Epistemic Infrastructure in the United Federation of Planets
Introduction
Have you ever tried to think inside an infrastructure?
This notion, coined by Anand et al. (2018: 13)1, exemplifies what we will attempt in this piece. If you are not a social scientist, this may seem strange to you, and you will likely never have heard about the “infrastructural turn” (Anand et al. 2018: 6). Thus, you will wonder what in the world this has to do with Star Trek.
To start off, the general importance of infrastructure should actually be fairly obvious. In the words of Waisová Šárka: “Most people, when hearing about “infrastructure”, probably imagine transport infrastructure such as a network of streets, highways, ports and airports” (Šárka 2020: 468)2.
Utopia Planitia arguably needs its docks and resources just as much as we rely on global value chains for seafaring ships. And the Federation gave up Deep Space Nine in the first hours of the Dominion War in order to attack the Cardassian shipyards of Torros III.3
Infrastructure is important. But it entails more than the above-mentioned.
“However, “infrastructure” is not only a network of material objects, it is also something which enables something to work – for example, to trade. Infrastructure may be seen as an assemblage of objects, actors and the regular relations between them, and of practices, all of which produces an ecology and the conditions for particular activities and the operation “of something else” (Šárka 2020: 468).
We are not simply talking about infrastructure, we are talking about ‘epistemic infrastructure’. “Epistemic” is defined by the Cambridge dictionary as “relating to knowledge or the study of knowledge”.4 Thus, we are talking about knowledge infrastructure.
The United Federation of Planets (UFP) ought to possess such infrastructure, as it is a democracy. Democracies rely on certain conditions and instruments, such as the quality of all citizens, electing efficient and ousting inefficient governments, input legitimacy through voting, and output legitimacy through results (see Herzog 2023: 209)5. If those instruments are to be used, however, they require citizens: “All citizens need to have access to the institutions that enable them to get access to relevant forms of knowledge and to make informed decisions (Herzog 2023: 221).
An interstellar democracy with over a hundred member worlds6 per definitionem critically relies on a common infrastructure for sharing information, holding public debates, and informed decision-making. As we explored in a prior article, though, the different member worlds come with about just as many different species, all with their varying evolutionary backgrounds and cultures informed by those backgrounds. Not only do we require an agora for debate and voting, we need to ensure all member species are able to follow just what is going on.
This is by far not a dry academic construct for scribes but a colorful inquiry into how the Federation works and how it enables its diverse members to know just how it works.
Thinking Infrastructure: From Cables to Subspace
Whatever parts the UFP democracy comprises, in order to let its citizens make informed decisions, it must a) structure, make available, and safeguard free flows of information that b) is consumable for all its species while c) staying coherent, i.e., without losing crucial context or details.
Working on a term paper on undersea cables at university inspired me to borrow from the sociological Actor-Network Theory (ANT), a perspective that helps demonstrate why knowledge infrastructure is so important. ANT focuses on actors and the networks between them (Kneer 2009: 19)7. In this line of thinking, objects can be actors as well and even possess agency. That is not to say that objects ‘think’ all of a sudden. Agency is more defined as the ability to act and influence other actors: “The capacity to act is not only attributed to human persons but also to natural and technical objects, plant and animal life forms” (Kneer 2009: 20).
Interstellar knowledge infrastructure unites enormous agency upon itself when it comes to steering - or misinforming - the Federation democracy. It is well-established that Humans alone have different learning styles, some preferring visual, some textual input, etc. (Pashler et al. 2009)8.
What parts does such an infrastructure require to meet such diverse needs?
Well, the primary epistemic and communicative infrastructure of our day and age are submarine cables. Between 95% to 99% (Bennet 2019: 3f)9 of all the internet is carried by garden-hose-sized cables lying on the ocean floor (Starosielski 2015: 2)10. Satellites would only be able to carry a tiny fraction of the capacity (Ganz et al. 2024: 31)11. This does not only make submarine cables a critical and vulnerable infrastructure, but they shape the way information is distributed across the cables. Indeed, they are also crucial for economic development, which is especially evident in Africa (Ilcev 2024: 286)12, a continent precariously under-connected. And it does not stop there, as submarine cables are also highly important for military ambitions (Starosielski 2015: 34). This has been the case since the 1850s, when the first submarine telegraph cables were laid (ibid. 9).
Economy, information flow, security… it all comes together in submarine cables. Now, we do not precisely know the design of the Federation’s communication infrastructure. It is science fiction after all. However, we do know that subspace relays play a crucial role.
Indeed, the Enterprise NX-01 deployed subspace amplifiers early on during its exploratory mission, reminiscent of the early signal amplifiers on submarine cables. The U.S.S. Voyager was able to re-establish contact with Starfleet via a Hirogen Subspace network during its odyssey in the Delta Quadrant. In Star Trek: First Contact, Captain Picard listens to the communication of the battle group fighting the Borg in Sector 001, prompting him to violate his orders and intervene in the battle in the first place, securing a victory.
The ability to coherently communicate is of utmost importance to the UFP, making subspace relays an infrastructure enabling its citizens to know things; thus an epistemic infrastructure. Arguably, entire member worlds of the Federation can hardly send their millions or billions of citizens to one another, to have debates during an election. In order for the Federation to stay coherent, it requires its subspace network.
