The crew - atypical of future humanity?

[JoeZhang]

Here's something interesting - from The Motion Picture novel, Kirk does an introduction -

For example, the fact that I use an old-fashioned male surname says a lot about both me and the service to which I belong. Although the male-surname custom has become rare among humans elsewhere, it remains a fairly common thing among those of us in Starfleet.

We are a highly conservative and strongly individualistic group. The old customs die hard with us. We submit ourselves to starship discipline because we know it is made necessary by the realities of deep-space exploration. We are proud that each of us has accepted this discipline voluntarily—and doubly proud when neither temptation nor jeopardy is able to shake our obedience to the oath we have taken.

Some critics have characterized us of Starfleet as “primitives,” and with some justification. In some ways, we do resemble our forebears of a couple of centuries ago more than we do most people today. We are not part of those increasingly large numbers of humans who seem willing to submerge their own identities into the groups to which they belong. I am prepared to accept the possibility that these so-callednew humans represent a more highly evolved breed, capable of finding rewards in group consciousness that we more primitive individuals will never know.

For the present, however, this new breed of human makes a poor space traveler, and Starfleet must depend on us “primitives” for deep space exploration. It seems an almost absurd claim that we “primitives” make better space travelers than the highly evolved, superbly intelligent and adaptable new humans . The reason for this paradox is best explained in a Vulcan study of Starfleet’s early years during which vessel disappearances, crew defections, and mutinies had brought deep space exploration to a near halt.

This once controversial report diagnosed those mysterious losses as being caused directly by the fact that Starfleet’s recruitment standards were dangerously high. That is, Starfleet Academy cadets were then being selected from applicants having the highest possible test scores on all categories of intelligence and adaptability. Understandably, it was believed that such qualities would be helpful in dealing with the unusually varied life patterns which starship crews encounter during deep space exploration.

Something of the opposite turned out to be true. The problem was that sooner or later starship crew members must inevitably deal with life forms more evolved and advanced than their own. The result was that these superbly intelligent and flexible minds being sent out by Starfleet could not help but be seduced eventually by the higher philosophies, aspirations, and consciousness levels being encountered. I have always found it amusing that my Academy class was the first group selected by Starfleet on the basis of somewhat more limited intellectual agility.

Obviously this is a post-hoc addition by Roddenberry - but I thought it would be an interesting item for discussion.

 

[JoeZhang]

Damn - I of course meant atypical in the header.. I hate you can't correct errors in that field...

 

[Anticitizen]

Hm. Interesting, but seems to go against prior work; for instance, the computer in 'Court Martial' rambling off what seems to be an endless record of merit for Kirk. We've been led to believe at least he is a standout sort of person.

 

[T'Bonz]

Title changed.

 

[JoeZhang]

Title changed.

Thanks - it bugs the hell out of me to see mistakes in the titles!

 

[T'Bonz]

Me too!

 

[JoeZhang]

Hm. Interesting, but seems to go against prior work; for instance, the computer in 'Court Martial' rambling off what seems to be an endless record of merit for Kirk. We've been led to believe at least he is a standout sort of person.

Indeed, the implication is that he's a Standout person in that environment and he wouldn't have fit in on earth. Of course, as far as I am ware, none of those ideas have really been followed up on screen.


I'm particular interested in this?

who seem willing to submerge their own identities into the groups to which they belong.

Group marriage? advanced socialism?

Anyone know - does the idea of Marriage contracts (lasting five years) come from GR or is that from another author (I remember it being mentioned in at least one book).

 

[tranya]

Wow, this is great.

Has anyone ever picked up on this in a novel? It's always been annoying to me how rarely we ever meet "regular folks" in the 23rd/24th centuries in the TV series and movies, and to have the creator of the show acknowledge that the people shown on the screen are more "primitive" than they could be is somewhat astounding.

I don't remember the novelization very well -- is this just a throwaway line, or does it come into play anywhere in the novelization? Does Roddenberry return to these themes at all after the Decker/V'Ger/Ilia sparkly love fusion?

 

[tranya]

Actually, speaking to naming conventions specifically, didn't Vonda McIntyre do something like this with Scotty's family? Peter Preston was named after his mother (Scotty's sister?), who was presumably named after Scotty's mother? Something like that?

 

[JoeZhang]

Wow, this is great.

Has anyone ever picked up on this in a novel? It's always been annoying to me how rarely we ever meet "regular folks" in the 23rd/24th centuries in the TV series and movies, and to have the creator of the show acknowledge that the people shown on the screen are more "primitive" than they could be is somewhat astounding.

I don't remember the novelization very well -- is this just a throwaway line, or does it come into play anywhere in the novelization? Does Roddenberry return to these themes at all after the Decker/V'Ger/Ilia sparkly love fusion?

em.. I've never read it - I have an e-copy and was looking for a line about something else. The book has a foreword by kirk before the "author" talks about the historical veracity of the events he is "documenting.

However there is another oddity in the Novel, explaining how the book is so accurate:

Editor’s note: At the time of these events, Starfleet Command’s senceiver implants were still being kept secret. Undoubtedly, the Admiralty was concerned that the public might mistakenly believe them to be some sort of mind-control device. Clearly, public respect for Starfleet would have been seriously imperiled by anything reminiscent of the horrors that grew out of the politicalizing of behavior-control implants and which led to the bloody Mind Control Revolts of 2043-47.

So they had cameras in their heads!

Edit: actually reading a bit further, it's a communicator built into Kirk's head which allows him to see events such as the Klingons being blown which he wasn't present for.

This book is made of crack! I'll have to read it now.

 

[tranya]

I remember enjoying it as a kid, but had no idea how different it was. I might have to reread this, too.

