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Spock's Intelligence vs. Other Vulcans

Jose Tyler

Lieutenant Commander
Red Shirt
I've been watching a lot of TOS lately, and have been thinking how smart Spock is. He obviously has encyclopedic knowledge of a wide variety of topics and is portrayed as being one of the most brilliant scientists in Starfleet. But compared to other Vulcans, how smart is Spock? From what we have seen, Vulcan youth go through rigorous educational training and most Vulcans (have we ever seen an "intellectually challenged" vulcan?) have highly developed minds. Is Spock considered brilliant among Vulcans, or is he pretty smart for a Vulcan and brilliant as compared to the humans he is around? For example, would the ill-fated Commander Sonak have been just as knowledgeable on all matters had he actually served as Science Officer under Decker? What is your opinion?
 
He is smarter than at least 400 other Vulcans. Remember the episode where 400 Vulcans that were on a Starship died because they could not figure out what was killing them? I forget the name. Spock figured out the problem.
 
I resently re-read the novel Spock Messiah, it put forward that not only was Spock more intelligent than the majority of Humans, His mind exceeded to abilities of the vast majority of Vulcans too. Owing to it's unique structure, steming for his hybrid ancestry.

Anyone who have ever raised dogs knows that mongrels are smarted than purebreds.

.
 
He is smarter than at least 400 other Vulcans. Remember the episode where 400 Vulcans that were on a Starship died because they could not figure out what was killing them? I forget the name. Spock figured out the problem.

The Immunity Syndrome.

Spock figured out the problem because he had more time. The space amoeba had a full belly after devouring the Intrepid & crew so it wasn't as hungry (sort of how most of us are feeling today after eating turkey) - luckily, this gave Spock and the Enterprise crew more time to figure out what was killing them and how to escape it.
 
I think of Spock as being a prodigy of sorts, perhaps a Da Vinci of Vulcan?

Asides from being a computer and science genius, Spock is highly skilled in several other areas including engineering, communications and tactical. He's what you might call a polymath and his knowledge has been a factor in providing solutions to situations that would likely have had a different outcome had he not been present.

These polymath traits were reused from Data in TNG. The only difference is that while Spock abstains from emotion, Data is completely incapable of them. We know from many episodes of TOS that Spock understands emotion just as well as humans do, but he doesn't admit this because it's not the "vulcan way". His understanding of emotion is arguably his biggest advantage in his role as first officer.

Of the other vulcans we have seen, Tuvok, Saavik, Taurik and Vorik don't really have anything on Spock. Fair enough, Saavik was only a cadet or a junior officer in her appearances, whilst Tuvok's knowledge lies in the arts of investigation and self-defense - appropriate for his career. Taurik and Vorik are both junior engineering officers and didn't make much of an outstanding impression in any of their appearances. We could argue that Valeris is a particulary gifted vulcan as she was the first to graduate top of the class at the Academy. Then again, she seems to be on the command path and wouldn't have the scientific or engineering expertise of somebody like Spock.

Sarek is a difficult one, we know he attended the Vulcan Science Academy, beat Spock in music contests, gave Spock his first lessons with computer and is one of the top diplomats in the history of the Federation, but it's very possible that Spock has surpassed Sarek in many shared fields of expertise. For example, whilst Sarek was stuck on Earth at Starfleet HQ during TVH, he was at a loss to suggest anything other than sending a distress call during the probe crisis. Whereas Spock realised that the probe was transmitting whalesong and came up with a solution to the problem in a short space of time.

It's a difficult one, the likes of Surak might have surpassed Spock intellectually - Surak managed to bring order to a warring planet and created a system of self-discipline that eventually became the standard vulcan way of life. Then again, Spock managed to reach out to the Romulans and get many of them interested in a re-unification of their species, something which had previously been considered unlikely. You also have to look at Sybok as well, Spock openly said that he was considered a prodigy and it was expected that he would one day be known as one of the great philosophers of Vulcan. We know that Sybok had some powerful telepathic abilities and despite being openly emotional, he still retained a great deal of control over the more "passionate" vulcan emotions. Then again, by the 24th century it's clearly shown that Spock has finally embraced his human side and found a balance between emotion and logic.
 
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The new movie makes it seem as though he's the cream of the crop, turning down the prestigious Vulcan Science Academy to join Starfleet.
 
I resently re-read the novel Spock Messiah, it put forward that not only was Spock more intelligent than the majority of Humans, His mind exceeded to abilities of the vast majority of Vulcans too. Owing to it's unique structure, steming for his hybrid ancestry.

Anyone who have ever raised dogs knows that mongrels are smarted than purebreds.

.

I'm with you on this one. I think Spock is supposed to be considered brilliant by both Terran and Vulcan standards. Combine rigorous Vulcan intellectual training with the free-form thought patterns of human brains and you get a brain so powerful that sexy Sigma Draconian VI'ers go out of their way to steal it! They could more easily have picked off any other Vulcan who had been drifting by, right?
 
Honestly I think Spock Is just as smart as every other Vulcan and just appears incredibly smart since all the humans around him are very dumb compaired to him
 
He is smarter than at least 400 other Vulcans. Remember the episode where 400 Vulcans that were on a Starship died because they could not figure out what was killing them? I forget the name. Spock figured out the problem.

