"Family": Robert and Marie's disagreement

[Sim]

Not within family, but the majority of customers in the pharmacy where I work is in the 80+ demographic, and from the new default of doctors writing prescriptions online that can be accessed via insurance card, the use of mobile phones or even payment by card -- if I got 1€ every time one of them says "it used to work well in the past, with paper and cash, so why change it?", I'd be rich by now.

Some even engage in conspiracy theories like it's a big secret plan by the government so enslave us and/or get their hands on our cash.

 

[DonIago]

...well, these days, unfortunately, there are some pretty valid concerns about information you share that should be private being acquired by the government and used for unintended purposes...

 

[Ragitsu]

Reminded me of this scene

Speaking of kitchen appliances? An electric rice cooker has been one of the best investments I have ever experienced; that gadget has paid for itself hundreds of times over and it just keeps on trucking.

 

[Sim]

...well, these days, unfortunately, there are some pretty valid concerns about information you share that should be private being acquired by the government and used for unintended purposes...

Agreed ... though I don't think using online prescriptions or paying by card are the problem.

And even if it was, I don't think that would be the reason why these people reject it. They reject it because "it's not like we've always used to do it."

 

[Mister Spock]

I have to figure there's a few factors at play, which have Robert being unduly curmudgeonly, to a point that it seems unlikely anyone wound pair bond with him

1. He's getting old. Times have passed him by. It's possible to be very different in youth & grow to be someone seemingly unlikeable, while a true caring spouse still knows the person they love is in their, & the outward attitude is mostly affect, but deep down she knows him to still be good. "Let him dream" tells you his true nature. He also could've been much more handsome & confident, long ago, & possessed an imposing character that might've been magnetic, especially to a woman hoping to find a strong man to build a life with

2. Captain Picard has brought a pretty dysfunctional dynamic of unresolved history. There is unrepaired hurt he caused, that is seemingly better by the end of the encounter. We know that Picard was not a healthy minded youth. It took losing his heart to figure that out. Robert was the reliable & sensible one.

3. Robert doesn't even know Jean-Luc anymore, nor does he know the nature of this visit. If he's anything like the brother he'd known, it potentially represents a fairly deleterious impact on the child he's raising, & merits some defensiveness. So he goes hard at Johnny. Johnny kind of deserves it.

I'd also add:

4. Jealousy. Just before their fistfight, Robert lists off his brother's various achievements - class president, academy valedictorian, athletics champion etc - with it clear he resents being in his brother's shadow. Even more so when he returns home a war hero, aboard Starfleet's most coveted command, with the town mayor wanting to throw a parade in his honour.

 

[Yuri Nikolayev]

Damn kids and your horseless carriage machines…