Where's My Starship Enterprise...?

Here is a question…actually, a lot of questions and I’m kind of free-forming thoughts here because I don’t feel like consolidating the topic into one thing…if anything, it’s a modern exasperation…

…if and when we recover from this recession/depression/economically tumultuous time…then what?

I mean, it’s kind of like the question, “what is the meaning of life?”

We go through these cycles, Bull Markets, Bear Markets, Depression, Recessions, Bubbles, Bursts…constantly over and over again…every single time the profits get exponentially larger, and the falls exponentially harder….

So, when the market has stabilized again…then what? We do it all over again? The rich get even richer and everyone else works their butts off that much more. I mean, I’m not a spiritual person….but, to know that you’re going to spend the rest of your life working your butt off for so very little of nothing…and to know that there are people out there…people with the right family, with the right connections, who will make more in a year, than most of us can hope to make in a lifetime…people that will make it without breaking a sweat because their job is to tell other people what to do, who tell other people what to do, who tell other people what to do, who will tell people like you what to do and you do it….that’s psychically damaging. That is my idea of Hell…

People say to me, “What, are you a Communist?” No, I’m not a Communist, not a Socialist, not a Marxist, not an Anything-ist…I’ve read those ideologies…I’ve read plenty of Capitalist ideology as well…

It just seems to me that in the pursuit of the wealth of the relative few, so many people get completely exploited. For instance, my brother-in-law works in as a sub-executive in international sales…one of the subsidiaries of the company he worked for produced its product in China, as well as some other southeast Asian countries…as part of his job, he did a lot of travelling to the factories…so one day he goes to this factory in China, goes into the actual factory floor and takes a look at the workers…he’s told, “we turned the lights for your visit today…” As he describes the factory floor, its filthy, completely jammed full of people working for 12-16 hours of the day, little ventilation, little natural light…and yeah, they turned the lights on for him that day.

I won’t say what the product was…but you can buy it in your local Walmart…and speaking of Walmart, “the Destroyer of All Local Business..” No, I won’t speak of Walmart…I hate Walmart…even their everyday low prices…

I think that my point is…is it wrong to think that “what is good for the Market is decidedly NOT what is good for society?” It just seems to me, sometimes, that our resources would be better spent if society’s primary objective was not the acquisition of capital, which is really just an illusion anyway…I know that it is about as likely to happen as, oh, something else that will never happen in any of our lifetimes, a great mass spiritual enlightenment…

…its 2009, where is my Starship Enterprise?

Who do you think built the Starship Enterprise? Boeing, Northrop-Grumman, a single nation or an entire world?

We aren't ready for the NCC-1701 just yet. Almost, but no quite. I'm sure you are aware of the ion engine that has been used for many years now. That's what the starships used for small trips.

The biggest hurdles we have to cross aren't technological. They're socio-economic. In Star Trek, they removed the need to accumulate wealth. We haven't done so yet. We have lots of folks who are ready, but we are still being ruled by feringis...consumed by the need to profit and exploit.

We have a long way to go. They call it the United Federation of Planets. And we have a really hard time thinking about a united planet...

Like I said, we don't have a problem with the tech...we have a problem with the egos....and the greed.

Of course, if you have ever watched the show, you will realize there is very little freedom represented. Everyone has a job to do and Starfleet is always up in your junk. "Computer, locate commander Pig. (bleep) commander Pig is currently in Holodeck 5 accessing pornographic simulation file 005656-f"

(bridge staff looking at each other rolling eyes)

Hmmm. Imagine that Walmart would build Enterprise first....
No, seriously, if those guys would find that Martian workforce is cheaper then "third" world countries here, then they would build it. Just to haul the cargo though.
And without any jokes - i really think that space exploration could be undertook either by military - aka "space wars" project re-run, or by buisness corporations to exploit natural resources of whole Solar system.
No spiritual society or simply usual government would not do it - one for lack of interest in material world, other for lack of funds due to usual beurocracy and stupidity.
So - count on Walmart!!!!

