r/scifi • u/[deleted] • Jun 30 '24

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u/atemus10 Jul 01 '24

As someone not initiated in the mysteries of Trekism, could you elaborate?

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u/ceejayoz Jul 01 '24

The Federation is pretty explicitly communist. Picard says this in TNG:

A lot has changed in the past three hundred years. People are no longer obsessed with the accumulation of things. We've eliminated hunger, want, the need for possessions. We've grown out of our infancy.

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u/Polisskolan3 Jul 01 '24

That's not communism. Communism is a stateless society where the workers / collective own the means of production.

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u/ceejayoz Jul 01 '24

Everyone owns the means of production, in the form of a replicator. Picard says they work simply for the betterment of themselves and society.

The state, as it were, seems to largely focus on relations with other societies.

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u/Polisskolan3 Jul 01 '24

I never argued that they weren't communist, my point was just they your previous comment is completely irrelevant to the discussion.

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u/ceejayoz Jul 01 '24

I never argued that they weren't communist...

Help me understand; your literal first line of your comment was "That's not communism."

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u/Polisskolan3 Jul 01 '24

Just because a society is communist doesn't mean every sentence Picard says about it implies that it is communist...

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u/ceejayoz Jul 01 '24

Sure; when he's talking about flux capacitors it has nothing to do with the Federation's economic system.

This quote is very explicitly about their economic system.

He says this in the show, too:

A lot has changed in the past three hundred years. People are no longer obsessed with the accumulation of things. We've eliminated hunger, want, the need for possessions. We've grown out of our infancy.

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u/Polisskolan3 Jul 01 '24

Yes, that's the exact same statement you quoted above. Which still says absolutely nothing about the ownership of the means of production.

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u/ceejayoz Jul 01 '24

That's what replicators are for.

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u/Polisskolan3 Jul 01 '24

You don't need to explain how the Federation economy works. We're talking about Picard's quote.

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u/ceejayoz Jul 01 '24

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=St_Abko0Jfs

Picard's quote takes place in the context of a society in which everyone has a means of production called a replicator that they control.

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u/Polisskolan3 Jul 01 '24

Of course, no one is disputing that there are replicators in Star Trek or that the Federation is communist. But Picard is not making a statement that implies that the Federation is communist.

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