became one of the first “franchises” spawning several television series, cartoons, and theatrical movies - Star Trek, Star Trek – The Next Generation, Deep Space 9, Star Trek Voyager, and most recently, Star Trek: Discovery, Picard, and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. I am a fan of anachronism, so my favorite this genre is Star Trek: Enterprise with Scott Bakula as Captain Jonathan Archer.
I like Enterprise because in it, the crew figures out that they better armor up because there are civilizations out there that don’t like humans and want to kill us – something none of the other Star Trek universes ever figured out, even though in every case, the Federation winds up in a fight with somebody.
Chris Pine seems to have crashed more versions of the Enterprise in the past decade than any other captain…I can’t imagine how he affords spacecraft insurance.
But I digress…
The Star Trek universe is also likely the most accessible and palatable modern version of the Utopian, liberal/progressive myth. People of a certain age might well see the utopian ideals of today’s liberals in the original Star Trek television series and its progeny. On any major policy issue of today, Star Trek is the fulfilment of the leftist playbook.
No fossil fuels are ever burned in the Start Trek universe(s). No CO2, no internal combustion engines, no cow farts, no BBQ grills, no SUVs, no lawnmowers, no climate change at all. Everything is powered by dilithium crystals. All you need is a warp engine to bend space/time (more on that later).
There is no mining or drilling at all, not for coal or oil. In a sweet dose of irony, the Start Trek universe offers a perfect analogue to the current obsession with electric vehicles. Dilithium crystals are the electricity of the future. The crystals, like electricity, must come from somewhere, so in a monumental example of the contemporary left’s “not in my back yard” approval of the materials and processes needed to make batteries and charge them, the dilithium crystals needed to power Federation starships are less than environmentally sensitively mined on some distant planet controlled by brutal regimes, guilds, or corporations.
But I must give credit where credit is due – in a 1993 episode of TNG called “Force of Nature, the Enterprise crew discovered that sustained periods of high warp speeds created rifts in space. Pursuant to investigation, the Federation Council issued a new directive limiting all Federation vessels to a speed of warp five except in extreme emergencies. In addition, they have informed every known species capable of warp travel of the newly discovered dangers of its use. The Klingon Empire agreed to the “Drive 55” limitations, but the Romulan Star Empire, Ferengi Alliance, and Cardassian Union didn’t.
Miraculous advances in medical technology, from Bones to Dr. Phlox, no patient was ever turned away regardless of physiology or alien status. Not to belabor the pun, Star Trek offered up true “universal” healthcare.
The Prime Directive (a policy of non-interference in evolving societies) incorporated, in one package, all social policy, civil rights, race relations, foreign policy and international relations. Every progressive ideal is included – diversity, inclusion, equity, multiculturalism, political correctness, and the “who are we to judge” moral relativism.
The notion of social justice is also alive and well within the Federation, so much so the crews wind up fighting for the freedom of every disadvantaged species. In episode 117 of Star Trek: The Next Generation, broadcast in the fifth season (March 14, 1992), the crew of the Enterprise encounters the J’naii, a race without gender, foreshadowing the “gender fluid” subculture of today. In a 2001 episode of Star Trek: Enterprise titled “Unexpected”, Commander Charles “Trip” Tucker engages in a seemingly innocuous game with Ah'len, a female Xyrillian engineer, which results in Trip, a Terran male, without no evident exchange of bodily fluids, becoming pregnant!
Well, I guess since we are in 2022, we now know men can become pregnant.
Boom! Science fiction becomes science fact once again!
The Star Trek universe seems to be constructed of a militaristic structure – there are ranks, people report to other people. Where Kirk was large and in charge, Picard always convenes a committee of his senior officers to help make big decisions. It seems interesting that everybody is a perfect match for their duties as if they were born to be engineers, doctors, and officers – maybe a little eugenic engineering? Hmmm. Genetic hanky-panky seems to be confirmed in 2013’s Star Trek: Into Darkness when Kahn is revealed to be part of the Federation’s genetic engineering.
Economically, the United Federation of Planets appears to have moved beyond the Neanderthal concepts of capitalism and socialism – or have they?
Within the Federation, it appears nobody draws a paycheck (everyone appears to work for the “United Federation of Planets”), no currency ever changes hands and food is dispensed from a “replicator”, a device that instantly synthesizes any inanimate object from matter floating free in the universe. Housing, clothing, transportation, childcare, education – all provided by the Federation. In a manner consistent with the WEF’s Great Reset, you will own nothing, and you will be happy!
Except this is all fantasy. It is all make believe. It may be an interesting diversion, but it isn’t real, and to believe it is, is buying into a gigantic fraud.
It is interesting that when the currency free Federation needs something from “lesser” civilizations, they must resort to capitalism – through barter or some sale of their services or technology in exchange for currency. They must obtain the dilithium crystals that power their universe from processes they have rejected, from beings they despise, so they just have somebody else to it for them on planets they don’t need to think about. Even with replicators, they still must trade for things the replicators can’t make.
Even with all this technology – military command structures, genetic engineering, replicators, and medical science verging on magic, they can’t make collectivism work.
We got a little science fiction-ey so let me bring it back to reality with a quote from economist F.A. Hayek:
“To those who have watched the transition from socialism to fascism at close quarters, the connection between the two systems is obvious. The realization of the socialist program means the destruction of freedom. Democratic socialism, the great utopia of the last few generations, is simply not achievable...not only unachievable but that to strive for it produces something utterly different – the very destruction of freedom itself. As has been aptly said: ‘What has always made the state a hell on earth has been precisely that man has tried to make it his heaven.'”
Look, we have a bit of time before April 5, 2063, when Zefram Cochrane makes humanity’s first warp flight, so I guess there is still time to figure it out and implement collectivism “correctly”.
To infinity and beyond!
Oh, wait. That’s the wrong fantasy.
The replicators introduce magic to the Star Trek universe. If all matter can be produced "for free", then there is no use for money, barter, trade, or for any kind of 'work'. For that matter, there is no need to plant food, plant trees for lumber, or mine minerals for other production. They have literally described a world of pure fiction. Energy and Matter are 'free'. It's absurd. The fact that this machine can produce anything for free is also a fantasy. There is nothing like that in nature. This defies every single rule of Thermodynamics, and logic. [As an aside, if replicators can produce anything for free, why not produce the dilithium crystals too?] Oh sure, I understand it's fiction. But then again, Liberals' utopias and their perfect socialism is too.
I don't doubt "some day" in the distant future humanity could have unlimited energy, faster than light travel and the ability to convert energy to matter. But progressive redistributionist policies today are making that highly unlikely. Why would anybody invent such things when the prevailing politics focuses on the "fixed pie" standard? If today we already have all the housing, food and health care "we'll ever need" why would someone undertake the effort to create more and better?