I’d imagine they’re just there to monitor subsystems that are basically automatic but, as Spock pointed out in “By Any Other Name,” require periodic adjustment. On TOS, there were five of these, all nominally unmanned, for Navigation, Weapons, Defensive Systems, Engineering, and Environmental Engineering.
And of course, lots of hot babes in microskirts getting signatures from Kirk et al. on fancy electronic clipboards. (I swear, there wasn’t one ugly woman on that ship! :o )
Or maybe just brainwashed by the “Politically Correct.”
Problem is, there is a huge anti-genetic engineering aspect, since Space Seed, and then expanded upon later in DS9. Anything other than fixing a severe genetic disease (in the womb) is illegal.
Right, that’s because everybody has already had the inheritable “play nice with others” gene inserted back in the 2100s. The reason they’re so against genetic engineering is that they are afraid someone might take it out.
The space hippies didn’t have jobs. Right?
Well, in the Post-Trump Star Trek Universe, we learn that the unemployed are required to act as redshirts on exploration vessels…
The space hippies are the definitive answer. One wonders how they eat, or get that VW microbus of a ship they had.
Mudd was self-employed. [del]Selling[/del] Transporting women to settlers. I assumed he got a fee for this.
Finally! Put 'em to good use! 
She was a staff botanist before she was Mile’s wife. She wasn’t Starfleet, but she was a scientist on board.
He sold false patents, too. A real entrepreneur!
Reminds me of my dad. :mad:
First of all, it should be noted that the conceit that the Federation citizens have no need for money was not articulated until ST:TNG, if I’m recalling correctly. So TOS episodes wouldn’t be expected to have people doing what they do not for remuneration, but rather because they just want to.
Second of all, just because there’s no money doesn’t mean that people don’t have “jobs.” They just don’t get paid for those jobs with money. You can have an economy that rewards people with things like housing, food, etc. when they contribute to it, and refuses to reward them if they don’t. The clearest expression of the conceit involved comes in the episode “The Neutral Zone”, at the end of Season 1 of ST:TNG.
So you do what you do because it makes you a better person, because it contributes to the overall effort of society. In return, society provides you with what you need.
And if you are the sort of person who opts out of that system, you take your show on the road and enjoy the company of species who haven’t reached that point in their evolution. I think that’s the whole point to Vash.
From the Wikipedia page;
On stardate 5832.3, the Federation starship USS Enterprise is in hot pursuit of the stolen space cruiser Aurora, which is heading into the dangerous Romulan Neutral Zone, with Tongo Rad (the son of the Catuallan ambassador) on board. The Enterprise locks onto the ship with a tractor beam, but the Aurora tries to flee. With the craft already straining with pushed engines, the vessel begins to break up.
Captain Kirk orders the transporter room to lock on the passengers and beam them aboard immediately. As the Aurora explodes, the six humanoid passengers are safely brought aboard the Enterprise. Kirk heads down to meet with them and is shocked by their wild appearance. The six beings are barefoot, dressed in lavish robes and colorful tunics. Despite their close brush with death, they appear completely calm and relaxed as if nothing has happened.
The group identifies themselves, starting with Tongo Rad (whose presence must be handled carefully, owing to the delicate relationship between the Federation and the people of Catualla), Irina Galliulin (a Starfleet Academy dropout and a former love interest of Ensign Chekov), Dr. Sevrin (a noted communications and electronics researcher from Tiburon, who specializes in the theories of sonic manipulation), Adam (a popular musician), and two other women.
Like Mudd, Cyrano Jones is an example of a ne’r do well human character.
Beyond that, I don’t understand why people need to “fanwank” anything. Is it that impossible to believe that humans can have a society that works the way Star Trek presents it?
Other than hanging out at Quark’s, what did Morn do?
Yes, quite impossible.
According to Memory Alpha, he owned a shipping business.
Oh, Ter…that woman in The Deadly Years…this woman would never be on TV today.
As for another with no job…Lokai. Travelling from port to port living off the goodwill of liberal, hippy socialist Feds…doing nothing but giving lectures. But not THIS TIME NOOOOOOOO…sorry, i got carried away.
He never shut up, for one thing.
Not an overly successful one, based on Quark’s inability to find any profits, when he temporarily inherited it when Morn faked his death.
In which episode we found out he was also a retired thief.
Quark did inherit a cargo bay full of rotting beets. It’s not Morn’s fault that Quark couldn’t find a buyer for them!
