Are The Q Telepathic?

[Mojochi]

They call themselves omnipotent/all powerful. Telepathy is a power, & in their universe we know of many lesser powered beings that have that power. So do the Q? If so, given how much they seem to love flaunting their powers, why don't we see them flaunt that one pretty much ever? Am I forgetting some key moments or something? Seems like Q would love being able to shut people up by airing out someone's thoughts

 

[Oddish]

They're not omnipotent or purely immortal. They're just very close.

 

[Kor]

Welll, they aren't described as omniscient. If they were, then they would know what's in your thoughts, because they would know everything.

And then there's what Quinn candidly said: "But you mustn't think of us as omnipotent, no matter what the Continuum would like you to believe. You and your ship seem incredibly powerful to lifeforms without your technical expertise. It's no different with us. We may appear omnipotent to you, but believe me, we're not."

Kor

 

[NCC-73515]

Q was surprised by some of Picard's answers, didn't expect Sisko to hit him, and tried to seduce Janeway despite her having no interest at all

 

[Vale]

Since they can adopt the physical characteristics of any race they choose there's no reason why they couldn't be if they wanted to be; they just normally don't, and don't need to be. A lot of "Tapestry" makes more sense if we assume it's only happening inside Picard's mind.

 

[dupersuper]

He did say he pulled the uniforms he used in Hide and Q from Picard's mind.

 

[Mojochi]

Since they can adopt the physical characteristics of any race they choose there's no reason why they couldn't be if they wanted to be; they just normally don't, and don't need to be. A lot of "Tapestry" makes more sense if we assume it's only happening inside Picard's mind.

That's kind of the thing I was thinking. Some of these scenarios he creates like Q-Pid seemingly don't really exist anywhere maybe, & once you're involving beings in such an elaborate construction, you might be kind of existing outside reality itself, & in order to exact that level of effect on a being, you have to have some level of mind control going on

In fact, now that I think about it, Amanda Rogers actually subjects Riker to mind control, making him be in love with her

 

[CorporalCaptain]

A lot of "Tapestry" makes more sense if we assume it's only happening inside Picard's mind.

Yes, exactly. Or maybe Q reaches into Picard, temporarily extracts his mind, and takes it on adventures for the episode in various pocket universes.

The Q are obviously telepathic.

 

[Mojochi]

Welll, they aren't described as omniscient. If they were, then they would know what's in your thoughts, because they would know everything.

To be fair, being merely telepathic wouldn't make someone necessarily omniscient anyhow. So it's possible for them to be the former & not the latter.

Q was surprised by some of Picard's answers, didn't expect Sisko to hit him, and tried to seduce Janeway despite her having no interest at all

Interesting points... which now I'm thinking he could have been behaving so just because it suited his fancy, & maybe he kind of did know those things, & just found it more fun to act like he didn't? lol

It's kind of interesting to me to now look back on him/them & consider that he/they knew what everyone was thinking all along, despite appearing to maybe not know

 

[Locutus of Bored]

I would say they are telepathic if and when they choose to be, they just usually choose not to pollute their superior minds with the banal and vapid thoughts of lesser lifeforms.

Q seemed to know intimate details of Picard's personal life and wants and desires to construct the alternate It's a Wonderless Life scenario for John-Luck Pickerd, more so than a simple perusal of the timeline could provide.

Fundamentally though, how often would they really need it? When you can slide up and down to any place in the universe or point on the timescale with a snap of your fingers, most basic facts would be known to you in an instant. You might not know someone's inner thoughts (and for the Q they might not want to) but you can see everything they did and everything they will do as long as this timeline proceeds forward, and if it doesn't you can review every other alternate timeline as well.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

I would say they are telepathic if and when they choose to be, they just usually choose not to pollute their superior minds with the banal and vapid thoughts of lesser lifeforms.

It's like humans being given telepathy and listening in on the minds of insects around us.

Why would you want to, even if you had the power to do so? The information would be boring, useless, and nothing of value would be realistically gained for the vast majority of people.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

The only counter I would offer to that, and I know I'm kind of contradicting my own post here, is that the Q, and not just the one we know best, seem to have a habit of regularly looking in on, guiding, or interfering with our tiny little insect lives, so there must be something they find fascinating about it all.

