User talk:78.131.70.59

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Thanks. -- Defiant (Talk) 14:10, April 28, 2011


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Talk pages
While your comment is interesting, I moved it to your talk page because posts on article talk pages should pertain to changing the article, as talk pages are not intended for general discussion of the subject. If you do wish to discuss Star Trek in general, I suggest our discussion forum site, which is intended for general discussion. Thanks --31dot 18:49, April 28, 2011 (UTC)

I lived a lot in the communist block and am a star trek fan. There is a very difference, which I think these westerners who invented Star Trek, can't see. I'm not quite happy about the fact, that on writing this episode, there was about a decade, that the soviet block had two choice: collapse or starting the third world war (in which Los Angeles (with Hollywood and the Paramount) were likely one of the first targets).

Borg was effective because its mind control technology: "everybody" (every borg instance) worked for the wellness of the collective. They had no induvidual goals, because in the borg society there isn't induvidual people.

Communism was highly ineffective. Theoretically, communism tried a society where everybody works for the collective wellness, but didn't motivated the people to work hard for that. Really, communism was inherently unable to motivate its people.

Capitalism (or western-style social system) is much more effective, because tries to synchronize the collective wellness with the induvidual wellness (google for "Adam Smith" "invisible hand"). Capitalism does this by financial motivation: (theoretically) if you work hard, you gain more money. If you work hard, you do your best for the collective wellnes. Thus, if you do your best for the collective wellness, you gain more money. This system has its major problems too (which are out of this text), but I think it is far the best.

The communists tried to solve this problem, but had only two solution (they tried a lot times with both of them):

- motivating people with pressure. Stalin, Red Khmers, Mao. It had some semi-success, but had hard price: see Orwell's 1984, except that this was real. But the slave labour is ineffective, without commercial freedom and free market the people has no motivation to work hard and efficiently.

- motivating people financially. Current best example is China. It works, but this isn't communism any more, but the start of a capitalist transition.

I think this metaphor were OK only if the communists had some borg-style mind-control technology. They didn't have. It is because they collapsed.

But if they had some mind control tech, they succed and we all were "communist drones" for now.

The hard, pure reality that living in the communist block was a nightmare. Yes, we can see the major problems with the western liberal society, too, but I think these are little for the communism. Effectively, it was an 1984-style dictatorship based on weapons, but not on mind control.

I think a much better Star Trek metaphor of the communism is Cardassia. But the cardassians love their state. In the communist block, nearly everybody hated "the system" and if they could, they revolted, sabotaged, stealed from their workplace, worked as little as they could, escaped to west, etc. And (nearly) everybody knew, that they are living in a bad state, and that the westerners are living in a much better.

78.131.70.59 14:09, April 28, 2011 (UTC)