Symbiosis - How impaired was Ornaran society?

[cgervasi]

There's nothing in the episode that specifically says that Fellicium makes you feel good.

Here are the reasons I think it makes them feel good:

1. The Ornaran's can't repair their ships. If it doesn't make them high at least it impairs them.
2. Dr. Crusher said they're "feeling fine, in fact too fine".
3. Dr. Crusher describes it as a narcotic.
4. They look happy when they get their injections.

 

[cgervasi]

While the Ornarans cannot repair their ships, how come the Brekkians can't do it? They may have driven down their other industries in favor of the drug trade, but they haven't dissolved their brains with the substance, either.

I think the Ornarans were industrialized while the Brekkans were agricultural. The Ornarans therefore had more technology and wealth and the upper hand. The felicium and the Ornarans getting addicted to something only on Brekka was a lucky break for the Brekkans. They probably felt Ornara used its upper hand, and now they would use theirs. They were like some farmer in South America or Afghanistan who figures if the industrialized world wants this stuff, they're happy to take their money.

 

[cgervasi]

Picard just says that interfering can make things worse, but how this relates to the episode itself is left unclear at best.

I agree. We never know if our actions will have unintended consequences. But we have to act when we think it's right.

 

[Timo]

...Picard already did this when responding to the original distress call. Why stop there?

Alternately, Picard could have ignored the call. This would be consistent with the philosophy of noninterference. Federation technology would probably still make it possible for Starfleet to explore, survey and assess, unseen by the locals and without interfering with their lives; this sort of work is conducted in "Who Watches the Watchers" already and Picard does not see any PD problems with that.

I think the Ornarans were industrialized while the Brekkans were agricultural. The Ornarans therefore had more technology and wealth and the upper hand.

Indeed. Yet after the encounter, the Brekkians were able to develop the refinement process that makes their business worthwhile - and it clearly relies on what we would classically consider "advanced technology", with its blinking lights and finely milled components. Such technology could not emerge in isolation, and it doesn't seem to be emerging from Ornaran sources, either, as it's a development coming after the Ornarans lost their own tech skills.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Nebusj]

If Crusher were to be allowed to remove the withdrawal symptoms overnight, rather than letting the Ornarans suffer their way out of them over a matter of, what, months, what would be different? The Brekkians would have less time to think up a Plan B, but they would still be getting what was coming to them as Ornara recovered. What difference could any Plan B make there, especially remembering that Brekka had no industries with which to prepare against retaliation? Would the Ornarans be less pissed off if they were cured quickly? More pissed off? More likely to thank Starfleet and join the Federation? Less likely?

Well, it seems to me what Picard and company are hoping for is the Ornarans to recover and to identify Brekka as the agent for centuries of enslavement. If Crusher throws a potions down that wipes out the withdrawal symptoms, the clear link between Brekka's actions and the consequences is broken.

The Brekkans can assert that Crusher was lying, in the hopes of stirring up trouble, in claiming the drugs weren't necessary anymore. Given the long relationship between Ornara and Brekka that would probably be more politically plausible than to suppose that a planet that's been acting as savior for centuries was actually abusing them.

Without Crusher doing anything the inevitable (?) collapse will see Ornara knowing exactly what the truth has been; there's no confounding influences.

 

[Timo]

The Brekkans can assert that Crusher was lying, in the hopes of stirring up trouble, in claiming the drugs weren't necessary anymore.

I don't see how that would work. The population will notice all symptoms gone, and they will stay gone even though there is no felicium available for the upcoming months, if ever. There will be no confusion over whether felicium is necessary or not.

At the very worst, the Ornarans will decide that they still need medicine, but Crusher's is superior for its obviously longer-lasting effects (and lower, that is, zero, price). In this scenario, they might not hate the Brekkians for what they really did, but that's a danger in every scenario: the Brekkians can always say they didn't know their medicine no longer was needed, and further assert that unlike the UFP, they always were unable to manufacture a medicine that would not be addictive. The role of malice could always be denied.

Really, I would argue that the sharper the difference between felicium ingestion and lack thereof, the stronger the reaction from the Ornarans. Overnight hangover cures might well result in a bloodier reprisal, even.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[LMFAOschwarz]

the Brekkians were able to develop the refinement process that makes their business worthwhile - and it clearly relies on what we would classically consider "advanced technology", with its blinking lights and finely milled components. Such technology could not emerge in isolation, and it doesn't seem to be emerging from Ornaran sources, either, as it's a development coming after the Ornarans lost their own tech skills.Timo Saloniemi

Speaking of said device, does anyone know what this prop was constructed from? It's quite interesting. For all I know, it's a piece from an old industrial air conditioning unit or something, but they did a good job, in my opinion, of making whatever it is look like a genuine piece of functioning technology.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Picard had better hope that once the Ornarans recover they don't attack Brekka for daring to exploit them for so long.

True, so many years of drug addiction did result in a marked loss of technical knowledge, but that can always be regained. Once the Ornarans wise up, they may well be rather keen on revenge...

 

[Timo]

Why should Picard be against the Ornarans attacking? He may have spoken for peace on occasion, but that's only when he's authorized and invited to do so. In the spirit of the PD, he would probably be happy to let wars happen as long as they are "natural".

OTOH, Picard might well expect the Brekkians to start sending emergency requests for UFP membership soon, making for another nice personal log entry.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Speaking of said device, does anyone know what this prop was constructed from?

It looks like part of a gas stove.

 

[jimbotron]

Speaking of said device, does anyone know what this prop was constructed from? It's quite interesting. For all I know, it's a piece from an old industrial air conditioning unit or something, but they did a good job, in my opinion, of making whatever it is look like a genuine piece of functioning technology.

That looks like a hard disc drive to me.

 

[Charles Phipps]

I think this is an episode that aged better than others and is now actually more interesting than it was in the Eighties. In the 1980s, everyone was off put by the idea of a government and bunch of "medicine" pushers being associated with drug cartels since the stereotype of the time was big nasty criminals and Just Say No.

In the 21st century, the Opioid Epidemic and the corruption of groups like the Sackler family make a much better correlation. Pharmaceutical companies cloaking themselves in benevolent intentions and charity actually doing the same drug pushing as the cartels but entirely legally while addicting millions.

It's much easier to also see this as something that developed over time with the sheer amount of money and privilege afforded by their exploitation ruining both cultures.

 

[Mutai Sho-Rin]

Dredging up a seven year-old thread is not OK.

CLANG!