[edit on 22-5-2009 by ZeroKnowledge]

reply to post by KSPigpen


Yes, I understand...but I'm largely ranting on the extended metaphor...


...file 005656-f. That's a good one.

Originally posted by KSPigpen

Of course, if you have ever watched the show, you will realize there is very little freedom represented. Everyone has a job to do and Starfleet is always up in your junk. "Computer, locate commander Pig. (bleep) commander Pig is currently in Holodeck 5 accessing pornographic simulation file 005656-f"

(bridge staff looking at each other rolling eyes)

That is the greatest thing I've read all week!

Given the nature of the beast as I see it today, I would have to agree that it would look a lot more like the corporations in the Alien franchise than a unified world government approach ala Trekdom...depending on what you read and by whom it was written, we may have already been there and back...some even seem to think the whole reason we are here is that we were once the 'cheap labor' for another race...wild stuff, but for some reason I just can't buy into the good of humanity, working together to extend our reach into the cosmos.....now if it's for PROFIT, that's a different story altogether.

reply to post by KSPigpen

for some reason I just can't buy into the good of humanity, working together to extend our reach into the cosmos.....now if it's for PROFIT, that's a different story altogether.

Which basically makes us the Ferengi...

...I always hated the Ferengi.

Anyway, Star Trek is not the point....as much as I would love to pontificate on the finer points of the various series...the political...etc...it more of just a vehicle for other points.

There is so much that we could achieve if we could just shift the focus of our society...if we could collectivize our resources to meet and conquer the unknowns of science...instead of having a dozen nations, each with half a dozen competing factions, competing against each of the half dozen factions within the other eleven nations...

Things like CERN make me feel great that nations can cooperate in large, scientific endeavors...but there is so much more that could and should be done...

If the brightest minds of every country came together...for only a year, or two or ten...with the huge amount of resources in each of those independent nations being used by the group.....how far could we jump ahead?

I feel it needs to be said that as industry and capitalism has flourished the standard of living for everyone has generally gone up. For all the wailing and gnashing of teeth about those corporate fat cats in their ivory towers and all us lowly workers slopping around in the grease; we really do have it pretty damn good.

Rather a factory worker with free healthcare and a chance to save up and bugger off than a serf bound to his master’s land.

There can never be an ultimate goal because society and technology changes too much and too fast for us to settle on any single ideal. Therefore we do have to continue the cycle, each time reforming what is relevant of old and incorporating what is new.

There is so much that we could achieve if we could just shift the focus of our society...

To what end? The current goal of most people is the increase their own standard of living; this precipitates and necessitates the development of much of what we have.

We could put all focus into something like CERN for example with the aim of figuring out what gives everything mass but what’s the point if the cost is individual happiness for everyone?

reply to post by madhatr137


Hi, I've posted an "idea" on the US Open Government website. The title of my post is called "Disclosure of Extra-Terristrial Presence & Technology." You can search by just entering in "UFO" in the Search tool. I would really appreciate it if those of you who agree to what I've written can please vote for it on the site. I think it's a good idea to vote for the other brave people who've attempted to bring the subject to light also.

Sorry if this is off-topic from this particular post, but I just thought I had to get some attention on this opportunity.

Thanks.

reply to post by madhatr137


madhatr137,

I think first we have to accept the fact that most Humans are genetically (and thus socially) inclined to create a rigid Heirarchy in their civilization.

While such heirarchies World Wide have usually been dominated (ultimately) by corrupt and self-serving individuals - we simply need to create a system where a specific set of intelligent, empathetic, and visionary Humans permanently dominate the top of the pyramid.

There are many ways to accomplish this - from creating "fool proof" charters of limited powers for Central Authority (i.e. Federation of Planets) to engineering a completely Hive Mind society (i.e. The Borg).

I think the comparrison of our current Plutocratic Society to the Ferengi is completely apt.

However - if we continue with this Plutocratic Society I think we will end up closer to the Borg than we will to the Federation.

Humanity is really at a turning point this Millenium and perhaps even this Century - and if we don't usurp the Plutocratic Control of our Governence soon - the future Dystopia may be written for us.