# What fictional universe would you love to live in? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 19, 2006, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fictional-universe-would-you-love-to-live-in/340634 "2006-01-19T07:51:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2006, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fictional-universe-would-you-love-to-live-in/340634/41 "2006-01-19T18:56:36Z")
The human-diaspora universe of Heinlein’s _Time Enough for Love_ sounds like a lot of high-tech fun. And no matter what kind of human culture you’d like to live in, you can probably find a planet to your liking. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2006, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fictional-universe-would-you-love-to-live-in/340634/42 "2006-01-19T18:59:52Z")
I’m torn three ways, between ST:TNG, 221B Baker Street and Middle-earth. But if I’m in TNG, a proud citizen of the United Federation of Planets, I can fly around on starships to my heart’s content and still go to the Holodeck for Middle-earth and Holmesian adventures in perfect safety. Sounds like a plan to me. Sign me up! ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2006, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fictional-universe-would-you-love-to-live-in/340634/43 "2006-01-19T19:05:30Z")
> [@Elendil's Heir](#): > > I’m torn three ways, between ST:TNG, 221B Baker Street and Middle-earth. > > But if I’m in TNG, a proud citizen of the United Federation of Planets, I can fly around on starships to my heart’s content and still go to the Holodeck for Middle-earth and Holmesian adventures in perfect safety. Sounds like a plan to me. Sign me up! Just make sure you don’t get the sentient version of Moriarty or your Holmesian adventure will take a decidedly technological turn that is not in keeping with the spirit of the books. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2006, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fictional-universe-would-you-love-to-live-in/340634/44 "2006-01-19T20:14:43Z")
**Northern Exposure** would be my first choice. I get Chris. ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2006, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fictional-universe-would-you-love-to-live-in/340634/45 "2006-01-19T20:22:34Z")
1. Culture 2. Known Space, just pre-Ringworld era. 3. Foundation, just post-Mule era. 4. B5, post-plague. … but what’s all this I hear about Discworld being fictional? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2006, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fictional-universe-would-you-love-to-live-in/340634/46 "2006-01-19T20:22:36Z")
Lots to choose from. Pern the Golden Age of Mysteries, British version (ie an estate, landed gentry, old money etc) Georgette Heyer’s Regency England (but noone else’s-not a bodice ripper type of chick) Hogwarts Jane Austen’s world (Elizabeth Bennett’s) Eragorn’s world Subtle Knife’s world–His Dark Materials (especially the world where the creatures use those seed pods to move)–maybe just visit Pullman’s world; it’s a bit intense. King Arthur’s world–without the plague and bad teeth… House On the Strand world…very cool. Star Trak, but only with Picard or the woman captain–I would smack Kirk right upside the head. Then again, I could kid with Spock. Hmmm…only visit here as well. ---
**Author:** ![Epimetheus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c4cdca/32.png) [@Epimetheus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Epimetheus)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2006, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fictional-universe-would-you-love-to-live-in/340634/47 "2006-01-19T20:24:55Z")
Hyperion verse POST novels. Teleport at will, sign me up. Failing that, SG1 universe. Sure, Id likely be some menial earth person like I am now, but there is a CHANCE at ascension, and that is my kind of universe. That, or like everybody has said, STTNG universe. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2006, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fictional-universe-would-you-love-to-live-in/340634/48 "2006-01-19T20:40:45Z")
Would anyone like to live in a telepathic group-mind? E.g., The Mind of Spider Robinson’s _Deathkiller_ series – which is a lot like the Borg Collective only, you know, nicer. And you don’t have to wear implants. Or the Starmind of the _Stardancer_ series, which is similar, except you live in outer space with no spacesuit, just the symbiote, and you don’t have to worry about food or waste disposal – the symbiote takes care of all of that. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2006, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fictional-universe-would-you-love-to-live-in/340634/49 "2006-01-19T20:47:22Z")
Another vote for Heinlein’s multiverse, especially a) The Luna of _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_, and b) the later eras of Lazarus Long, such as Tertius. Though isn’t everything kind of interconnected? I’ve never read any of the Culture novels; they look interesting. I always liked the [Humanx Commonwealth](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanx_Commonwealth), as well. And Niven’s [Known Space](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Known_Space) too, either the internationalised Golden Age before humanity meets the Kzinti, or after the Man-Kzin Wars. Of course, there’s also the attraction of being a hobbit in the Shire… ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2006, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fictional-universe-would-you-love-to-live-in/340634/50 "2006-01-19T20:58:58Z")
