The Real United Federation Of Planets

[imported_Ziggy]

I have recently made a post that talks about the idea of a United Earth, which gave me the idea for this. In Star Trek, the major political power in the Alpha and Beta Quadrents is the United Federation of Planets (U.F.P.). But in real life would something like the U.F.P. work? There are some major problems. Oviouslly the ideas on how to run a government will differ greatly between members. Who knows what kind of ideas aliens might have. In Star Trek, member alien races must even give up there independence. Could something like that ever work in real life? Or would a "U.F.P." be only a military alliance to protect member races from aggressive civilizations?

[StarLab]

If I were you, I'd read as many of A. C. Clarke's books as I can.

[Zedd_77]

I would be surprised if it worked, the other aliens would have to be either really stupid or sceming at something, either way, it probably wouldn't work because all of earth would have to first be united and that would mean world peace which I don't see anytime in the near future.

[Greg]

Cooperation generally works best when the benefit of being in a group outweighs what you can achieve on your own. I do not see why a group of alien civilizations would unite under one central government, but I can see them forming a loose alliance to achieve commonly shared goals. Of course certain conditions must exist to force a need for this to happen. A crowded galaxy, which is amusingly depicted in Star Trek sci-fi (a vision I do not share- I think we are most likely athe only advanced civilization of its kind in our galaxy) would create competition for resources forcing alliances. Alternatively, an overwhelming shared threat like the borg would be impetus for cooperation. Uneven scattering of precious resources might also stimulate cooperation. If there were advanced life in this galaxy, we would most certainly have become aware of it by now as evidence of their power generation would not be subtle to detect. If one did exist they probably consider Earth akin to an exotic zoo, and if we were to make serious efforts at space travel they might begin to notice and take hostile action (like we would if a elephant escaped the zoo.) Most scenarios that I see with a limited number of civilizations in a galaxy would lead to conflict since both would see the other as competitors for resources they are entitled to.
In some way I fear what would happen when a galaxy like Andromeda merges with ours 4 billion years from now. There is a pretty good chance that an advanced civilization similar to ours controls that galaxy already and we might see an intergalactic war of unimagined proportions if we dominate our galaxy when we intercept theirs.

[Deep_Eye]

Clarke uh? I'll have to look that author up. I enjoy reading, especially when its a good sci-fi! As for a united alliance-I think it would be great as long as its not a dictatorship or communism. The biggest barrier I think would be language!

[zrice03]

Given the incredible time lags between inhabited planets, I don't know if a real interstellar government is possible. This is assuming, of course, that the speed of light is the fastest you can go.

Within the solar system, though, a United Planets could work. The longest communication lag would be about twelve hours, and the longest spaceflight could be only a few weeks (Turnaround trajectory).

I have a feeling that, if we do start sending people to other stars, they will be essentially on their own. Free to start up their own (hopefully non-oppressive) government. It will be like the 17th century all over again. This time, though, literally a New World.