What is life like in the Federation from Star Trek?

I would like to know from any star trek fans on this site. What is it like to be living in the Federation in the 24th Century? Is it as wonderful as people say or not?

I think the whole world incredibly quiet and peaceful, as everyone spends all day, every day, inside their private Holodeck.

Work uniforms for every job, so wearing something nice when not at work would be important.

While food replicating would be common, the average low end models make everything taste the same. The treat would be for the ingredients to be replicated and a recipe actually cooked.

There would still be crime & people who are good at committing it.

No one, anywhere, wears red unless they absolutely have to.

After that unfortunate incident at the Federation Council state banquet where the kitchen ran out of phosphorus and the synthesizer filled the recipe with the next element down the column in the periodic table–arsenic–people have learned to keep the raw-material tanks in their food synthesizers topped up.

People travel more. The commute to work is nothing unless there’s a long line at the transporters. They have 20 transporters and they only open three lanes WTF?
Romulans are always starting shit etc.

I have a vague memory of Benjamin Sisko mentioning spending something like “transporter credits” when he was a kid to visit a neighbor who had moved away, so I imagine stuff like holodecks and transporters and maybe replicators and other high-energy things can’t be used indiscriminately by everyday folk.

It’s still a post-scarcity society, though, so nobody works unless they want to. Lots of folks like off of the government dole.

the Holodeck Sanitation Engineer.

That was hilarious. :slight_smile:

And people thought that floors in movie theaters were sticky….:smiley:

The Maquis seemed to be the only group in the Federation with any “testicular fortitude.” At least when they had a problem, they didn’t whine about it; they did something.

The rest of The Federation seems to be a rather bland place. Maybe that’s why none of the series really explored it in-depth.

It might help explain why there are still new colonies being settled, in a post-scarcity society with (presumably) no overpopulation pressures—all the dissenters, malcontents, asocials, and rugged individualists strike out on their own, or are encouraged* to do so, for greater social and political autonomy.

One also imagines that, after a few generations, revolutionary colonial development settles down, the the colonials even out into bland, UFP cityfolk/commune dwellers—if with the occasional horrific failures, like Turkana IV—and the process repeats.

*(With various definitions of “encouraged,” I’d suppose.) (Better make that a “:eek:”)

I view the civilian view of Star Fleet is as a bunch of Boy scouts, or malcontents. People who aren’t well adjusted - well adjusted meaning “live a quiet life.” People who refuse to grow up. People who need more supervision.

I bet sometimes there are opinion pieces written and resentment against Star Fleet for bringing all these dangerous people and things (V’Ger, the Borg, whale probes, Dominion soldiers, etc) to Earth and causing so much trouble. If SF would stop going out there and playing little boy games, the world would be a safer place.

When not following the Federations most popular book, “Kirks Guide to Hot Alien Chicks” the average citizen divides their time between leisure, self improvement and building super weapons to defend against the next Borg invasion.

In all seriousness I don’t see a trend in blandness in human endeavors. Part of a civilization seems bent on fooling themselves with (insert current brand of delusion here), another part struggles to better themselves, another part tries blame others for any slights (real or perceived), and in general people will argue because they are people.

In the future perhaps there is a better grasp on crime, criminal behavior and punishment, and perhaps true poverty and want will be eradicated, but I can’t conceive that all the *drama *of living would dissipate. Like living in high society people will continue to backstab, connive and drive each other to distraction because if for no other reason envy will always be there to spice up life.

The possible Utopia of the Federation sure seems nice, however I can’t shake the images provided in The Fifth Element as probably being more true.

That read almost like one of those BOfH things.

Well one always has the worry of alien invasion or planetary destruction from aliens like giant obelisks seeking out whales to the Borg to time traveller invaders to errant Q.

Of course thats better than living in the DC or Marvel universe where every day some mad super villain tries to destroy some major city and the heroes have to fight it out.

I read where the figured the cost of the fight scene in the last Superman movie would be almost 10,00 dead, 100,000 homeless and over $50 billion of damages.

I think I’ll stick with current issues.

Beamed from MPSIMS to Cafe Society.

The Federation is a Soviet-style communist police state.

I always figured that life in the Federation, aside from not needing money and having ready access to education, power, clean water, food and medicine, was actually kind of horrific: You don’t get a headache, you get mind-controlled by somebody from another dimension, or alien parasites crawl into your brain. If you’re having trouble with somebody at work, it’s because he’s possessed, or part of a Federation-wide conspiracy. If you can’t find your padd or communicator, it’s because you’ve been kidnapped and placed into a nearly-perfect replica of your real world. If you feel sick, it’s because you’ve picked up a mutagenic virus that is going to turn you to stone, or age you to 100 overnight, or cause you to burst into flame. Nobody ever has a bad day, they only ever have epically horrible days.

It’s little wonder that TNG introduced the concept of a ship’s counselor… abstrusegoose.com - abstrusegoose Resources and Information.