The Culture of 23rd Century Earth

[Death Ray]

Incredibly, one of my favorite episodes of TOS was “The Way to Eden”… the space hippies!

This episode was one of the rare instances across all the series where a bit of Federation civilian life was explored. This episode also has the added feature of introducing dissidents who don’t dig the lifestyle of the Federation, a lifestyle that was the embodiment of what the real hippies of the 60s seemed to be after: No wants or cares, a brotherhood of Man.

I was reminded of this episode when I was reflecting on “Ad Astra Aspera” (uh oh!), when one of the witnesses (April?) mentioned that DNA augmentation flew in the face of “natural evolution”. This got me thinking: Who says natural evolution is the right way for humanity to proceed? Is this a secular-religious proscription of Terran society?

This might represent another missed opportunity of that episode, that being a chance to explore this feature of earth culture. Even now, IRL, it seems unlikely that artificially meddling with our genome will be resisted for much longer. How about if SNW introduced a historical “anti-Khan”, a person who founded a movement to dampen humanity’s temptation to experiment with DNA? This would be an interesting development in Trek lore, as it could be one of the few reactionary, counter-science philosophies embraced by the Federation. We could even revisit and flip “Space Seed” in this way, by introducing a bunch of cultists of this philosophy who cause trouble for Una/La’an, and try to capture the Enterprise over their beliefs

 

[JoeZhang]

I agree with the Great Bird - let us stay away from Earth because the answers you get are never satisfying.

 

[Death Ray]

I agree with the Great Bird - let us stay away from Earth because the answers you get are never satisfying.

Haven’t we already crossed the Rubicon, though? With SNW and DISCO already being set in Star Trek’s past eras, it seems like we could start beefing up the lore, and flesh out things that people have only speculated about until now.

This holds true especially for augmentation, since that is now an ongoing trouble-in-paradise situation, across multiple series. It’s good! I would just like a deeper exploration of it.

 

[F. King Daniel]

We've seen plenty of Earth in the Kelvin movies, Picard and a bit in Disco. SNW would be the same.

 

[firehawk12]

So even without direct genetic manipulation, TNG condemned the idea of genetic purity by showing colonies that try to "breed" the right attributes fail.

The thing about the extrapolation of how it is used in the Trek universe is that it's either used to remove perceived "deficiencies" like in the case of Bashir, or it creates people who think they are inherently superior and therefore should be natural rulers and be able to enslave others like Khan.

I think if they actually teased out Illyrian culture and philosophy to show something different - like the idea that they are environmentalists who think terraforming planets is destructive to nature - then that would be an interesting point of view. But they didn't really go much into that.

 

[Death Ray]

I think if they actually teased out Illyrian culture and philosophy to show something different - like the idea that they are environmentalists who think terraforming planets is destructive to nature - then that would be an interesting point of view. But they didn't really go much into that.

Right. I think the handling of the Illyrian issue was a bit crude. It is perfectly obvious that they are not a race of Khans. I think that a better story would have been one that seriously interrogated the Federation prohibitions installed after the Eugenics War.

 

[ToddCam]

I had found April's reference to natural evolution as indeed like a religious stance, and was wondering if it had grown out of Phlox and Archer's ludicrous ideas of how evolution "should" go, and eventually leading to the monstrous interpretations of the Prime Directive like in "Homeward".

But I also remember Denobulans resisting banning of genetic manipulation, so I guess it somehow does not create a cognitive dissonance in Phlox's mind.

I guess for April, it's like a "hate the sin, not the sinner" position re: Number One.

 

[fireproof78]

I had found April's reference to natural evolution as indeed like a religious stance, and was wondering if it had grown out of Phlox and Archer's ludicrous ideas of how evolution "should" go, and eventually leading to the monstrous interpretations of the Prime Directive like in "Homeward".

Unfortunately a similar attitude came out with the Prime Directive in TNG at times. "Are they fated to die?"

 

[ToddCam]

Sarah Connor was rolling in her grave.

 

[Death Ray]

I had found April's reference to natural evolution as indeed like a religious stance, and was wondering if it had grown out of Phlox and Archer's ludicrous ideas of how evolution "should" go

I loved that episode of Enterprise ("Dear Doctor"). I thought it provided one of the most cunning moral dilemmas in any Star Trek series.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Phlox and Archer's ludicrous ideas of how evolution "should" go

Remember, in Star Trek the peak of human evolution is the salamander!

 

[Captain Jollydark]

I think if they actually teased out Illyrian culture and philosophy to show something different - like the idea that they are environmentalists who think terraforming planets is destructive to nature - then that would be an interesting point of view. But they didn't really go much into that.

I'd love to see an exploration of that set in contrast to the people who do the more traditional idea of colonization. Like in This Side of Paradise and recent SNW.