The first leg of the Great Trek Rewatch is complete. I’ve finished watching all of Star Trek (or Star Trek: The Original Series, a.k.a. ST: TOS as the kids today are calling it.)
Here’s a few things I’ve learned.
Intellectual honesty
In their travels, The Enterprise comes across many strange phenomena and lifeforms. Mr. Spock uses the ship’s sensors, or his trusty tricorder if he is on a planet, to scan the Object of the Week. If the OotW is a lifeform, is response is inevitably “It is life, but not as we know it, Captain.” If it is an effect brought on by alien technology, or even the alien technology itself, his response is inevitably “__ is unknown to our science.” When Captain Kirk asks him for an analysis of whatever is affecting the ship, Spock will often answer “I do not have sufficient data to make an analysis at this time.”
Spock is at least intellectually honest about his own ignorance. Vulcans are said to never lie, in addition to always being logical, so being able to admit he doesn’t know something is a matter of course. A human might not take such a course. In order to not look stupid or foolish, a human might start off with conjecture or speculation as to what the lifeform is, or how the technology works. They might offer a “best guess” as to their analysis of the situation. Spock, by admitting to his own ignorance, lends a sense of credibility to his answer when he does have one. He has studied the problem, made measurements, gathered data, and taken all the steps necessary to build a good argument for his case, and is ready to back it up. When he does present his findings to the Captain, you can be sure that it is the best possible answer to the problem.
Can the same be said of most of the arguments presented by the media (traditional or social)? Are they the best answer to the topic being discussed? Or are they divisive, misleading, and / or deceptive while masquerading as the truth?
Personal identity
There are many times when Dr. McCoy is asked to do something outside his field of expertise. His response to such requests is usually “I’m a doctor, not a __!” He also often refers to himself as “just a good old-fashioned country doctor”.
McCoy is secure in his identity. He knows who and what he is, he knows what he is good at, and he’s happy with it. These days, it is hard to know who we are. We’ve got so many things pulling us in different directions, sending out mixed signals, and demanding our attention. One minute we might think “I’m an artist” and another “I’m an engineer”. We’re trying to “have it all”. I’ve even seen arguments that people shouldn’t limit themselves to just one thing, because if you want to do All The Things you’re just “multi-passionate”. Yes, there are polymaths in the world who can do multiple tings on a deep level, but that’s not the case with most of the populace.
I understand the drive to follow many passions. There are many different thigs I want to do and projects I want to pursue. I often find though that by trying to focus on all of them, I often don’t get anything done. If I slow down, and focus on just one thing, I can usually follow it to completion.
Maybe we all need to be a little more like McCoy and stick to One Thing. Yes, that eliminates doing “All The Things”, but McCoy makes a significant difference doing his One Thing. If we could all find our One Thing, maybe the world would be a better place.
Friendly rivalry and forming relationships
Spock and McCoy have a friendly rivalry going on during the series. McCoy embodies the passionate, emotion-filled, human side of things. Spock embodies the rigid, emotionless, logical (I’d say more rational than strictly logical but that is an argument for another time) side of things.
The two often snipe at each other, making snide comments to each other during their missions, or more often at the end of the mission when they are all on the bridge, sharing insights on what they learned from encountering the strange new worlds and lifeforms. Kirk often sided with McCoy in making light fun of Spock.
But there are times when it slips through that have great respect and admiration for each other. I think Spock has more times where he genuinely compliments Doctor McCoy on his medicinal skills. McCoy usually has a backhanded compliment about Spock’s unique Vulcan physiology letting him pull through whatever the crisis at hand might be. The only true compliment I recall McCoy making was saying that Spock was “the best first officer in the fleet.” Which he immediately follows up with “Don’t tell him I said that.”
No matter what the two may say to each other, they each hold the other in high esteem. They would lay their life down for each other. How many relationships like that do we have today? Social media is supposed to brig us together and form more relationships, but how many deep, intimate relationships do we really have with other people on social media? Simply ‘liking’ and giving a thumb’s up to someone’s post of the picture of what they had for dinner last night I don’t feel is a good substitute for connecting with people you like face-to-face.
Just a few things to ponder, my Hordeling.
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