Somebody explain to me how come Quark gets to charge people for a cup of tea in that context.
Simple.
He’s a greedy Ferengi and not part of the Federation.
Also: The Bajorans down on the planet you speak of exchange currency. The planet doesn’t have the infrastructure to be post-scarcity… That’s, like, the entire premise for the show. They’re getting assistance from the Federation to help rebuild after the Cardassian occupation while also petitioning to join the Federation.
The most flimsy explanations are actually just how Earth operates a currency-less society. They trade. They barter. They simply don’t have money. Most every race that isn’t capable of producing a resource they want trades. And some of those races also happen to value currency in the form of liquid metal wrapped in gold. 🤷🏻♂️
No, that’s not simple. He has replicators. He owns replicators. We see him use them. Alright, so we know some stuff like food or latinum doesn’t replicate well and you can tell the difference, and presumably post-scarcity you put a huge premium on that because what else are you gonna do, but how doess that sustain an entire species of greedy interstellar traders? What are they greedy for, even? Everybody can still talk to their wall and get new pants and a sandwich.
And why does Bajor not have the infrastructure? What weird-ass priorities does the Federation have that in seven years they somehow manage to keep around a warship with transporters, replicators a FTL warp engine and a cloaking device but can’t get the planet set up for post-scarcity? They have transporters and replicators, what’s taking so long? None of it makes sense.
The answer is somebody wanted to do Casablanca in spaaaaace and they weren’t going to let the rules of the setting get in the way. DS9 should not be canon. People get mad at nuTrek’s tone changes, but DS9 breaks the lore completely.
Simple.
He’s a greedy Ferengi and not part of the Federation.
Also: The Bajorans down on the planet you speak of exchange currency. The planet doesn’t have the infrastructure to be post-scarcity… That’s, like, the entire premise for the show. They’re getting assistance from the Federation to help rebuild after the Cardassian occupation while also petitioning to join the Federation.
The most flimsy explanations are actually just how Earth operates a currency-less society. They trade. They barter. They simply don’t have money. Most every race that isn’t capable of producing a resource they want trades. And some of those races also happen to value currency in the form of liquid metal wrapped in gold. 🤷🏻♂️
No, that’s not simple. He has replicators. He owns replicators. We see him use them. Alright, so we know some stuff like food or latinum doesn’t replicate well and you can tell the difference, and presumably post-scarcity you put a huge premium on that because what else are you gonna do, but how doess that sustain an entire species of greedy interstellar traders? What are they greedy for, even? Everybody can still talk to their wall and get new pants and a sandwich.
And why does Bajor not have the infrastructure? What weird-ass priorities does the Federation have that in seven years they somehow manage to keep around a warship with transporters, replicators a FTL warp engine and a cloaking device but can’t get the planet set up for post-scarcity? They have transporters and replicators, what’s taking so long? None of it makes sense.
The answer is somebody wanted to do Casablanca in spaaaaace and they weren’t going to let the rules of the setting get in the way. DS9 should not be canon. People get mad at nuTrek’s tone changes, but DS9 breaks the lore completely.