Is Troi ethical?

[BillJ]

If I overhead someone talking to another about plans to commit a crime, is it ethical to keep my mouth shut or do I inform law enforcement?

It is clear, like a lot of things in Star Trek, that the writers didn't give a lot of thought to the elements of the long-term universe they were creating. I do think the 90's Marvel Starfleet Academy did a telepathic war storyline, but I'm not sure what it entailed.

 

[Nyotarules]

It is clear, like a lot of things in Star Trek, that the writers didn't give a lot of thought to the elements of the long-term universe they were creating. I do think the 90's Marvel Starfleet Academy did a telepathic war storyline, but I'm not sure what it entailed.

Would love to see an episode of First Contact between the UFP and Betazed, Maybe on SNW.
I can see Pike freaking out on introduction.

 

[BillJ]

I can see Pike freaking out on introduction.

Why would he? He had already dealt with telepaths in "The Cage".

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Or other Betazoids. See: "Night Terrors"

Oh yeah, I forgot that ep. Intentionally.

srsly, I would have thought it obvious that Troi is ethical. There's nothing UNethical about sensing emotions. People do that IRL, just by reading your body language, facial expression, tone of your voice, etc. Troi's just taking it up a notch. Nothing unethical about that.

 

[BillJ]

Oh yeah, I forgot that ep. Intentionally.

srsly, I would have thought it obvious that Troi is ethical. There's nothing UNethical about sensing emotions. People do that IRL, just by reading your body language, facial expression, etc. Troi's just taking it up a notch. Nothing unethical about that.

I think it comes down to how you see "thoughts". Is it something you're broadcasting out that just isn't able to be received by most, or is it something where a telepath has to reach inside your mind and take the information.

And that is for minds far greater than mine...

 

[Kor]

I got the sense (heh) that Betazoids sense emotions that are "emanated" by other beings, the way we couldn't help but notice that somebody is emanating bad body odor, at least if our olfactory sense is intact. Like when Troi was detecting feelings from Data in the masterpiece "Descent, Part 2," she wasn't trying to pry into his detailed private thoughts. He was giving off a certain "aura" or something, even as a machine. So noting that "Data is angry" or "So-and-so is lying" isn't intrusive, but reaching deeper into someone's conscious thoughts for a precise piece of information such as "General _______'s mind contains the location of the hidden rebel base and it is located at coordinates X, Y, Z, and they are at their most vulnerable when they all meet for tea in the hangar bay at 10:30" would be.

Kor

 

[fireproof78]

Oh yeah, I forgot that ep. Intentionally.

srsly, I would have thought it obvious that Troi is ethical. There's nothing UNethical about sensing emotions. People do that IRL, just by reading your body language, facial expression, tone of your voice, etc. Troi's just taking it up a notch. Nothing unethical about that.

It's not just sensing thoughts but also how she shares this information with others, as noted in one of the earlier posts. She finds out someone is attracted to another person and goes and shares this information. It goes in to the layers of privacy that are not often present or acknowledged in the Trek world.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

I guess it gives off more of a high school girl going to her friend and telling her, "Bobby likes you. I heard him talking to John about it," than a counselor, with "respect people's privacy" being drummed into her head while in training.

 

[Farscape One]

The problem with being on a moral high horse is it's very easy to fall down farther on your ass than everyone else when you think your high horse is better than everyone else's.

 

[Mojochi]

It's not just sensing thoughts but also how she shares this information with others, as noted in one of the earlier posts. She finds out someone is attracted to another person and goes and shares this information.

Or even worse, as I went into on the last page, her professional rank & obligation to the ship's command structure, as in her offhand & imho poorly considered undermining of confidence in Jellico, by intimating to Riker that he was unsure of himself in his command. That's just bloody outright dangerous to everyone, unless she's going to qualify it in detail, which I doubt she could do, given her limited telepathic skill. All I can assume she sensed in Jellico is a sense that maybe he understands his strategy isn't foolproof, & frankly, what strategies at averting a war are? The better thing for her to have maybe said to Riker's commenting "Well, I'll say this for him, he's sure of himself" is perhaps something a little more measured, like "Well, understandably not so much as he lets on"

One thing I've always wondered however... Troi can use full telepathy only in certain cases with others, like other full telepath Betazoids... So does that mean maybe other Betazoids might see Deanna as somewhat, handicapped, for lack of a better description?

