So Why Did They...

[Search4]

Lift the Synth ban? This was explicitly stated near the end.

It was seemingly 1-2 days during the events of the last episode and the ban was lifted. Really?

That the Romulans took over the Synths is a fact. The Synths killed 90,000 plus damaged the whole planet Mars. They're clearly susceptible to being misused or misled (Romulan use, and the "evil" one which killed another Synth which Soong then deactivated.) They have a super-powerful-ally which can be brought up at any time to destroy organic life.

If the Synth ban were from the Federation Council, which seems reasonable, why would you reverse it in this timeframe without first making sure your Synths were not going to be hacked again, and having at least some debate? Its one thing to let Soji and friends live in peace, another to relax the ban.

We didn't even see a Picard speech on this because frankly its absurd.

 

[Timo]

Might be the ban was more like the military stomping on a dangerous practice, with a State of Emergency of open duration declared to allow them to do that (the Federation might have those every second week, really, with the genie out of the bottle since "Homefront"), but with Starfleet in practical charge of the doing.

And I could see an immediate counterreaction if Commodore Oh were the one in charge of maintaining the ban... "We never saw the point, really, but Intel didn't listen to our words of wisdom - and it now turns out it was an evil enemy plot all along!"

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Blue Squadron]

Because the script requires it — and the rest of the series would be f**king short if Picard himself was now a banned synth!

Not a lot of audience revenue for CBS All Access in respect of the non-adventures of a deactivated synthetic nonagenarian on a quarantined planet...!

 

[Yminale]

The synth ban kind of looks bad when you open diplomatic relations with a planet full of androids.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

The ban was handwaved away. We might assume that there would be some temporary reprieve on its enforcement, but normally I would expect more conversation, more negotiation to have followed. Perhaps we could assume that Riker used some rhetorical magic between Nepenthe and the finale to create some sort of policy toward the synths that was at least temporary.

Part of my own frustration with the episode comes from the fact that it was ultimately put on the repressed people to stand down in order for them to be accepted. Why was it that the synths had to prove that they were "good" before the universe would allow them to exist? Were they not facing an existential threat?

 

[Lt.Smokey]

To wrap up a loose end in the story so that season 2 isn't about trying to get the ban lifted, which sounds dreadful.

 

[AlanC9]

The synth ban was a stupid overreaction based on false premises. At least some utopian aspects of Trek are still in play in Picard; the Federation as an institution is still capable of evidence-based reasoning and can switch policies abruptly when doing so is sensible. Be nice to have that now.

 

[Yminale]

The Ban makes no sense NOW anyway. We have a planet of SENTIENT androids requesting Federation aid twice. It would be a violation of Federation principles and make the Federation look like hypocrites to let them be destroyed. A simple legal challenge would probably stop the ban.

 

[Timo]

We know a formal call for help is a requirement for the Feds helping. We never learn the Feds would be obligated to help just because somebody asks, though. Might be the Advanced Synths request for help would be turned down exactly because those folks are the declared blood enemies of the UFP, and aiding them is a crime.

Except now it suddenly isn't. Which makes all sorts of sense, and only annoys because the logistics of getting the ban lifted seem way too smooth here.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[F. King Daniel]

I don't see how the synth ban could be lifted without making the truth about what happened to Mars public. And if you do that everyone knows Romulans were behind reprogramming the A500's and it creates a shit-ton more antipathy for the already maligned Romulan survivors.

A lot about that final episode came out of the blue.

 

[Shenanigans]

The ban was handwaved away. We might assume that there would be some temporary reprieve on its enforcement, but normally I would expect more conversation, more negotiation to have followed. Perhaps we could assume that Riker used some rhetorical magic between Nepenthe and the finale to create some sort of policy toward the synths that was at least temporary.

Part of my own frustration with the episode comes from the fact that it was ultimately put on the repressed people to stand down in order for them to be accepted. Why was it that the synths had to prove that they were "good" before the universe would allow them to exist? Were they not facing an existential threat?

I agree. I found Picard's "don't prove to them that you're monster that they think you are" argument to be so...childish at best. He was basically gaslighting them. At that point, he was probably only acting in his and his people's best interest, which is fine if he(the writers) owned up to it, at least to himself, but I'm sure that won't happen.

 

[Charles Phipps]

Well they know the Romulans reprogrammed the Synths to go crazy rather than the Synths going crazy on their own. I mean, it's not really a lesson that teaches the Federation some great big lesson, though. I mean, "Investigate thoroughly what seems like a pretty obvious terrorist attack in the first place" is an alternate character interpretation after all.

The Ban makes no sense NOW anyway. We have a planet of SENTIENT androids requesting Federation aid twice. It would be a violation of Federation principles and make the Federation look like hypocrites to let them be destroyed. A simple legal challenge would probably stop the ban.

I feel like the Ban was overstated anyway. The Synths all died on Mars anyway.

 

[Bollie74]

Because the script requires it — and the rest of the series would be f**king short if Picard himself was now a banned synth!

Not a lot of audience revenue for CBS All Access in respect of the non-adventures of a deactivated synthetic nonagenarian on a quarantined planet...!

I don't know, Picard fighting for synth freedom and fighting that adversity might have been interesting...

 

[fireproof78]

The synth ban was a stupid overreaction based on false premises.

That is the Federation way.

 

[Guy Gardener]

America going into Afghanistan and Iraq, because of 911. You've known since almost the beginning of the invasion and occupation that Afghanistan and Iraq had nothing to do with 911, but you're still there.

What about the Bynars?

 

[Phily B]

The reason the ban came in was because the mistaken belief was that the synths decided to rebel or malfunctioned independently. But they were ultimately hacked by the Romulans, it was a Romulan terror attack and with the discovery of the Synth planet, they're not a bondafide species that you can't just outlaw. What happens as far as the Federation building their own synths again, we will see I guess, but I don't think that will happen without Maddox around.

 

[Guy Gardener]

The reason the ban came in was because the mistaken belief was that the synths decided to rebel or malfunctioned independently. But they were ultimately hacked by the Romulans, it was a Romulan terror attack and with the discovery of the Synth planet, they're not a bondafide species that you can't just outlaw. What happens as far as the Federation building their own synths again, we will see I guess, but I don't think that will happen without Maddox around.

Unless things happened, in the expanse between Voyager ending and Picard episode one, are they a bona fide species?

All the Doctor and Data barely proved in courts of law was that they might not be property.

 

[Turtletrekker]

It was probably dropped because the Federation opened diplomatic relations with coppelius.

 

[Guy Gardener]

It was probably dropped because the Federation opened diplomatic relations with coppelius.

40 teenagers, a Butterfly and a Soong.

What do they really have to offer the Federation?

Other than all out war with the Romulans.

 

[Turtletrekker]

40 teenagers, a Butterfly and a Soong.

What do they really have to offer the Federation?

Other than all out war with the Romulans.

Technological advancements. That little handheld, mind-reading replicator was nifty.