Daystrom Institute

3454 readers

20 users here now

Welcome to Daystrom Institute!

Serious, in-depth discussion about Star Trek from both in-universe and real world perspectives.

Read more about how to comment at Daystrom.

Rules

1. Explain your reasoning

All threads and comments submitted to the Daystrom Institute must contain an explanation of the reasoning put forth.

2. No whinging, jokes, memes, and other shallow content.

This entire community has a “serious tag” on it. Shitposts are encouraged in Risa.

3. Be diplomatic.

Participate in a courteous, objective, and open-minded fashion. Be nice to other posters and the people who make Star Trek. Disagree respectfully and don’t gatekeep.

4. Assume good faith.

Assume good faith. Give other posters the benefit of the doubt, but report them if you genuinely believe they are trolling. Don’t whine about “politics.”

5. Tag spoilers.

Historically Daystrom has not had a spoiler policy, so you may encounter untagged spoilers here. Ultimately, avoiding online discussion until you are caught up is the only certain way to avoid spoilers.

6. Stay on-topic.

Threads must discuss Star Trek. Comments must discuss the topic raised in the original post.

Episode Guides

The /r/DaystromInstitute wiki held a number of popular Star Trek watch guides. We have rehosted them here:

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

williams_482@startrek.website

Equals@startrek.website

LibraryLass@startrek.website

khaosworks@startrek.website

DS9: Currency and the Federation (lemmy.sdf.org)

submitted 1 year ago by OneCardboardBox@lemmy.sdf.org to c/daystrominstitute@startrek.website

24 comments fedilink hide all child comments

In TNG, Picard says that the Federation has evolved past a need for money. Indeed, we never see any.

In DS9 though, Quark talks a lot about bar tabs and costs. Surely O'Brien and Bashir don't get free drinks, so how do they pay? I'd assume that any Ferengi worth his lobes won't accept anything that can be replicated, so do Federation officers get a stipend of tradeable "value" when interacting with cultures that still expect payment?

I think there's also a reference to Quark paying rent to Sisko for running the bar. Presumably that's denominated in latinum. I wonder where it goes? Maybe the secret "Garak black ops" fund.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] hallettj@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Another time money comes up is the episode, In the Cards, where Jake wants to buy a Willie Mays baseball card to cheer up his dad. He talks Nog into paying for it because as a Federation citizen Jake doesn't have any money.

I found some of the dialogue on Memory Alpha:

It's my money, Jake! If you want to bid at the auction, use your own money.

I'm Human, I don't have any money.

It's not my fault that your species decided to abandon currency-based economics in favor of some philosophy of self-enhancement.

Hey, watch it. There's nothing wrong with our philosophy. We work to better ourselves and the rest of Humanity.

What does that mean exactly?

It means… it means we don't need money!

Well, if you don't need money, then you certainly don't need mine!

I also imagine Starfleet officers in a non-Federation posting getting stipends. Or maybe Quark and other business owners bill the Federation for whatever Federation citizens buy? And maybe that arrangement doesn't extend to the auction with the baseball card?

There are references to Jake buying from some of the station's businesses. I think I remember him buying jom-jom sticks, and dining at the Klingon restaurant. (Did Jake ever use a holosuite on his own?) I'm thinking either Jake has some sort of allowance or stipend, and is exaggerating when he says he "doesn't have money", or those businesses make special arrangements for Federation citizens.

[–] DrChaotica@startrek.website 1 points 1 year ago

I’m thinking either Jake has some sort of allowance or stipend, and is exaggerating when he says he “doesn’t have money”

I mean, having walking around money and having Mom-style "now that's walking around money" (i.e. enough to buy a Willy Mays rookie card) are two different things.

[–] hallettj@beehaw.org 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This leads me to another thought: are station residents charged for using the replicators in their quarters? I imagine the replimat charging like other station businesses; so what about private replicators? Or maybe I'm wrong, and the replimat is a free public service?

I'm guessing replicator use would be free under Federation jurisdiction the same way Quark isn't charged rent. But on the other hand, it's a Bajoran station - Starfleet only administers it. Now I'm wondering what kind of negotiating went on to get the struggling provisional government to pass up revenue from DS9 rental spaces.

[–] flicker@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago

You just know Bajor happily relinquished the potential income from rental spaces on the station in exchange for the Federation keeping their military presence there.