Take a look at the winner’s of Academy Award for Best Actor in the last 80 years. About 99% of them are as subtle as a sledgehammer, culminating in this year’s award for Daniel Day Lewis. About the only exception to this I can think of is Adrien Brody’s performance in “The Pianist.”

The resolution of one of these conflicts leads to a new order, which eventually will fall as the next opposition comes. And then a new order, blah blah. Until it ends. It’s been referred to as the “end of history,” when humanity perfects itself, and there is no longer the need for an opposition. This is the world of 23/24th century Trek.

Marx made the working class the “owners of the means of production” and then Lenin, Stalin and all the other idiots perverted the philosophy for imperialist purposes, and then destroyed millions of lives in many countries. Communism became anachronistic quickly.

There is a basis in history for the consideration of a moneyless society. But as Mr. Poopeyface mentioned, humans would never accept it.

Trek-era Humans would have to live in a benevolent dictatorship, or in some kind of organized anarchic society. In order to represent itself as a member world of a Federation, however, it needs a government, and it needs a currency to trade with other member worlds.

But in Trek, it’s a “suspension of disbelief” thing like warp drive and transporters.

So would I! LOL.

Shatner’s overacting is one of his charms as Captain Kirk. It isn’t really an insult. Not every actor, of course, could pull it off so endearingly, but he and anyone else can deny it all day. It is there for everyone to see. Satirists and comedians may crank it up another notch when doing a Shatner impression, but the excessive pauses and hilarious levels of exaggerating inflection in his speech on the set are legendary. Nick Meyer said he had to “wear Bill out” sometimes to get a take where he wasn’t overdoing it too much on the set of TWOK.

Is everyone in Roddenberry’s universe self-motivated to be productive? What motivates a person prone to laziness to be productive if not the struggle to pay the bills? What motivation does one have to be the best at their job…simple acknowledgement?

#34–I do not find this part of it to be ideal at all. Since you cannot change human nature, the absence of financial reward would seem to handicap a society’s advancement and not enhance it, since there is no motivation to do better than just adequate work.
While there have been many improvements in technology and knowledge, what has changed about human nature in the last 250-400 years? Not much. What makes us believe that human nature will change between now and the 23rd and 24th centuries? What will substitute for greed and the motivation of survival and materialism?

Don’t get me wrong. I am all for the way human beings in the ST Universe have evolved to view and treat everyone equally, leaving bigotry and racism in the past, and I can buy that ending hunger and nearly eradicating disease would alter a society for the better. But it is clear through ST canon that human nature has not changed in any way. There is still murder, war, selfishness, jealousy, envy, and pride, yet somehow greed and the natural desire to obtain something better than your neighbor has is gone?
Please…
I suppose one could argue that the Federation simply rewards those who do well with bigger and better things. However, that implies that the government owns everything and there is some big bureaucracy which determines who gets what and why. that implies not only a socialist form of government, but a class system as well. Perhaps because I am a business owner and a pure capitalist, I’m not a fan of that prospect. I supply products and services for which public consumption determines the demand…I am not in charge of a factory fulfilling a government quota. It is the competition in the market which drives myself and my competitors to constantly produce a better and better product and/or level of service. I assure you, it is not some noble idea of bettering the whloe of society or feeling of prestige which drives it. It is, quite frankly, the desire to build wealth. Personally, I supply higher-end retail stores. It seems as though in the ST universe, I might be obsolete, since we are all socialists by then. LOL…

Two weeks ago, a close family member underwent open-heart surgery in the best facility in the United States for such a procedure. That hospital is populated by surgeons from all over the world who left their native countries to practice here because this is where they can compete for the best compensation for their skill. Some of them come from nations who have socialized health care. It doesn’t take much thought to figure out what happens to the quality of health care in those countries when the talent leaves for better compensation.
I say this without the intention of stirring up a hornet’s nest on that particular issue, but to simply emphasize the value of open market competition driven by none other than…money. I don’t think the withdrawal of that factor would have a positive effect on the quality of much of anything…