The Immunity Syndrome.

Spock figured out the problem because he had more time. The space amoeba had a full belly after devouring the Intrepid & crew so it wasn't as hungry (sort of how most of us are feeling today after eating turkey) - luckily, this gave Spock and the Enterprise crew more time to figure out what was killing them and how to escape it.

Why you gettin all technical up in my grill?
 
Did Spock figure out anything in that episode?

He just keeps saying "unknown", "not enough data", "no specifics", "I cannot say". His contribution to the resolution of the adventure is that he is a physically and mentally stable pilot who can operate instrumentation under the influence of the life-draining field. He offers no new ideas or interpretations, save for "this thing may have infiltrated the galaxy like a virus", which doesn't help any. It's Kirk who devises the means to hurt the creature at the coordinates provided by Spock's mechanistic little chore.

Overall, I'm not sure Spock would have demonstrated intelligence in excess of the Vulcan norm, because we didn't see Vulcans much in general. Sarek may or may not have been smart; T'Pring outwitted Spock; T'Pau was respected by all of Vulcan and then some; Stonn may have been disadvantaged by a bout of debilitating horniness.

Curiously, Spock was never credited with scientific publications. Even Scotty outfamed him in that respect, having written some engineering guidelines of note. Spock was good at calculating in his head, but for all we know this was the Vulcan norm, or even the minimum requirement. Spock knew things pertaining to his profession, such as the specs of comets in "Balance of Terror", but generally tended to look up information; being a skilled librarian is a sign of intelligence unto itself, but not necessarily exceptional in any way.

However, we have three parties who'd swear Spock was a real prize. The Eymorgs wanted his brain; Stavos Keniclius wanted his whole body; and T'Pring wanted to get rid of Spock because he was a legend among his own people. While the first two might just have grabbed the closest suitable individual rather than the absolutely best one, the third witness statement would tend to establish a special status for Spock in unambiguous terms.

Of course, Spock may be considered special among Vulcans in the "I'm special!" sense of Ralph Wiggum. Being a legend is no praise in T'Pring's eyes; even Spock's own father loathes his son, or what has become of him.

Timo Saloniemi
 
What about his strength? He was an invincible war machine compared to the "one punch knock-out" Vulcans in Star Trek: Enterprise.

What about his telepathy? We never saw Tuvok or any other Vulcans mentally influence someone at a distance.

Timo said:
even Spock's own father loathes his son, or what has become of him.
No, they had an estrangement after a disagreement over Spock's choice of career. I never got the impression there was any true hatred between them.
 
Romulans are supposed to be identical to Vulcans biologically, but the Romulans in TOS and beyond aren't all that tough either.

I say it's just a "Main character is better than anyone else" thing.
 
He is smarter than at least 400 other Vulcans. Remember the episode where 400 Vulcans that were on a Starship died because they could not figure out what was killing them? I forget the name. Spock figured out the problem.
He was smarter than at least 401 Vulcans. After all, look who ended up with T'Pring. :p

Overall, I'm not sure Spock would have demonstrated intelligence in excess of the Vulcan norm, because we didn't see Vulcans much in general. Sarek may or may not have been smart; T'Pring outwitted Spock; T'Pau was respected by all of Vulcan and then some; Stonn may have been disadvantaged by a bout of debilitating horniness.
...

T'Pring wanted to get rid of Spock because he was a legend among his own people. While the first two might just have grabbed the closest suitable individual rather than the absolutely best one, the third witness statement would tend to establish a special status for Spock in unambiguous terms.

Being a legend is no praise in T'Pring's eyes...
To address these points:

T'Pring may have out-thought Spock on the possible outcomes of his decisions/actions in the marriage ritual, but in the end it was still HIS choice of what to do with her. I look on it as Spock just giving the spoiled brat what she wanted and telling Stonn, "Well, you asked for it..."

As for T'Pring not wanting "to be the consort of a legend", I took that as a sign of jealousy. If she were married to a "legend," she would never be valued or respected in her own right, only as "the consort of Spock." Whereas if she married Stonn - who she amply demonstrated she could outthink - she would at least be valued as her own person, and possibly HE would be the one who would only be valued as "the husband of T'Pring."
 
In TOS, Spock has periodically demonstrated much higher than average intelligence. But, he has also made mistakes and has had difficulty admitting he doesn't know something by clever grammatical tricks. Later on, he demonstrates a refinement of method and perception, making fewer errors in judgement.

From what we've seen of other Vulcans in the Star Trek incarnations, Spock appears to stand above the rest. Granted, we only know a "sampling"... and there could be other Vulcans with just as much mental prowess as Spock. But in any case, he's exceptional. I think being a human/vulcan hybrid may help contribute to that.
 
Spock was in the position of having to do anything twice as good as the average Vulcan in order to be considered even close to equal.

As for "The Immunity Syndrome", Spock's half human makeup enabled him to make the occasional leap in logic that full-blooded Vulcans just aren't able to make. And just to up the smartass quotient, his Vulcan upbringing enabled him to pull a logical reason for his illogical behavior out of his ass as required.
 
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