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

I wonder what, if any, aids "disabled" hybrid/otherwise at a disadvantage Betazoids might have to augment their incomplete telepathy.

 

[Guy Gardener]

I wonder what, if any, aids "disabled" hybrid/otherwise at a disadvantage Betazoids might have to augment their incomplete telepathy.

Telepathically stunted Betazoid Lon Suder on Voyager, used serial killing to feel better about being an oppressed and persecuted gimp.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Or even worse, as I went into on the last page, her professional rank & obligation to the ship's command structure, as in her offhand & imho poorly considered undermining of confidence in Jellico, by intimating to Riker that he was unsure of himself in his command. That's just bloody outright dangerous to everyone, unless she's going to qualify it in detail, which I doubt she could do, given her limited telepathic skill. All I can assume she sensed in Jellico is a sense that maybe he understands his strategy isn't foolproof, & frankly, what strategies at averting a war are? The better thing for her to have maybe said to Riker's commenting "Well, I'll say this for him, he's sure of himself" is perhaps something a little more measured, like "Well, understandably not so much as he lets on"

One thing I've always wondered however... Troi can use full telepathy only in certain cases with others, like other full telepath Betazoids... So does that mean maybe other Betazoids might see Deanna as somewhat, handicapped, for lack of a better description?

She can't pry.

No need to pry, because it's a world where you can't hide information, so you don't hide information, so no one has the tools to exploit her limitations.

 

[Mojochi]

I wonder what, if any, aids "disabled" hybrid/otherwise at a disadvantage Betazoids might have to augment their incomplete telepathy.

Apart from piggybacking off other telepaths, or getting propped up by them, like Sarek's aid does for him, once he's become ill? Not much that we've seen. It really does seem like it's all about mental prowess, or sharing that transcendental property. Which always made me wonder why we never talk about the Q being telepathic. I mean they are omnipotent/all-powerful, & telepathy is well... an innate power. So they must possess it. Actually, it does appear as though Amanda Rogers practiced active mind control on Riker, to make him artificially love her. I often wonder who the most powerful telepaths in Trek are. I lean toward Vulcans. Betazoids just seem like casual telepaths comparatively, except maybe Tam Elbrun

But back on your point, that creep in Man of the People seemed to find a device that could literally syphon off someone with telepathy. So I imagine there's stuff out there capable of heightening or performing mind related stuff, but telepathy is an essentially paranormal ability. So, any such device wouldn't come from tech per say, as much as supernatural evolution, or transference of it.

It does raise a very interesting question about Deanna's youth, & how they came to realize she's less telepathic abled, & if they spent time attempting to better her at it, and it never took, which had to leave some emotional baggage, or self-esteem issues, unless Betazoids are somehow idyllically progressive enough that it never came to that. It does provide more context to Lwaxana's overly pushy hold on Deanna, if it's been a "special needs" child kind of situation

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Because Deanna was half-human, she could never be a full telepath, which she finally accepted at the age of 12 in 2348, which caused her to experience feelings of isolation and inadequacy when compared to other Betazoids. (TNG novel: Guises of the Mind) She has "limited telepathic power" in that she could read emotions "and thought patterns of other sentient lifeforms" but with no reading of actual thoughts. (TNG video game: The Transinium Challenge)

 

[Mojochi]

Ahhh the novels. I honestly never partake. Interesting though

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

I haven't read that one, but I figured there would be some reference to her powers or lack of same in the tie-ins.

 

[Unimatrix Q]

The real question imo is how does Deanna deal with the fact of a lot of people on the Enterprise having the hots for her and probably constantly feeling their emotions and urges

 

[Mojochi]

The real question imo is how does Deanna deal with the fact of a lot of people on the Enterprise having the hots for her and probably constantly feeling their emotions and urges

I honestly don't think she can tell that unless they are right there directing those thoughts at her. I'm sure she knows there's horniness being felt elsewhere on the ship, but doubt she'd know it was toward her specifically without knowing their specific thoughts

 

[Unimatrix Q]

I honestly don't think she can tell that unless they are right there directing those thoughts at her. I'm sure she knows there's horniness being felt elsewhere on the ship, but doubt she'd know it was toward her specifically without knowing their specific thoughts

Considering how easily she can often feel what cosmozoans and crews on other ships feel that the Enterprise encounters, I'm not sure about if she doesn't register it.

For an example, remember how much she was influenced by the emotions of the Space Jellyfishes in "Encounter at Farpoint" for an early example.