Star Trek: Just Short of Utopia

Star Trek is commonly seen as utopian science fiction, however a detailed look reveals that the world of the Federation just isn’t as peaceable and inclusive because it first seems. Following Gene Roddenberry’s dream of a future society missing prejudice and targeted on inclusion, social and authorized equality, and egalitarian post-scarcity economics, Trek is well-known for its robust ethical compass and its progressive, even leftist values.

It’s a world I respect and admire, as a die-hard Trekkie who holds many comparable commitments. And but the United Federation of Planets doesn’t really resolve deep variations and divergent pursuits amongst totally different beings. Moderately, it obscures them with cultural uniformity, propounding a quasi secular humanist, even anti-religious philosophy, coupled with a near-complete transcendence of fabric constraints. This permits the Federation to sidestep the sort of conflicts that actual variations, each in beliefs and in materials endowments, create. In contrast, the staunchly financial perspective of the Ferengi makes them higher in a position  to deal with arduous tradeoffs and guarantee real respect for variety, regardless of their many moral and social deficiencies. But the dialogue can’t finish there; within the ultimate evaluation, we’d like a synthesis that comes with the ethical beliefs of the Federation along with the Ferengi’s pragmatism to discover a steadiness of the knowledge embodied within the Star Trek universe.

Beating Phasers Into Plowshares?

It’s placing how usually the Federation’s supposed embrace of distinction is contradicted and challenged by its interactions with alien species. Starfleet’s mission is to “search out new life and new civilizations”. They consider within the energy of dialogue and diplomacy and in the potential of widespread understanding. However they discover it stunning and difficult when different species don’t need to have something to do with them or are overtly hostile, regardless of their finest efforts.

Partially, it is because the Federation’s social mannequin doesn’t appear genuinely conducive to cooperation inside really radical variety. Moderately, it’s about discovering that “we’re actually all the identical”. In some methods, the Federation isn’t so totally different from their dreaded enemies, the Borg Collective. Regardless of an appreciation for the Vulcan credo of “Infinite Range in Infinite Combos,” Federation success appears to closely depend on individuals considering in the identical syrupy-sweet, group-oriented means. Within the phrases of Quark, the Federation is the cultural equal of a root beer.  

Or, as renegade Starfleet officer Michael Eddington places it to Captain Sisko:

This lack of actual variety is embedded in a world that imagines there isn’t any self-interest, no competing targets and values. Although faith’s portrayal all through Trek is difficult, the Federation seems to be an primarily secular humanist society (consistent with Gene Roddenberry’s personal beliefs). Trek doesn’t painting most strange Federation residents as having religion traditions, and Starfleet officers are usually skeptical of the numerous super-beings and highly effective entities that declare God-like standing, from Trelane and Apollo to Landru and Q. Whereas there are just a few episodes the place highly effective metaphysical beings are seen as being above humanity of their knowledge and having a lot to share, such because the Organians, the Metrons, and the Cytherians, most of those creatures — whether or not Q, Trelane, Ardra, or others — are understood as fraudulent and psychologically primitive. This limits the potential for the Federation to have real humility about their very own information and priorities, or discover ways to steadiness competing visions of the great. 

Notably, Starfleet is very sad when its officers get entangled within the spiritual beliefs of different cultures, similar to Captain Sisko’s eventual embrace of his standing as Bajor’s “Emissary of the Prophets”. No matter whether or not Sisko has firmly held beliefs or the Bajorans have one thing to show the Federation, Starfleet’s solely concern is that Sisko’s embrace of Bajoran tradition will threaten its publicly cheap neutrally liberal utopia.

Their secularism and cultural commonality tremendously diminish any potential conflicts inside the Federation between people or teams with totally different beliefs. The Federation additionally tends to undertake a extremely paternalistic, superior angle to non-Federation cultures’ beliefs or religions. They might be tolerant, however they’re removed from respectful, if their remedy of the Bajoran tradition is something to go on, or their uprooting of colonists with non secular beliefs and deep ties to nature, together with in a darkish twist of irony, Native People. It’s unsurprising then, that we hardly ever see disagreements inside the Federation, and Trek hardly ever depicts protracted animosity or competing pursuits between Federation members. 

Moderately, Trek hand-waves away issues as simply resolved via democratic deliberation and collective decision-making. In instances the place political disagreement is intractable and members want secession or separatism (similar to with the Maquis or the Sevrinites), the Federation usually turns authoritarian and hostile. As Captain Kirk’s preliminary interplay with the Gorn confirmed, hardly ever does Starfleet query its personal “enterprise” as a quasi-colonizer, (the Prime Directive however) and never merely an engine of exploration and cultural interchange. 

The absence of commerce is one cause why the Federation has problem coping with competing powers such because the Klingons and Romulans. Having —apparently—nothing of worth to supply one another, there may be little room for a gathering of minds. Insisting that others acknowledge Federation justice does little to make them achieve this, and infrequently provokes enmity. When individuals are divided by useful resource competitors or tradition, the reply just isn’t merely to evangelise inclusivity extra loudly, however to incentivize emergent financial and social integration — exactly what markets and liberal individualism present. 

Because the economist Ludwig von Mises wrote in Socialism: 

Nonetheless, in a world of quasi-communist post-scarcity, the establishments of personal property and attendant division of labour and commerce both now not exist or are severely restricted. Thus, the incentives that may encourage integration and cooperation are lacking. Worse nonetheless, the Federation tends to view markets and commerce with suspicion, figuring out them as domains of selfishness, exploitation, and avarice, making the likelihood for even restricted trade much less seemingly.

As a result of there isn’t any trade that’s in danger from battle, for the Federation, the prices of battle are arguably too low-cost slightly than too costly. As a result of replicators create one thing near (however not similar with) post-scarcity for many of the Federation, they’re able to persist with out relying a lot on commerce. Their know-how permits the Federation (and different main rivals) to be largely autarkic. Sadly, relative self-sufficiency additionally diminishes their have to grow to be materially intertwined with different cultures. There’s little in Trek’s economics that incentivizes peaceable cooperation via trade. Moderately, everybody appears to get what they need and cooperates as a result of they don’t have anything to struggle over. Alternatively, cooperation is solely advantageous or perhaps a necessity, because it was for the Klingons on the Khitomer Accords. 

When their preferences aren’t happy, the spectre of warfare shortly returns, and historic cultures of honor which encourage battle would not have the issue of fabric necessity to restrain them. Federation beliefs of peace and cooperation are challenged after they don’t have anything to commerce or lack issues that may curiosity different species and political entities regardless of their variations. That is demonstrated by their failures to make peace with the Sheliac, the Dominion, and others. Crucially, Federation replicators haven’t eradicated the shortage of house itself (each areas of the galaxy and particular planets). Battle over territory is commonly worsened by ideology, starting from the Cardassians’ and Romulans’ militaristic nationalism to the Founders’ xenophobic imperialism.

In a subsequent submit, I’ll additional discover the function markets play within the Trek universe.

Akiva Malamet is a Contributing Editor at The UnPopulist. He has been revealed at The UnPopulist, Libertarianism.org, Liberal Currents, Catalyst, and different retailers.