5 ms·

Good take, but the Enterprises have save the Federation from destruction on multiple occasions. With out them the Federation would have been assimilated, enslav

by Gupie 13y ago

Good take, but the Enterprises have save the Federation from destruction on multiple occasions. With out them the Federation would have been assimilated, enslaved by the Klingons, destroyed by meglomanic advanced alien AIs...

patio11 13y ago
You know how high school football players think football is Really Important? Of course it is. Great sack, your team just won the championship, and the girls went wild about your heroic accomplishments. It was a terrible tragedy earlier in the year when that one kid died of a concussion, but that only underscores how Really Important football is. In-universe evidence: despite being in a reality with infinite numbers of capricious demigods, Earth isn't dead yet. This is because Earthlings are essentially capricious demigods by the standards of more primitive cultures, but we really enjoy slumming it.
stormbrew 13y ago
I'm really enjoying patio11's really irreverant take on the subject, but it's not really necessary that their work be completely useless to support the thesis. Self-actualized people may perform useful work as well. But it's also possible that robots have saved the Federation as many times as human-captained ships. I'd rather believe this than that it's because of the spirit-killing Section 31 being sneaky assholes behind everyone's back.
- ItendToDisagree 13y ago
  Bringing up Section 31 is a good pull! There are many enemies in the universe so Star Fleet is important. To name a few there are The Borg, The Makers, The Cardassians, The Romulans, And even the Klingons who are federation members. War-like cultures would still exist even if the Federation believes they themselves have moved beyond that type of thing.
  - EliAndrewC 13y ago
    > War-like cultures would still exist even if the Federation believes they themselves have moved beyond that type of thing. An alternate take compatible with patio11's irreverent theory: war-like cultures exist only in the sense that some cultures have different LARP preferences. Supporting evidence: how did the Klingon Empire (who are not actually part of the Federation) make it through their nuclear age without blowing up their planet? How do they continue to keep pace technologically with other species? They steal a lot of technology, e.g. they never invented the warp drive themselves, but that would only get them so far and wouldn't keep them competitive with the Federation. Patio11's oddball theory of Star Trek as a documentary about a future LARP may not be correct, but it explains away these kinds of questions better than any "real" theory that I've seen!
    - ItendToDisagree 13y ago
      Oh agreed on all counts. Was just pointing out you need to have at least a like minded set of people to 'do battle' with the other LARPers! Also I thought the Klingons were part of the Federation at one point during DS9 era? Or perhaps that was just an alliance...
      - EliAndrewC 13y ago
        > Also I thought the Klingons were part of the Federation at one point during DS9 era? Or perhaps that was just an alliance... There was indeed a military alliance between the Federation and Klingon Empire against the Dominion. A friend of mine (uncharitably) referred to the war against the Dominion arc as the writers, "exploring what Star Trek could be... if it was more like Babylon 5."
        stormbrew 13y ago
        And then we discovered that it was all really just Ronald Moore preparing for what eventually became Battlestar Galactica. Weird pseudo-religious nonsense included.
  - 13y ago

by Gupie 13y ago

patio11 13y ago

You know how high school football players think football is Really Important? Of course it is. Great sack, your team just won the championship, and the girls went wild about your heroic accomplishments. It was a terrible tragedy earlier in the year when that one kid died of a concussion, but that only underscores how Really Important football is. In-universe evidence: despite being in a reality with infinite numbers of capricious demigods, Earth isn't dead yet. This is because Earthlings are essentially capricious demigods by the standards of more primitive cultures, but we really enjoy slumming it.

stormbrew 13y ago

I'm really enjoying patio11's really irreverant take on the subject, but it's not really necessary that their work be completely useless to support the thesis. Self-actualized people may perform useful work as well. But it's also possible that robots have saved the Federation as many times as human-captained ships. I'd rather believe this than that it's because of the spirit-killing Section 31 being sneaky assholes behind everyone's back.

ItendToDisagree 13y ago
Bringing up Section 31 is a good pull! There are many enemies in the universe so Star Fleet is important. To name a few there are The Borg, The Makers, The Cardassians, The Romulans, And even the Klingons who are federation members. War-like cultures would still exist even if the Federation believes they themselves have moved beyond that type of thing.
- EliAndrewC 13y ago
  > War-like cultures would still exist even if the Federation believes they themselves have moved beyond that type of thing. An alternate take compatible with patio11's irreverent theory: war-like cultures exist only in the sense that some cultures have different LARP preferences. Supporting evidence: how did the Klingon Empire (who are not actually part of the Federation) make it through their nuclear age without blowing up their planet? How do they continue to keep pace technologically with other species? They steal a lot of technology, e.g. they never invented the warp drive themselves, but that would only get them so far and wouldn't keep them competitive with the Federation. Patio11's oddball theory of Star Trek as a documentary about a future LARP may not be correct, but it explains away these kinds of questions better than any "real" theory that I've seen!
  - ItendToDisagree 13y ago
    Oh agreed on all counts. Was just pointing out you need to have at least a like minded set of people to 'do battle' with the other LARPers! Also I thought the Klingons were part of the Federation at one point during DS9 era? Or perhaps that was just an alliance...
    - EliAndrewC 13y ago
      > Also I thought the Klingons were part of the Federation at one point during DS9 era? Or perhaps that was just an alliance... There was indeed a military alliance between the Federation and Klingon Empire against the Dominion. A friend of mine (uncharitably) referred to the war against the Dominion arc as the writers, "exploring what Star Trek could be... if it was more like Babylon 5."
      - stormbrew 13y ago
        And then we discovered that it was all really just Ronald Moore preparing for what eventually became Battlestar Galactica. Weird pseudo-religious nonsense included.
- 13y ago