Arm CEO says physical AI will replace most factory workers within a decade

[BogdanR]

Ok. I can’t help but respond to this.

Look. Star Trek’s “utopia” only works because we never really see the people it leaves out.

I have been a Trek fan for decades. Since I was a kid. I wouldn’t call myself a super-fan, but I generally know the lore, timeline, canon, etc. Trek was the thing that taught me to want a better future. It’s aspirational and I enjoy it when I’m feeling nostalgic.

But the older I get, the more clearly I see that the future Trek paints is basically a utopia by way of strategic camera placement. The majority of the time it pans away from anything that might complicate the feel-good vibes and it’s primary characters are fully elitist.

The Expanse is absolutely more realistic in that it nails the structural inequality part. But here’s the thing: even in Trek’s supposedly post-scarcity paradise, we only ever see the people who made it into the elite bubble—officers, scientists, engineers, diplomats. We’re told everyone’s equals, but somehow the screen time always goes to the future Ivy League graduates with impeccable grooming and ready-to-deliver Shakespearian quotes.

Trek’s Federation is like if every story about modern society focused exclusively on astronauts, ambassadors, and Nobel prize winners, and then said, “See? Utopia!”

Even Picard—who's character I adore—has that line where he basically sneers about living a common, subordinate life as “that pitiable man.” I mean, cringe. If even Jean-Luc-Federation-virtue-signaling-Picard can’t imagine dignity in being an ordinary person, what does that say about the actual social hierarchy of Trek?

We rarely see the future equivalents of grocery clerks, maintenance staff, caregivers, gig workers (or whatever the 24th-century version would be). And the few times we do, they’re generally sneered at unless they’re the most down-and-out folk imaginable. Otherwise they’re pretty much invisible. So, apparently the Federation automated everything except the jobs that conveniently give the Enterprise crew prestige and narrative relevance.

It’s meritocracy with a velvet coat of “post-scarcity” lacquer. And the show never seriously interrogates who gets the opportunity to join Starfleet in the first place. Why? Because if you applied Starfleet Academy’s standards to an entire planet’s population the majority of people would never qualify.

Which, is fine… but the show wants you to believe they’ll still somehow be fulfilled, respected, socially valued, and not living in any kind of underclass. Nonsense.

Meanwhile, The Expanse says the quiet part out loud: UBI that barely keeps you afloat, overcrowding, zero mobility for most people, elites hoarding the big opportunities.

Honestly? If you extrapolate the Trek universe realistically, and not in its polished TV framing… it ends up looking a lot more like The Expanse, just with a better PR team.

Honestly, I’m not saying Trek is bad—Trek is aspirational because it skips the messy bits. And I like it. It keeps it simple. Let’s me dream big without the messy parts clouding things up. But so many people treat that future as if it's simply a straight line from here to there. It’s not. IT’S A FANTASY. It’s a beautiful fantasy, but fantasy in every conceivable way nonetheless.

And yeah, if warp drive dropped tomorrow? I don’t trust the people currently in charge to share it either. Nor should they necessarily. They’d slap an NDA on Zefram Cochrane so fast his warp core would spin backward. And frankly, that would make good sense, in any objective reality.

I disagree. In Star Trek, after it has gone thru WW3 and the Eugenics wars, technology has created a post scarcity world that is reffered as a "paradise" or "Eden" in many episodes across the entire franchise.

Picard's brother still owns and works a vineyard. Sisko's dad operates a restaurant. There are people doing different projects on Earth. Money doesn't exist anymore, everyone has their needs met and then some, they are free to pursue whatever they desire.

Star trek does not focus on Earth because it is set on exploring the galaxy which is done indeed by an elite group of people.

There are also episodes underlining that the road to that utopia was not easy and was paid in blood.

You are right however in one way: Our society does not head there but rather in the Expanse direction. A chasm between the have and havenots, irresponsible billionaires gambling the future of human race and a governing class built to serve itself and no one else.

