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Star Trek: The Federation Runs on Dilithium
Finishing this latest season of Star Trek: Discovery has made me realize that for all of its anti-capitalist talk, the Federation runs on dilithium. Okay, before I go any farther, let me throw a spoiler warning up. If you haven’t watched Season 3 of Discovery stop reading because I’m heading off into spoiler territory. You have been warned.
Now, with those folks out of the way, we can talk. In Season 3 we see a Federation that has been crippled by “the Burn” which has made dilithium inert and caused starships that were using their warp drives to explode. Only vessels that were powered down survived. The shortage of dilithium and the inability to make more in large quantities left the Federation and Starfleet a shadow of its former self. No longer able to project power and influence, it fell in upon itself and became protectionist. The cash of the cashless society turned out to be the rock that kept everything moving.
In the world of Star Trek we are to believe everyone has enough. The individual struggle is not one of survival but one of self-actualization. If there’s clean food to eat, clean water to drink, clean air to breathe, and a climate-controlled space to sleep in every night, the challenge is how to fill the time in a meaningful way. During the time leading up to “the Burn” that time is spent doing a lot of mining, apparently. I’m not…
