metaphysician
Not a Side-Kick
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Before the days of space tourism, virtually every astronaut/cosmonaut had an engineering or doctorate degree. I.e., they’d qualify as commissioned “officers” in any quasi-military organization. (Indeed, many were officers from previous military careers.) So you’d think the same would be true of Star Fleet. Personnel would be cream-of-the-crop, best-of-the-best: highly trained and with advanced education and expertise. And yet, there is an “enlisted” class. Of course, Star Trek envisions large space ships that resemble aircraft carriers or submarines. And on those, someone needs to mop the floors, refill the coffee maker and unplug the toilets. Likewise, Star Fleet starships…?
As I recall, Miles O’Brien was (in)famous for going back and forth between enlisted and officer ranks.
I mean, those don't have to be incompatible. The "enlisted" class of ship's crew in Starfleet can simply be established as *also* consisting of remarkably skilled and trained individuals, because just to make the cut as a midshipman on a Starfleet vessel, you need to be the kind of person who is an auto-didact. Enlisted crew are top 1% of the populace, whereas the officers are the top 1% of the enlisted, something like that. I mean, the Federation is supposed to be some kind of advanced post-scarcity utopia filled with mad scientists, I am perfectly willing to buy that for them "a reasonably talented but directionless individual who just enlists with Starfleet for a tour to see the galaxy" would be for us "that dude who self-taught himself an engineering degree, started a business, then sold it to retire at 30 and take up mountain climbing". The issue is more that the creatives didn't have a coherent plan for how to portray such, or so it seemed.