 

[BogdanR]

So the ultimate humor is the inequality we actually see you actually see that in Picard. He lives on a large vineyard The chateau Picard, his friend Rafi lives in a trailer in the desert, as a drug addict abandoned by federation society. We also see it in some parts of season 3 where on the verge of federation society and we see the colony worlds at the federation is left behind but we can also see that when Starfleet visits certain other planets we can even see part of the failed Utopia in Paradise Lost. That's the episode where to fight the changelings Starfleet takes over Earth.

Star Trek The gilded society if you're one of the house they have nots seem to be relegated to the fringes of society where they're completely ignored and they do seem to suffer and go without.

This is where ST: Picard and ST: Dioscovery failed at miserably. I don't watch Star Trek to be lectured about the failings of our current society extended into the 24th Century. I watch Star Trek to see some hope for the future, how our issues have been put behind us and how this Federation pulls itself together to defend it ideals even when there's a terrible price to be paid such as the Klingon war or, worse the Dominion one.

 

[candle86]

This is where ST: Picard and ST: Dioscovery failed at miserably. I don't watch Star Trek to be lectured about the failings of our current society extended into the 24th Century. I watch Star Trek to see some hope for the future, how our issues have been put behind us and how this Federation pulls itself together to defend it ideals even when there's a terrible price to be paid such as the Klingon war or, worse the Dominion one.

Yes except the maquis, you know the people abandoned by Starfleet. The corruption was hinted at then, so was it in Paradise Lost in DS9.

 

[Y2JB47]

What he’s saying doesn’t seem impossible.

You know what also doesn’t seem impossible? Large groups of people gathering outside the property of billionaires and dragging them into the street for a brief conversation.

 

[kirk781]

I wish the robots to first replace the Arm CEO.

 

[candle86]

What he’s saying doesn’t seem impossible.

You know what also doesn’t seem impossible? Large groups of people gathering outside the property of billionaires and dragging them into the street for a brief conversation.

No that's not the solution

 

[JMGuy]

I disagree. In Star Trek, after it has gone thru WW3 and the Eugenics wars, technology has created a post scarcity world that is reffered as a "paradise" or "Eden" in many episodes across the entire franchise.

Picard's brother still owns and works a vineyard. Sisko's dad operates a restaurant. There are people doing different projects on Earth. Money doesn't exist anymore, everyone has their needs met and then some, they are free to pursue whatever they desire.

Star trek does not focus on Earth because it is set on exploring the galaxy which is done indeed by an elite group of people.

There are also episodes underlining that the road to that utopia was not easy and was paid in blood.

Well, we agree to disagree then.

Yes, that’s the narrative. No, that story arc doesn't remotely hold water when you start to challenge it—the more you do the faster it falls apart. Cherry-picking specifics on a small scale to sell your narrative is how stories work.

Again, I’m a fan. But not because I believe a ST-type future can be an actuality. I just don’t think using it as a comparative as though we can ever believe we’ll get anywhere near it completely ignores the unwritten failures in the narrative. Not all aspirational stories can become reality.

 

[BogdanR]

Yes except the maquis, you know the people abandoned by Starfleet. The corruption was hinted at then, so was it in Paradise Lost in DS9.

Sorry, the Maquis were not part of the Federation. While their plight is tragic, what we're talking about here was the Earth/ Federation populations which are all doing well enough to be the envy of others.
And please do tell where DS9 Paradise Lost makes any reference to poverty on Earth.

 

[BogdanR]

Well, we agree to disagree then.

Yes, that’s the narrative. No, that story arc doesn't remotely hold water when you start to challenge it—the more you do the faster it falls apart. Cherry-picking specifics on a small scale to sell your narrative is how stories work.

Again, I’m a fan. But not because I believe a ST-type future can be an actuality. I just don’t think using it as a comparative as though we can ever believe we’ll get anywhere near it completely ignores the unwritten failures in the narrative. Not all aspirational stories can become reality.

OK, please then provide a reference saying that at least "some" of the 24th Century Federation citizens are living in squalor/ poverty or, at the very least, they struggle to make ends meet.
Please note: Federation not Bajoran, Maquis, or anyone else who is NOT a member of the Federation. Also please note: Don't cite the Bell revolts or other things prior to the creation of the Federation.
And let's go by the classic canon, not by the tropes of ST: Discovery or ST: Picard