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The stories were written too much from week to week (or decade to decade) to be consistent.
If you want a better worked out space utopia, try the Culture novels by Iain M. Banks. The Culture is run by the computers who are artificial planets, space stations, spaceships etc. Humans (and robots) are effectively pets - cared for, free to do what they want if it doesn't hurt other people, but there's not democracy or voting or anything. If you don't like what your ship decides, you ask for a transfer to one you like. The ships etc., known as Minds, see the humans (any sentient beings, actually) as counting chips - a proper Mind keeps its inhabitants happy, and gains prestige amongst other ships for this. The Minds also construct new Minds - which they'll do to have the same outlook, so they agree this benevolent control is a Good Thing.
If humans or robots want adventure, they join 'Contact' - a cross between the CIA and the Peace Corps, dealing with other civilisations (who haven't worked out that it's best to let computers run the whole thing).
The whole system is run by access to huge amounts of energy, which means no-one need go without any reasonable desire. Most people just order their lives in terms of friendships, lovers, and peer approval. Meanwhile, the Minds play politics a bit, spend time in n-dimensional Fun Space, and dabble in the other civilisations, either interfering or observing. There's faster than light travel, of course, to give a large canvas of planets etc., and allow for the endless number of ships etc. to give people a realistic choice of how they live.
The novels are far better written than most science fiction (he writes 'normal' fiction too, a couple of which have been filmed for BBC TV), and have a good sense of humour.
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