Ooo, thank ye! I am a reader. This one has just jumped to next on my list!
i am you and you are me and we are all together
- Thread starter Meadowmorph
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Ooo, thank ye! I am a reader. This one has just jumped to next on my list!
I agree, but they didn't start out that way. Q was even booted from the Continuum. Character arcs can be so...disruptive, but in this case, it was for the better. In the end, I don't think they shared much. They did, indeed, turn into immortal humans with power over time, space, and matter.
We don't really know if they are individuals, they might be far beyond the concept of individuality. All we know for sure is that they present themselves to us as individuals.
Because Star Trek reflects philosophical attitudes of the time in which it's written, you can see the different approaches as each series progressed. When the Borg were first introduced, it reflected fear of communism. Later, as eastern thought became more accepted in the West, concepts of oneness became less scary in some ST portrayals, but generally still something to be opposed.
The Great Link in DS9 represented a *SLIGHT* softening of attitudes to oneness, in that the Founders wanted to subjugate rather than annihilate or assimilate entire species. Still bad guys, no doubt about that, but the door was left open for the Great Link to become something less scary by Odo's influence.
As a product of Western thought, ST will always push individualism first, but it would be interesting to see a similar sci-fi show produced from a country with different philosophical foundations. China, for example, was putting community and family over the individual loooong before communism. In most of the Middle East, too, there's the same emphasis of community and family over the individual.
It has some strengths and weaknesses, like any philosophy, but the tension between individualism vs. collectivism will always be there. Trek will always reflect our fear of it or our aspirations towards it, because we all desire unity in our communities, nations, around the world, etc., but some concepts of oneness are better than others. "Resistance is futile" is not the way to go about it.
The Great Link in DS9 represented a *SLIGHT* softening of attitudes to oneness, in that the Founders wanted to subjugate rather than annihilate or assimilate entire species. Still bad guys, no doubt about that, but the door was left open for the Great Link to become something less scary by Odo's influence.
As a product of Western thought, ST will always push individualism first, but it would be interesting to see a similar sci-fi show produced from a country with different philosophical foundations. China, for example, was putting community and family over the individual loooong before communism. In most of the Middle East, too, there's the same emphasis of community and family over the individual.
It has some strengths and weaknesses, like any philosophy, but the tension between individualism vs. collectivism will always be there. Trek will always reflect our fear of it or our aspirations towards it, because we all desire unity in our communities, nations, around the world, etc., but some concepts of oneness are better than others. "Resistance is futile" is not the way to go about it.
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