I’m watching S7E20 right now and the entire scene before the Defiant undocked from DS9 had that cinematic vibe you only get from a bonafide Hollywood movie.
Second why are the ferengi merchants? Doesn’t everyone have access to a replicator.
Latnium can’t be replicated so it can be properly used as a store of wealth and replicated antiquities can be detected. Large items like ships can be replicated in parts, but need to be complete to exceed the value of their replicated parts.
When a culture is built around trade, they will find ways to trade.
Also, it’s likely that the writers needed that culture type to directly conflict with the ideals of Starfleet. Conflict makes for a good plot line.
And what can I buy with latnium? Couldn’t I just hop into the holo deck and swim in my personal lake of it? As far as assembling a ship it’s almost like I could replicate one small bot to build consecutively bigger assembly bots. It was just lazy writing for a bad premise of a star Trek, where is the trekking? More like Star Trek deep snooze nine.
And what can I buy with latnium?
Self-sealing stem bolts. A bunch of them.
Couldn’t I just hop into the holo deck and swim in my personal lake of it?
Only in something that looked like latnium. Holodecks are a derivative of replicator technology, so it wouldn’t actually be latnium. (And it’s not a store of wealth since it would only exist on the holodeck.)
I could replicate one small bot to build consecutively bigger assembly bots.
There was an entire space station that could replicate itself as well as replace parts on other ships. (At the cost of biomaterial…) Also, they build entire space stations, so yeah, automation is a thing but it still takes an energy source.
More like Star Trek deep snooze nine.
It wasn’t my favorite series and the ferangi weren’t my favorite species either. Regardless, trade was still active across the galaxy and many cultures didn’t have replicators. The reasoning behind what and how the ferangi traded was still extremely viable.
Got it, it’s self sealing stem bolts all the way down.
Basically. The root of your question was about what gives any item value.
If I have 10M stem bolts and you need them and don’t have access to a replicator, those bolts now have value to you. If I can trade those bolts for latnium with the expectation of trading that latnium for something else, that latnium has value to me.
We now have the makings for a society based on trade.
Did you mean 10mm stem bolts, 10 million, or perhaps it’s Roman and you mean 1000?
Pick one. It was an arbitrary value.
