this post was submitted on 02 Sep 2024
0 points (NaN% liked)

Daystrom Institute

3454 readers
5 users here now

Welcome to Daystrom Institute!

Serious, in-depth discussion about Star Trek from both in-universe and real world perspectives.

Read more about how to comment at Daystrom.

Rules

1. Explain your reasoning

All threads and comments submitted to the Daystrom Institute must contain an explanation of the reasoning put forth.

2. No whinging, jokes, memes, and other shallow content.

This entire community has a “serious tag” on it. Shitposts are encouraged in Risa.

3. Be diplomatic.

Participate in a courteous, objective, and open-minded fashion. Be nice to other posters and the people who make Star Trek. Disagree respectfully and don’t gatekeep.

4. Assume good faith.

Assume good faith. Give other posters the benefit of the doubt, but report them if you genuinely believe they are trolling. Don’t whine about “politics.”

5. Tag spoilers.

Historically Daystrom has not had a spoiler policy, so you may encounter untagged spoilers here. Ultimately, avoiding online discussion until you are caught up is the only certain way to avoid spoilers.

6. Stay on-topic.

Threads must discuss Star Trek. Comments must discuss the topic raised in the original post.

Episode Guides

The /r/DaystromInstitute wiki held a number of popular Star Trek watch guides. We have rehosted them here:

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

I can’t think of a single VOY episode with mind-melds that didn’t have a character treating it as a super taboo or dangerous telepathic ability.

top 13 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 months ago
  • The mind is usually considered a private area. Most people want their thoughts to themselves under most circumstances.
  • Also, this stuff actually predates VOY; In TNG’s “Sarek”, Sarek is hesitant to mind-meld with Picard to temporarily treat his Bendii syndrome.
  • On a random note, my history teacher had this as a poster on her wall:

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Mind melds are like unprotected sex. Fine to be done with a trusted partner, not something you want to do a lot with randos

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Enterprise has a mind meld rape causing a disease for T’Pol so VOY isn’t the only series with bad mind meld juju.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 months ago

that’s kinda different though… enterprise happened before the kir’shara discovery which changed vulcan society from “telepathy taboo” to “telepathy okay”. in their taboo society, there were references to the fact that pa’nar syndrome was incurable only because anyone with it were outcasts and thus undeserving of help

after the discovery of the kir’shara, vulcan society changed and their attitudes to mind melds in particular changed significantly

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Because it IS dangerous. Trek lore has established that mind melds carry the risk of neurological damage, emotional overload, and Panar Syndrome in the melder.

And even if all of those risks are mitigated, mind-melds are incredibly personal and Vulcans don't engage in them flippantly.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Mind melds are overused and treated too lightly and simply by modern trek. I actually like Voyager’s take on it.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 months ago

Interesting take. Do you have an example?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 months ago (1 children)

i haven't watched modern trek because blehhhh, but i presume it's just used as a deus ex machina? "ah crap we don't have a sensible solution to this situation, let's just have them mind meld to get the information", shit like that?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 months ago

I do t really remember the details. I just remember rolling my eyes and thinking “Not this shit again.”

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Because Tuvok, and the rest of the crew, esp Janeway, lacked anything resembling ethics or scruples.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I don't get your point... are you suggesting NOT mind-melding is unethical?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

No. I was being snide and should have been more clear:

Janeway, I believe, was an especially unscrupulous captain who too often crossed the line to get what she wanted. This often included getting Tuvok, one way or another, to perform mind-melds under morally dubious circumstances. Sometimes Tuvok would undertake such endeavors on his own, without any prompting from Janeway, even without her knowledge at times.

I liked Voyager, but that crew was shady as shit.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 months ago

thats some lord of the flies shit