Star Trek - Space: The Final Frontier

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How does money work in Star Trek?
This is like asking what happens to all the children on the Enterprise-D when half the ship gets blown up or taken over by flesh-eating monsters or whatever (they just don't appear in those episodes, but they're somewhere safe, we hope).

Basically Gene wanted there to be no money at all, but that doesn't make any sense, and the writers did what they could to work around it. I don't think there's a real answer. We're left with the implication that everybody in the Federation gets their needs met for free and most "jobs" are full-time hobbies, but apparently Starfleet awards monthly gibs to all employees so they can gamble, or something.
 
How does money work in Star Trek? Kirk says in IV they don't use it and TNG rolls further with it than "We've moved past such petty notions", yet I know I've heard both McCoy and Scotty in material of the time saying things like "This cost me a bundle" or "I saved a bunch", etc, or something relating to money like that.
There are plenty of lines in TOS that shows that they do have money. The ST4 line I'm sure was intended to mean that they don't use cash money in the 23rd century and use credits instead.
Some retard commie writer on TNG misconstrued the line, and so we got a 24th century where nobody gets paid and people just magically work for the fun of it.

No, it's never explained. Nothing about how utopian Earth works is ever explained. It's really not important to the story of Star Trek, which takes place away from Earth. The problem is when stupid people like MovieBob take this shit too seriously and think Trek is real and can be copied in real life if we just elect socialists.
 
Is this off-topic, but I've had this question for awhile and it's never been answered. In fact, I actually remember asking the "official" Star Trek forum this once and was just attacked by the autists who will defend the brand against any and all questions/criticisms. They are massive STD fans (probably the ONLY fans) after all.

How does money work in Star Trek? Kirk says in IV they don't use it and TNG rolls further with it than "We've moved past such petty notions", yet I know I've heard both McCoy and Scotty in material of the time saying things like "This cost me a bundle" or "I saved a bunch", etc, or something relating to money like that.

Is it just Earth and the Federation that doesn't use it? I love world building so this has been bothering me. I'm not as well-versed as I should be.
This video has some good speculation and points to further reading on the matter, but TL;DW the Federation seems to have an energy economy based on the antimatter reactors and transporter/replicator tech. The average Federation starship or settlement (operating correctly) generates enough power that even if divided equally between inhabitants/crew there's more than enough to meet all their needs and not worry about it.
If they need to trade for something non-replicable or from someone outside the federation they either barter or they acquire foreign currency to use in that transaction.

The shift in economy between TOS and TNG makes some sense in universe if you imagine the Credit as the amount of energy required to transport or replicate some specific item, say an apple - increasing supply by successive improvements in engine technology doesn't change the cost of that apple, but past a certain point its value relative to total output is negligible.
 
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How does money work in Star Trek? Kirk says in IV they don't use it and TNG rolls further with it than "We've moved past such petty notions", yet I know I've heard both McCoy and Scotty in material of the time saying things like "This cost me a bundle" or "I saved a bunch", etc, or something relating to money like tha
Feral Historian has a good video speculating on how the economy in Trek works. It revolves largely around power generation having been scaled to ludicrously overpowered magnitudes and a mix of UBI-policies that are on upper middle-class levels that entitle citizens to a certain, equal, ever expanding share of the Federation's economic output. If I had to guess, the entire deal is resource-based, inspired in no small part by Jacque Fresco's concepts.

So, you'd still have money and some sort of mercantile exchange, but people live so well, it's practically irrelevant in daily life.

E: ninja'd, lol.
 
There are plenty of lines in TOS that shows that they do have money. The ST4 line I'm sure was intended to mean that they don't use cash money in the 23rd century and use credits instead.
Some retard commie writer on TNG misconstrued the line, and so we got a 24th century where nobody gets paid and people just magically work for the fun of it.