 

[BillJ]

Hm. Interesting, but seems to go against prior work; for instance, the computer in 'Court Martial' rambling off what seems to be an endless record of merit for Kirk. We've been led to believe at least he is a standout sort of person.

Indeed, the implication is that he's a Standout person in that environment and he wouldn't have fit in on earth. Of course, as far as I am ware, none of those ideas have really been followed up on screen.


I'm particular interested in this?

who seem willing to submerge their own identities into the groups to which they belong.

Group marriage? advanced socialism?

Anyone know - does the idea of Marriage contracts (lasting five years) come from GR or is that from another author (I remember it being mentioned in at least one book).

Not sure who it is from... but it is used in Star Trek Annual #3 from DC's first run. Written by Peter David titled Retrospect.

 

[Joanna McCoy-Kirk]

Wow, this is great.

Has anyone ever picked up on this in a novel? It's always been annoying to me how rarely we ever meet "regular folks" in the 23rd/24th centuries in the TV series and movies, and to have the creator of the show acknowledge that the people shown on the screen are more "primitive" than they could be is somewhat astounding.

I don't remember the novelization very well -- is this just a throwaway line, or does it come into play anywhere in the novelization? Does Roddenberry return to these themes at all after the Decker/V'Ger/Ilia sparkly love fusion?

em.. I've never read it - I have an e-copy and was looking for a line about something else. The book has a foreword by kirk before the "author" talks about the historical veracity of the events he is "documenting.

However there is another oddity in the Novel, explaining how the book is so accurate:

Editor’s note: At the time of these events, Starfleet Command’s senceiver implants were still being kept secret. Undoubtedly, the Admiralty was concerned that the public might mistakenly believe them to be some sort of mind-control device. Clearly, public respect for Starfleet would have been seriously imperiled by anything reminiscent of the horrors that grew out of the politicalizing of behavior-control implants and which led to the bloody Mind Control Revolts of 2043-47.

So they had cameras in their heads!

Edit: actually reading a bit further, it's a communicator built into Kirk's head which allows him to see events such as the Klingons being blown which he wasn't present for.

This book is made of crack! I'll have to read it now.

I downloaded the e-book and after reading the first few pages, I feel quite thankful the book isn't canon! :-/

 

[Timo]

Of course, it makes sense even in the TNG environs that the only people to enlist in Starfleet would be adventurous, reckless misfits. When did we meet a character whose parents would have been proud of his or her career choice, unless said parents themselves were Starfleet? Being part of the 'Fleet is probably analogous to being a professional criminal: you are proud of what you do for a living, but you don't publicly wish that sort of a life for your children - until they do good in their parents' footsteps, at which point the proud daddy can let his real sentiments surface.

The wlan implants are mentioned in a couple of other novels, too, such as Greg Bear's Corona. It would make sense for all our Starfleet heroes to have at least an implanted Universal Translator and perhaps also an implanted clock, given how they can speak English with weird space aliens and don't require wristwatches. So why not full datalink? The device might require great mental fitness of its users, though, so relatively few people would agree to carry it; after the 2270s, it might quickly go out of general fashion the way other "corporeal augmentation technologies" such as corsets have done.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[GodThingFormerly]

I'm particular interested in this?

who seem willing to submerge their own identities into the groups to which they belong.

Group marriage? advanced socialism?

That was actually Gene Roddenberry's interpretation of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's Noosphere concept, which was a fashionable subject of discussion within the various pro-spaceflight movements (L5, NSI, etc.) of the 1970s. If you are interested, notable monographs on the subject range from William J. Sauber's The Fourth Kingdom and Erich Jantsch's The Self-Organizing Universe to Jesco von Puttkamer's Space: A Matter of Ethics - Toward a New Humanism and Paolo Soleri's The Omega Seed.

Anyone know - does the idea of Marriage contracts (lasting five years) come from GR or is that from another author (I remember it being mentioned in at least one book).

Contract marriages were developed as background material for civilian life on 23rd century Earth as it was going to be presented in Star Trek: Phase II (which eventually mutated into ST:TMP). If I may quote the relevant paragraph from PII Script Editor/TMP Associate Producer Jon Povill's 1977 memo, 23rd Century Earth: Context for Enterprise Crew:

"Relationships between the sexes are generally non-exclusive unless “contract marriage” is agreed upon, in which the two partners devote whatever portion of their lives they wish to to an exclusive arrangement for mutual growth, exploration and understanding. The contracts are renewable, which makes monogamy a possibility if it is a continued desire by both parties."

TGT

 

[FalTorPan]

Here's something interesting - from The Motion Picture novel, Kirk does an introduction -

I had forgotten about much of this. Thanks for the reminder! That's a creative way to reconcile Roddenberry's evolving "vision of the future" with the fact that our heroes are essentially 20th-century humans.

 

[GodThingFormerly]

That's a creative way to reconcile Roddenberry's evolving "vision of the future" with the fact that our heroes are essentially 20th-century humans.

"In short, Earth has become a world at once a playground and a living library. A place where people can feel free to experience whatever activities they want for the sake of their chosen development as individuals. And if one's personality demands even greater stimulation than all this provides, there is always “Space, the final frontier...”, which tells us a lot about the people who crew the Starship Enterprise." - Jon Povill.

TGT

 

[JoeZhang]

Thanks to TGT who's provided some excellent background material

 

[FalTorPan]

This is probably my favorite running thread in the BBS. Who cares about the design of the Enterprise in the new movie, or the ideal number and shape of bumps on a Klingon's head? I dig this futurism stuff.

 

[Timo]

Too bad that we can only get it through this thread (and the indeed delightful quantity and quality of background dirt provided by TGT). It would have been nice to have at least some of it seep into the actual Trek productions...

TImo Saloniemi