Why Does Modern Trek Make Earth Out To Be A "Paradise"?

In the near 100 original series episodes (counting animated) the conditions on Earth were very rarely referred to. In fact I think only "The Cage"(The Menagerie) had Capt. Pike make mention of cities being surrounded by "50 miles of parkland strips".

Yet modern Trek (especially DS9) make continual references to Earth being a "paradise". And DS9 is supposed to be the "darker, grittier" Star Trek.

Why?

Are you serious?

In many ways, we live in a paradise NOW, compared to earlier times in human history. Would you expect conditions on Earth in the kind of technological future shown in Star Trek to have DECLINED from where they are now?

Have you even watched the show, aside from the space battles?

TNG was the series that played Earth up as being all paradise-like. DS9 dirtied it up some, particularly with the end of Season 6/beginning of Season 7. That's what made the Earthbound episodes and Section 31 themed episodes interesting; they took a little of the Pollyanna saccharine out of Star Trek.

I woulda thought that nuclear war in the '90s might have diminished the quality of life a bit, and for more than a couple hundred years.

Christianity has been banned, and homosexuality has is universally accepted as normal.

Media Central. Keep it civil and on-topic, please.

Actually IIRC it was Sisko who said (referring to Earth) "You look out the window and you see paradise! Well, it's easy to be an angel in paradise.!"

DS9 makes it quite clear that Earth in the 24th century is anything but paradise. Baseball is a lost game in this dark period.

The loss of baseball alone makes it a heavenly fucking utopia.

I choose to believe that soccer and American football died with it.

Actually, as best I can tell, that line was, "It's easy to be a saint in paradise." I don't think he was talking about Earth, though. The line is from The Maquis, Part II.

No, he definitely was talking about Earth in that line.

Huh. Well, so he was. One thing I notice about that scene, though -- managed to find it on YouTube, since CBS doesn't stream episodes worth a sour wet fart -- that's Season Two. Early days for DS9, before they got around to getting their morality tales in a more noir vein and roughing up that diamond Earth a bit.

They probably discovered some shmackyon ray in the 2100's that can clean up radiation.

Because optimism is a central part of Star Trek. And DS9 is a frontier outpost.

The Japanese Miracle.

Err, they have access to vast terraforming technologies, the ability to convert matter to energy satisfying nearly any material want or need, the ability to alter the weather of the entire planet, and people get to do whatever they want in life, and you have to ask why it's a paradise? You're either trolling or obtuse.

I'm curious as to why the busboys in Sisko's fathers restaurant wanted to be busboys...

Because they enjoy the atmosphere and have a passion for traditional New Orleans food? Given that their standard of living is equal to anyone else's on Earth, since resources are in hyper-abundance, it's very plausible.

You sound like Michael Piller who insisted there were no "luxury cruise liners" on 24th century Earth because "everyone is rich".

I do not believe we have ever had onscreen confirmation of the "everyone is rich" or "their standard of living is equal to anyone else's"

On earth, I'd assume it's pretty damn close. On other colonies, not so much.

I think the burden is on you to present evidence that 24th Century Earth is economically stratified in any way, since that would run contrary to the entirety of Trek.

Look, the economics in Star Trek are never going to make sense. If material needs are met for everyone, then it makes no sense for someone to sign up to be a Starfleet redshirt or a busboy at Sisko's. I can believe that someone might want to be a ship captain or a scientist or an ambassador to an alien civilization out of some self-actualization drive, but who really wants to be a waiter at Quark's?

The creators of Star Trek could've either followed the logical implications of a post-scarcity economy--in which case the structure of human society would become unrecognizable to us viewers--or hand-wave it away so that this fictional 23rd Century society is still relatable to us and, in the process, create some occasionally glaring contradictions. Obviously, they went with the latter.

They enjoy cooking, and want to learn how to run their won Creole restaurant and are there to learn from Joseph. You know, kind of like a mentor/apprentice type of deal. How difficult is it to come up with plausible reasons?

Being a waiter at Quark's makes sense at least. Being on the frontier, the bleeding edge of Federation space, it is unlikely that they'd be living in a post-scarcity economy, doubly so after what happened during the occupation of Bajor. Add in the fact that there still exist things which are non-replicatable, and there are legitimate reasons to have jobs in the Star Trek universe.

People were volunteering to work in structured groups and consigning themselves to "menial" tasks for the sake of the larger enterprise long before money and capitalism. To think that economic advantage is the only motivator in people is a pretty narrow-minded view of human nature.

Enduring the poor labor conditions at Quark's is a false example because that was taking place outside the Federation, and the Ferengi themselves are very capitalist.

"I applaud what humanity accomplished in the past 90 years since Cochrane's test flight!"

But usually in furtherance of some other goal. Are you going to "volunteer" to go wait tables if you don't have to? Mop floors? Empty bedpans?

Economic advantage isn't the only motivator, but it's one of the more powerful ones. Self-interest is rational and expectations that it can be set aside inevitably end in disappointment.

Taking economics off the table, what would motivate you to spend years of your life doing a menial task?

Again, busboys at Sisko's, redshirts.

Swedish bikini girl blowjobs and ice cream sundaes free from the state?