What happened to espers?

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Extrasensory_perception

Post-WNMHGB, were Human espers prohibited from Starfleet service for being prone to mental instability if empowered?

 

[Nerys Myk]

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Extrasensory_perception

Post-WNMHGB, were Human espers prohibited from Starfleet service for being prone to mental instability if empowered?

Probably not. What happened to Gary was due to the Galactic barrier. We see a human esper serving as a diplomat in "Is There No Truth In Beauty?"

 

[Takeru]

It's most likely just one of those early ideas that didn't survive beyond TOS, they now use aliens if they want characters to have powers.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

ESP was kind of trendy in the 60s. Perry Mason did an episode in 1961, "The Case of the Meddling Medium", in which it was a main plot point.

Modern Trek, perhaps, would rather make up an alien race whose mental capabilities they can invent entirely than say things about Humans that may not be/aren't true. (Although TNG had Wesley zoom off with the Traveler, while LD does allow them to ascend - though these are not mere Human abilities but enabled by aliens. Trek lit even has espers' powers be due to alien assistance.)

 

[C.E. Evans]

Of course the case could be made that Deanna Troi came from an entire planet of espers, and Starfleet had no problems with that.

It may be an issue when esper ability crosses from telepathic to telekinetic.

 

[publiusr]

Really, they might be the best envoys to Talos.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

It may be an issue when esper ability crosses from telepathic to telekinetic.

That makes sense. A madman who can't create things with their mind and use super powers is more manageable.

(Off topic, I remember the I Love Lucy episode "The Séance" where Ethel is pretending to be a medium to hold a fake séance for an eccentric man who wants to contact his dead dog (though they think it's his wife and act accordingly) Lucy introduces her, saying, "This is Madam Ethel Mertzola. She'll be our medium tonight. She's psychopathic." )

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

Esper Powers are more manage-able by writers if you aren't like American Comic Writers who tend to give everybody a buffet of Super Powers.

Many Japanese Anime/Manga authors tend to intentionally limit characters to have only 1x power and develop them very deeply instead of the "Superman" route where you get the nearly "All You Can Eat" form of powers.

You look at the Superman character and he gets WAY too many powers
Super Strength
Durability from damage
Super Speed
Flight
X-Ray Vision
Heat Vision
Microscopic Vision
Telescopic Vision
Cold Breath
etc.

Then you get a franchise like A Certain Scientific Railgun and main character who are ESPers get ONLY 1x power, and that's it.
e.g.
- Electro-Kinesis (Manipulation over Electricity)
- Teleportation
- ESP/Supernatural Power Cancellation
- Telepathy
- Hydro-Kinesis
- etc.

Then the writer is forced to find creative ways for every character to Min/Max use their powers when it makes sense for them to use it.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

It's easier to have character of the week have powers needed for the mission of the week than to have a character always around who could do something and have to explain why they can't today, or leave us wondering why they don't or why nobody called them. Also, to not have to keep figuring out how a certain character with certain abilities might be affected by every little thing.

 

[Unimatrix Q]

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Extrasensory_perception

Post-WNMHGB, were Human espers prohibited from Starfleet service for being prone to mental instability if empowered?

Could imagine that to be the case. Might have also been the case for Betazoids. Would explain why despite them already being known to (or even being members of) the Federation in the 23rd century, apparently no Betazoid ever served in Starfleet before the 24th century.

 

[Citiprime]

If I remember right, there's is a TNG-era story within canon that touches on this tangentially.

For DS9's "The Muse," they reference the same energy that caused Gary Mitchell to ESPer out. Whatever lady alien of the week was doing to Jake in order to stimulate his novel was a small-scale version of what the galactic barrier did to Mitchell to produce all of his mental abilities.

 

[Nyotarules]

Could imagine that to be the case. Might have also been the case for Betazoids. Would explain why despite them already being known to (or even being members of) the Federation in the 23rd century, apparently no Betazoid ever served in Star Trek before the 24th century.

When was that stated?

 

[BillJ]

Maybe they all hopped in a boat and sailed for the Galactic Barrier, hoping to get some of Mitchell's sweet super powers?

 

[Unimatrix Q]

When was that stated?

Honestly could be that i'm wrong about it and there are unseen betazoid members in Starfleet, but iirc we saw none from the 23rd century so far.

Thinking about and considering Starfleet's generally more conservative attitude at that time, I guess members of species with powerful psionic abilities were prohibited from entering Starfleet back then. That Vulcans could join probably resulted from needing to touch others for their telepathy to work and/or their species belonging to the founders of the Federation beside Earth, Andoria and the Tellarites.

It also fits together with the Augment ban, that caused trouble for Una's career in Starfleet, which unlike this issue was apparently never completely lifted.

 

[Kor]

Interesting how ESP in humans was still considered a valid area of inquiry for government/scientific research in the mid-20th century. So this was definitely reflected in the speculative fiction of the time, such as Star Trek.

In-universe, perhaps it's something that starts to manifest in humans over the next couple centuries not unlike mutations in the X-Men universe, but then mysteriously goes away and we never hear about it again.

Kor

 

[BillJ]

In-universe, perhaps it's something that starts to manifest in humans over the next couple centuries not unlike mutations in the X-Men universe, but then mysteriously goes away and we never hear about it again.

Or, they still exist, but keep their powers on the down low because of how weird the Federation is about people who are different.

 

[Nyotarules]

Or, they still exist, but keep their powers on the down low because of how weird the Federation is about people who are different.

But then I doubt Betazed would have joined the UFP. Who wants to be part of a club that gives your race the side eye?

 

[BillJ]

Who wants to be part of a club that gives your race the side eye?

I think it would largely depend on the Betazoids ability to protect themselves. They may get the side-eye, but are in a far better position than trying to navigate the Klingons, Romulans, Borg, Cardassians and Dominion on their own. Sometimes we take the least bad option, because they are the only real options available to us.

Who knows? They might not like Espers either, feeling like they horn in on their telepathic turf.

 

[evilchumlee]

I figured that it was kind of a temporary phenomena.

I've headcanoned it being linked to augments... humans weren't naturally developing ESP powers, there were illegal genetic modifications happening. It might not have been to the person directly, the augments may transfer over a generation or two. By the mid/late-23rd century, they figured it out and cracked down on the espers. Now they just fell under the general prohibition on genetic engineering.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Somebody was experimenting with the public at large without their consent - a government top secret project, perhaps?