Maybe not enough to want a direct mind to mind hook-up typically, but they certainly do seem to have taken an interest in us and our lives. At least, certain ones of us.

 

[Oddish]

After rewatching "The Q and the Gray", I have a more relevant question. Or two related ones actually:
1. Where did the puppy come from?
2. Where did he go?

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

After rewatching "The Q and the Gray", I have a more relevant question. Or two related ones actually:
1. Where did the puppy come from?
2. Where did he go?

You probably don't want to know the answer to that since it comes from Q.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

After rewatching "The Q and the Gray", I have a more relevant question. Or two related ones actually:
1. Where did the puppy come from?
2. Where did he go?

Q has super-advanced matter-energy conversion technology incorporated into his very being. He's a replicator, programmable matter, protomatter, Genesis Device, transporter, Iconian Gateway, temporal transporter, Omega particle, subspace pocket, red matter, transwarp, Spore Drive, phase cloak, transphasic shields, soliton wave, etc. all rolled into one.

Just think of every one-off or continuously used piece of ridiculously fantastical technology ever shown on Star Trek and imagine he is from a species that has accumulated and absorbed all of it into their very essence.

He's like Ardra in a sense, appearing magical when they're actually technologically enhanced, just only a thousand million times more ancient and advanced.

 

[Oddish]

That gives us possibilities, but not an answer.

 

[matthunter]

It's like humans being given telepathy and listening in on the minds of insects around us.

Why would you want to, even if you had the power to do so? The information would be boring, useless, and nothing of value would be realistically gained for the vast majority of people.

I think you're overestimating what would be gained reading human minds in that situation.

A dog, at least, might give a fresh perspective on the joys of sniffs and feeling happy because someone said our name.

Humans? Cesspool every time.

 

[Tim Thomason]

Q has super-advanced matter-energy conversion technology incorporated into his very being. He's a replicator, programmable matter, protomatter, Genesis Device, transporter, Iconian Gateway, temporal transporter, Omega particle, subspace pocket, red matter, transwarp, Spore Drive, phase cloak, transphasic shields, soliton wave, etc. all rolled into one.

Just think of every one-off or continuously used piece of ridiculously fantastical technology ever shown on Star Trek and imagine he is from a species that has accumulated and absorbed all of it into their very essence.

He's like Ardra in a sense, appearing magical when they're actually technologically enhanced, just only a thousand million times more ancient and advanced.

Or he just transported it there from somewhere else in space or time (a la Newton, Ginsberg, and Riker). I myself believe it was all illusionary, a la holodeck stuff, and not a real puppy (or Newton, Ginsberg, and Riker) but just a simulation of one created to fool the recipients.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

That gives us possibilities, but not an answer.

Really? You don't know how the tech I mentioned works in-universe? Fine.

- He could have beamed an existing puppy from elsewhere in the galaxy.

- He could have beamed a puppy from another dimension or parallel universe.

- He could have beamed / replicated / materialized a puppy from the molecular materials in the surrounding area or anywhere in the galaxy. 99% of human and other animal mass is made up of just six abundant elements: oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorus. The other .85% necessary for life are potassium, sulfur, sodium, chlorine, and magnesium, also commonly found. The rest are trace elements not necessary for survival. Thomas Riker was materialized in a transporter accident. The transporter didn't split Will Riker in half like Solomon, so it drew the materials from somewhere else. Tuvix was an entirely new lifeform created from two other species. The Genesis Torpedo creates life from lifelessness, or dramatically alters existing life. The replicators create food comprising living creatures like Klingon Gagh out of raw molecular materials. The technology already exists in the Federations hands. Q just literally has it in his hands with a snap of his fingers.

- The puppy could be a solid holographic-like illusion like on the holodeck and Q's demonstrations are all smoke and mirrors.

- He could have pulled a future puppy out of time. He could have pulled a past puppy out of time just before the moment of it's untimely death so he wasn't altering anything because of the Puppy Chasing Butterfly Effect.

- He could have secretly made a deal with one of the Hundred Changeling "Infants" sent out to explore the galaxy like Odo and Laas that he would return them to their people in exchange for pretending to be Captain Janeway's puppy for a while, and then teleported them across the galaxy.

 

[Oddish]

My point. Because Q could have done all those things and more, we didn't have a definitive answer.