No, it's never explained. Nothing about how utopian Earth works is ever explained. It's really not important to the story of Star Trek, which takes place away from Earth. The problem is when stupid people like MovieBob take this shit too seriously and think Trek is real and can be copied in real life if we just elect socialists.

That's actually disappointing in that Trek is known for well-thought out, even borderline plausible science fiction but THIS has never been explained that well... even though the parody show The Orville's final episode pretty much explains how its own system works and it's the plot of the entire episode.
 
Feral Historian has a good video speculating on how the economy in Trek works. It revolves largely around power generation having been scaled to ludicrously overpowered magnitudes and a mix of UBI-policies that are on upper middle-class levels that entitle citizens to a certain, equal, ever expanding share of the Federation's economic output. If I had to guess, the entire deal is resource-based, inspired in no small part by Jacque Fresco's concepts.

So, you'd still have money and some sort of mercantile exchange, but people live so well, it's practically irrelevant in daily life.

E: ninja'd, lol.

I'll have to give that Feral Historian vid a watch, I've liked the other stuff of his I have seen.

In DS9, Sisko mentions that when he was first at the Academy he would go home every night and use up a months worth of transporter tokens. I can't remember if tokens is the exact term he uses, but it definitely implies that there is some kind of limit on some services. Jake also seems pretty excited to get some gold press latinum in that episode where he and Nog start trading self-sealing stem bolts.

Personally I always assumed that all your basic needs are met and you live comfortably, maybe there's some form of financial incentive to work in the way of credits you can use for vacations/extra luxuries/private vehicles, but there's also a market for luxury goods that people still use hard currency for on occasion. Really none of it makes sense if you start looking into it
 
I don't think there is an absolute official explanation, but I think that, if they used some sort of currency during Kirk times, they stopped by the times of TNG as they developed better way to turn energy into resources, something that was still limited in TOS, and that also changed their views on the need for money or profit. Not only they don't have money or tokens for food in TNG, they use the replicators for entertaining too. TOS had more limitations, which explains that their move to not use money might have gone hand to hand with the evolution of their technology.

There is definitely some concepts for trade still and some sort of profit. In The Price, we saw a planet doing some negotiations to use their wormhole. If people were really not interested on profit, they would just allow anyone to use it. Societies outside the federation or even outside earth might still use some sort of trade, like Symbiosis planet as well. Starfleet just has to adapt to those societies.
 
How does money work in Star Trek? Is it just Earth and the Federation that doesn't use it?
It’s pretty much implied in Star Trek that only the “bad” alien races use money, you’re basically announcing to the universe that you’re an asshole. The Klingons have something called the “Darsek” and the Cardassians use the “Lek," Ferengi treat latinum like it’s god’s own cum since it's one thing you can’t replicate.
 
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And fans are too emotionally invested to admit it sucks. The first season drops, everyone parrots “We're so back!" Then three seasons later it's straight up Scrubs in space, but they’re still like, “It’s really finding its footing!"
Jessie Gender recently made a video on the third season, and while I don't agree with everything she said, she made a solid point about the context when Strange New Worlds first premiered. Its first season was considered a breath of fresh air compared to Discovery, Picard, and Lower Decks. By the time the third season premiered, it was now the only Star Trek show, and thus, was more vulnerable to scrutiny thanks to being the new flagship show.
 
Is it just Earth and the Federation that doesn't use it? I love world building so this has been bothering me. I'm not as well-versed as I should be.
They love to believe they've moved on past it and you will hear all sorts of aspirational statements of that sort, but then there is obviously a Federation currency, the credit, that was used until the 23rd or so century. And TNG was in the 24th century, shortly after the credit was apparently abandoned.

So there would officially have been a currency at the time of TOS. By TNG time, though, it was officially abandoned. And by officially, I mean people immediately started using off-brand currencies like the gold-pressed latinum preferred by the Ferengi.

I haven't ever followed woketrek, so I don't know what they've done with the concept, but even in TNG, where having abandoned currency was a point of pride to the Federation, there's ALWAYS been use of money.
 
