Did they kill “baby Spock” with the katra in Search?

[Jeyl]

I never actually interpreted baby Spock as a person in the sense that he would develop into an actual thinking being like Spock. Instead he was more along the lines of a mindless drone who's actions are driven purely by instinct and natural urges.

And as this was brought up earlier,

McCOY: Rapid ageing, ...all genetic functions highly accelerated.
KIRK: What about his mind?
McCOY: His mind's a void. It seems, Admiral, that I've got all his marbles.​

And that's what I think it all boils down to. You have a working body but nothing that is capable of forming it's own personality. There was no one there to replace.

 

[Longinus]

His mind was only blank because he had no time to develop it. He had couple of days of life experience, how was your mind at that age?

Also, Saavik treats Genesis Spock like he had a mind, and considering that Saavik is psychic, she should know!

 

[Mojomoe]

The thing that fascinates me is the logical pretzels you have to twist into to accommodate the Katra.

For me, the big one is, if Spock transferred his “living spirit” to McCoy, then Spock died without a soul. I have watched this movie a thousand times and never considered this possibility. If a living spirit is what it is, then the Spock in the dilithium chamber was an empty shell, devoid of that “ineffable quality” that made Spock Spock. The implication is that this spirit was returned to his body later and merged with Spock II’s vague memories of being a mute baby for a few days/weeks(?).

If, on the other hand, it was more akin to a memory backup, then Spock I died, forever. There was no continuation of consciousness, and all brain functions were terminated by radiation damage and hours of not days of brain death and the following necrotic process. It’s most likely that the Genesis wave rebuilt a clone of him on autopilot out of genetic material and a genetic blueprint, which kind of stumbled along until McCoy dumped a copy of Spock I’s memories onto the hard drive, but that still wouldn’t be Spock.

The one thing that neither one explains is his recitation of “the ship, out of danger?” In either case this can ONLY by McCoy’s memories. So whoever Spock II is, he’s got memories of Spock I’s life, then like a 2 minutes window where he sees himself die through McCoy’s eyes, a week of McCoy’s life, then Spock II’s continuity “growing up” on Genesis before being Windows Updated with the Fall Spock Creator’s Pack.

 

[Search4]

Seems to me Genesis Spock had a functioning mind - old Spock could use it after all - but minimal experiences. Had old Spock not taken over IMHO he had every chance to develop into a thinking person with full faculties.