The Star Trek world sounds like fun, especially because of the holodecks. But I suspect that the average citizen doesn’t have free access to them. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2006, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fictional-universe-would-you-love-to-live-in/340634/51 "2006-01-19T21:05:44Z")
Ursula LeGuin’s _The Dispossessed_. I’d love to live in a functional anarchy. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2006, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fictional-universe-would-you-love-to-live-in/340634/52 "2006-01-19T21:21:06Z")
> [@Dewey Finn](#): > > The Star Trek world sounds like fun, especially because of the holodecks. But I suspect that the average citizen doesn’t have free access to them. On _DS9,_ Quark’s bar has holodecks. He rents time to anyone who has the latinum. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2006, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fictional-universe-would-you-love-to-live-in/340634/53 "2006-01-19T21:46:45Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > The Pornoverse – the alternate universe where adult movies are set. All the women are beautiful, all the men are well-endowed, everybody is always eager for sex, and nobody has ever heard of STDs. Downside: Most people talk and act like idiots most of the time, and where’s that stupid music coming from? But that’s all right. I could gladly spend my whole life on the planet Barely Legal! 😉 I read that as **The Pomoverse** at first glance. ::visualizes a world populated exclusively by nonsubjects who are always already overdetermined by the discourse of pretentious polysyllables:: ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2006, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fictional-universe-would-you-love-to-live-in/340634/54 "2006-01-19T22:07:32Z")
Discworld definitely gets my vote, too, but I’d make a quick stop by Neverwhere. How about living on the good starship _Serenity_? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2006, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fictional-universe-would-you-love-to-live-in/340634/55 "2006-01-19T23:33:13Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > > [@Dewey Finn](#): > > > > The Star Trek world sounds like fun, especially because of the holodecks. But I suspect that the average citizen doesn’t have free access to them. > > On _DS9,_ Quark’s bar has holodecks. He rents time to anyone who has the latinum. That’s my point. The Star Trek universe (and really any other) might be a lot of fun for the privileged, but not so much for the average person. ---
**Author:** ![MacSpon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@MacSpon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacSpon)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2006, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fictional-universe-would-you-love-to-live-in/340634/56 "2006-01-19T23:51:25Z")
The Foundation (_a la_ Asimov). Sometime after the fall of the Mule, or perhaps a liftetime before the Mule’s arrival. But only if I can discount all the books from “Foundation’s Edge” on! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2006, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fictional-universe-would-you-love-to-live-in/340634/57 "2006-01-20T00:07:59Z")
> [@Agent Foxtrot](#): > > If not that, then probably the _Star Trek:TNG_ universe. I’d kill for a holodeck! Would being in a holodeck technically be considered existing in a fictional universe, in the Star Trek universe? Anyway, I’d like to live in **Bloom County**. Just 'cuz… ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2006, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fictional-universe-would-you-love-to-live-in/340634/58 "2006-01-20T00:14:44Z")
> [@Dewey Finn](#): > > That’s my point. The Star Trek universe (and really any other) might be a lot of fun for the privileged, but not so much for the average person. The “Mirror, Mirror” Star Trek universe (with the piratical Terran Empire) might be **really** fun for the privileged! 😃 Provided you don’t get assassinated . . . ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2006, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fictional-universe-would-you-love-to-live-in/340634/59 "2006-01-20T00:49:56Z")
i would love to be the new muggle studies teacher at hogwarts ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2006, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fictional-universe-would-you-love-to-live-in/340634/60 "2006-01-20T01:36:58Z")
> [@Dewey Finn](#): > > That’s my point. The Star Trek universe (and really any other) might be a lot of fun for the privileged, but not so much for the average person. _Might_ is the operative word—we see fairly little of civilian life in depth in the Trek shows. It’s like trying to evaluate American society based on what we see in WWII movies. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fictional-universe-would-you-love-to-live-in/340634.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fictional-universe-would-you-love-to-live-in/340634.md?page=4)