Earl Grey 58: Scarcity Scarcity Scarcity

Money.


There are many aspects of The Next Generation that put the
"fiction" in "science fiction." One of those futuristic concepts
that boggles the 21st-century viewer is imagining a world without
money. What does it mean to live in a time when, as Captain
Jean-Luc Picard explains in Star Trek: First Contact, "the
acquisition of wealth is no longer the driving force in our
lives"? Does the existence of replicators and seemingly endless
energy destroy any modern concept of economics?


In this episode of Earl Grey, Daniel, Darren, and Phillip attempt
to suppress their Ferengi capitalistic instincts and try to
explain how Federation society works without any identifiable
currency. They also tackle how Starfleet exists in the same
galaxy as other species who use latinum, leks, darseks, and other
forms of money in their pursuit of trade agreements and resource
exchange. Get your bitcoin account ready to accept Federation
credits as Earl Grey tackles money—or the lack thereof—in the
24th century. 


 


Hosts


Phillip Gilfus, Daniel Proulx, and Darren Moser


 


Editor and Producer


Darren Moser


 


Associate Producers


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Chapters


Money in TOS-TNG (4:02)


Federation Interactions with Species with Currency (13:17)


Menial Jobs (16:09)


Why Work? (29:16)


No Personal Wealth (40:02)


Is This Possible? (45:20)


 


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