Avenues of Diversity
Control over this network means control over how information is distributed - or not distributed. It is thus worth asking how this kind of control is managed in the UFP, and what kind of communicative practices this network allows, compared to others.
In a study on submarine cables in Hong Kong, Luke Munn (2022) found that spatial considerations are of high importance for the city with its limited available land (ibid. 1407).13 He found that access to financial markets - necessitating direct and ultra-fast access to information (ibid. 1403) - was enough of a concern for a submarine cable to be constructed between the HKEX Hosting Services Datacenter and the Central Business District (ibid.). The concerns of local residents, who would have favored a social focused use of the available land, were not prioritized (ibid. 1408): i.e., one knowledge related aspect of society was prioritized over another.
This serves to highlight that information is not simply a non-corporeal thing, it takes shape and form via its infrastructure. Said infrastructure requires resources to function, linking the UFP’s coherence to a number of pre-requisites that have to be taken into account. The ability to construct, maintain, expand, and secure the network is just as important as access to it. At this point, we have not even taken into account the effects of misinformation and bias.
As noted previously, Humans present differing styles of learning and information interpretation. This might just as well be true for other species. Is text-based, video-based, or holographic communication enough to foster democratic discourse in the UFP? Some species may be satisfied with being presented with information in a factual manner, like Vulcans. Other species, however, may require personal contact to fully appreciate all nuances of communication - like the Betazoids with their telepathic capabilities. Those two cases are both highlights of subspace’s potential, as well as limitations in relating UFP-memberworlds to each other.
Furthermore, the network also embodies power relations and resource allocations. Are there member worlds with complex environmental circumstances - comparable to Hong Kong - necessitating stronger safeguarding of subspace relays than others? Are there some places where a network would not be functional at all? How the UFP handles these kinds of issues is directly linked to the satisfaction of its citizens.
Conclusion
Applying Actor-Network-Theory to Subspace Relays enables us to discover the actors relevant for its continued function, from authorities, to manufacturing plants, to citizens, as well as agencies translating differing cultures of communication into and out of the network. Where today, hyperscalers like Google or Meta expand the submarine cable network to further their own monetary goals (Kang / Jacob 2024: 7), the UFP would arguably maintain a system fully integrated into society, with the goal of fostering social needs in balance with economic ones.14
Future research may fruitfully turn to the operational parameters for this network, given the large number of species using it.
Cite as: El Lobo, Nylo (2025): Epistemic Infrastructure in the United Federation of Planets. In: Sociology of Star Trek, 2025, 2.
Images
Cover image rendered in Blender by Finlay, with a 3D model created by Mateen Greenway.
Screencaps from TrekCore.
Sources
Anand, Nikhil / Gupta, Akhil / Appel, Hannah (2018): Temporality, politics, and the promise of infrastructure. In: Anand, Nikhil / Gupta, Akhil / Appel, Hannah (eds.): The Promise of Infrastructure. New York, Duke University Press, pp. 1-38.
Waisová, Šárka (2020): How Is Expert Knowledge Diffused in International Politics and What Makes It Actionable? Epistemic Infrastructure: A New Framework for Analysis. In: Politics in Central Europe 16, 2, p. 455-77.
DS9: Call to Arms
SISKO: And I'm not at liberty to discuss it. Let's just say Starfleet's resources will be needed elsewhere.
SISKO: I want you to know while we were keeping the Dominion occupied, a Starfleet-Klingon task force crossed the border into Cardassia and destroyed the Dominion shipyards on Torros Three.
Cambridge Dictionary (2025): Epistemic. Online: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/de/worterbuch/englisch/epistemic
Herzog, Lisa (2023): Citizen Knowledge: Markets, Experts, and the Infrastructure of Democracy. New York, Oxford University Press.
STVIII: First Contact
LILY: How many planets are in this Federation?
PICARD: Over one hundred and fifty ...spread across eight thousand light years.
Kneer, Georg (2009): Akteur-Netzwerk-Theorie. In: Kneer, Georg / Schroer, Markus: Handbuch Soziologische Theorien. Wiesbaden, Springer, p. 19-40.
Pashler, Harold / McDaniel, Mark / Rohrer, Doug / Bjork, Robert (2009): Learning Styles. Concepts and Evidence. In: Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 9, 3, p. 105-119.
Bennet, Alexander (2019): Submarine Cables and Infrastructure Vulnerabilities: Threats from Private and State Actors. Seton Hall University, Student Works, 1005.
Starosielski, Nicole (2015): The Undersea Network. Durham / London: Duke University Press.
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Ilcev, Dimov Stojce (2024): Development Tendency of Contemporary Telecommunication Systems and Networks in Africa. In: Journal of Engineering and Technology Management, 74, p. 281-292.
Munn, Luke (2022): Thinking through Silicon: Cables and Servers as Epistemic Infrastructures. In: New Media & Society, 24, 6, p. 1399-1416.
Kang, Jocelinn / Jacob, Jessie (2024): Connecting the Indo-Pacific: the future of subsea cables and opportunities for Australia. Barton, Australian Strategic Policy Institute.