I presume that isiks are El-Aurian currency. Another canon unit of currency is the Cardassian lek (“Caretaker”, Voy). Interestingly, the lek also happens to be the unit of currency of Albania.
I’ve seen this debate before on some ST board. One of the more interesting ideas is that Latinum can be replicated, but the energy required to do so is exactly equal in value to the replicated Latinum, so there is no net gain.
Anyway…
-David
Am I the only one who sees the problem here? Unless latinum has some intrinsic value I’m unaware of, it is worthless. If pretty much everything else can be replicated, why would you care to buy anything? Skilled labor is the only commodity in TNG (and I have problems with this, as well - with their level of technology I don’t see the value of any of the operational personnel). It seems in fact, that pretty much all skilled labor could be done away with quite easily.
I guess my real point is that no medium of exchange is required at all, since everyone can be completely self-sufficient (with the aid of computers and replicators). There is no reason for people to go through the motions of buying and selling.
Does anyone know of a Star Trek bulletin board that uses this software, or something close? There are loads of topics to discuss without driving other Dopers nuts.
And for you real DS9 nitpickers:
Canonically, it’s “gold-press latinum”, not “gold-pressed latinum”.
Or at least it was, when this particular unit of currency was introduced.
As to why latinum might be valuable, I presume it’s a necessary component of the technology in the ST universe. Heck, it might be that latinum is what makes replicators work! That would explain why latinum is considered wealth incarnate. It would also explain why replicators don’t lead to infinite material wealth- the latinum bottleneck.
BTW: Gold-press Latinum comes in slivers, strips, bars, and bricks. How many slivers to a strip, and so forth?
That was explained in one episode. I remember the episode (“Body Parts”, DS9, the one where Quark sells his own dessicated remains on the futures market, and then has to kill himself when Brunt shows up to collect), but not the explanation. It was something like 100 slips to a strip, and 100 strips to a bar.
Anyone?
God is dead. -Nietzsche
Nietzsche is dead. -God
Neitzsche is God. -Dead
I can confirm for youse guys that replicators cannot replicate latinum. If you want a really technical explination, ask and I’ll post one. But basically, it has to do with the fact that latinum is an element all its own, and replicators simply move around elements into certain molecules. Replicators cannot, as of the 24th Century, manipulate sub-atomic particles to reproduce elements or create new ones by combining protons, electrons, and neutrons. So unless someone puts latinum into the replicator supply, it cannot be replicated. This is why it is impossible to replicate living tissue - the replicator would need to manipulate neutrons in order to set up a bioelectric field, which it cannot do. Replicators also cannot make perfect copies, which is why scanning, for example, a computer chip can tell you if it is replicated (ref. from the episode wherein Geordi is kidnapped by the Romulans to assassinate members of the crew).
So to sum, replicators can’t manipulate sub-atomic particles, and I can’t get a date for the prom. 
I guess my real point is that no medium of exchange is required at all, since everyone can be completely self-sufficient (with the aid of computers and replicators). There is no reason for people to go through the motions of buying and selling.
Wouldn’t they still need to acquire the various elements to make things, and get power from somewhere?
If this is the case, then why is latinum special? According to this explanation, no element can be replicated from other elements; therefore, any element (including good old gold) would function as an un-replicable medium of exchange.
Never attribute to an -ism anything more easily explained by common, human stupidity.
Well, yes, but that’s because latinum is the gold (or platinum, or what have you) of the 24th century. The Romans used to pay their soldiers in sacks of salt, I understand. Now, in the 20th century, salt is far too common to be used as any kind of commodity. Gold is much more common in the 24th century then it is now, and really isn’t worth much. But latinum remains rare, and so it becomes the trading commodity.
“Wouldn’t they still need to acquire the various elements to make things, and get power from somewhere?”
I hadn’t understood that replicators worked this way. I thought they basically converted energy directly into matter. The energy of course, would be solar or generated from the majik warp core.
Still, human labor is not required. Even very simple machines could collect all the basic elements you needed.