They love to believe they've moved on past it and you will hear all sorts of aspirational statements of that sort, but then there is obviously a Federation currency, the credit, that was used until the 23rd or so century. And TNG was in the 24th century, shortly after the credit was apparently abandoned.

So there would officially have been a currency at the time of TOS. By TNG time, though, it was officially abandoned. And by officially, I mean people immediately started using off-brand currencies like the gold-pressed latinum preferred by the Ferengi.

I haven't ever followed woketrek, so I don't know what they've done with the concept, but even in TNG, where having abandoned currency was a point of pride to the Federation, there's ALWAYS been use of money.

It literally sounds like they're trying to convince themselves more than anyone; akin to "I'M NOT RACIST, I HAVE A BLACK FRIEND"
 
There are other animals there. Remember that odd thing Alexander tried to save during a fire?
Those were in the zoological lab or some shit.
So it's obviously super important science even they're doing it.
Also I don't recall if Picard interacted with that plot enough for PatStew to notice he can cry about it
 
Those were in the zoological lab or some shit.
So it's obviously super important science even they're doing it.
Also I don't recall if Picard interacted with that plot enough for PatStew to notice he can cry about it
I don't understand if Patrick was concerned about the concept of a "captive fish" in the context of a fictional 24th century utopia, or if he was offended that there actually was a real "captive fish" on set. Both concerns are idiotic, but the latter especially. Taking the fish off the set isn't going to have it set free. It will just sit in someone else's fishtank at best or flushed at worst.

But Patrick Stewart is a moron. He's one of those pitbull activists.
 
I don't understand if Patrick was concerned about the concept of a "captive fish" in the context of a fictional 24th century utopia, or if he was offended that there actually was a real "captive fish" on set.
There’s this quote floating around, can’t verify it, where Patrick Stewart says he used to get bummed out every time “Livingston the fish” died and they replaced it with another Livingston. On some level, I get it, you ever go into a dive bar and they’ve got that cloudy, half-dead aquarium full of resentful guppies? Bleak.

What's problematic is, for years, fans assumed Stewart was above the usual actors' egos and then you learn he was just as pompous as every other TV star.

 
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What's problematic is, for years, fans assumed Stewart above the usual actors' egos and then you learn he was just as pompous as every other TV star.

Why would anyone ever assume this?

There are old interviews, circa season 1 or 2, of him being like "I feel the women are.... tokens... I'm so disappointed."

The seeds were there the entire time.
 
I imagine that there must be some kind of currency, as there must be some kind of demand for luxuries that can't be replicated. Land would have value, real food vs replicated. No one is going to want to be a plumber for love of the game. You fix space toilets you want to be paid. You pour space concrete you wanna be paid. There needs to be something that motivates people to go above and be beyond.

Maybe we haven't seen the underclass of the Federation. The people living on UBI scratching out a meagre existence eating protein slop. Or maybe the commie writers didn't think things through...
 
There are old interviews, circa season 1 or 2, of him being like "I feel the women are.... tokens... I'm so disappointed."
Two things can be true at once. Patrick’s an air-head and the women on TNG mainly exist to look concerned on the bridge and occasionally get molested.

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I've always wanted a refurbished movie era Enterprise/A model or display or something, but I always get weird results when I try to search (mixed in with JJ's Nutrek design).

Does anyone know a good one?
I found another one, sort of. One of those light-up Christmas ornaments:

Also, this is really cool:
 
It’s pretty much implied in Star Trek that only the “bad” alien races use money, you’re basically announcing to the universe that you’re an asshole. The Klingons have something called the “Darsek” and the Cardassians use the “Lek," Ferengi treat latinum like it’s god’s own cum since it's one thing you can’t replicate.
I thought all the Good Guy non-Fed races like the Bajorans still had money but the Borg, Dominion, Species-Whatever etc presumably didn't.
 
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