Was Picard being forced to live out an entire lifetime...

[The Rock]

....in "The Inner Light" a form of torture in a way?

Yes, I understand that that dead civilization wanted to be remembered. I get that. And while that's great and all, Picard was forced against his will to live out an entire lifetime (in his mind)! So while he was only out for 25 minutes on the floor of the bridge of the Enterprise, in his mind he had to live out every minute of those 40+ years. Think about that. He didn't just live parts of that lifetime. He lived EVERY SINGLE MINUTE.

Wasn't that a bit sadistic for the dead civilization to do that?

Still a great episode though, don't get me wrong.

 

[Mojochi]

Not only that, but the program was relentlessly invasive such that he was stripped of his identity. In order to be considered sane, he had to accept this life, someone else's life. "Oh yeah... You play the flute. You've never been all that good... *wink wink* but keep at it"

Hell, I don't even think it's possible to fully accept someone is your wife, when you know they aren't. If you ask me, that Picard eventually accepted his life there is textbook Stockholm syndrome

 

[Amaris]

Torture? Possibly. I mean, I also get the civilization wanted to be remembered, but surely forcing it upon someone else wasn't the way to do it. I imagine that there would be any number of people who would be willing to experience the life of Kamin, without the need to do it against their will.

Though I think the oddest thing about it was the one-time-use aspect in which they did it. Sure, Picard had their memories, but what about if he died before he could relay them to others? What's the point in that.

Ah well, best soundtrack of the entire series, IMO.

 

[Melakon]

It's lucky the probe wasn't first encountered by Klingons.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I don't think it was torture. Picard resisted, at first, but eventually came to accept and love his life on Kataan.

I imagine that there would be any number of people who would be willing to experience the life of Kamin, without the need to do it against their will.

The problem with that is, the people who launched the probe had no idea who would eventually find it. They just sent it out so it could latch onto the first person it found.

 

[Spectral]

It was definitely selfish of them. Yeah, total Stockholm syndrome, but after he'd finally accepted his new life, he went on to embrace his family, form real relationships and truly love these people. Then he wakes up and finds out the truth. In one way, maybe he'd be grateful he got the chance no one else will ever have, to live a whole other life and a whole other lifetime. It's like two for the price of one.

He got to have a family, something he's pretty much resigned to the fact he'll never have being the utterly devoted starfleet captain he is. So, yeah, in one way you could say they gave him a gift, but he also has to live the rest of his real life mourning all these people, his family and close friends, he came to love. How hard would that be, to continue living after everyone you were closest to is gone? Seems like it would have an pretty strong effect on a person psychologically and emotionally that you can't just shake off with some Earl Grey and a good nights sleep.

 

[Salinga]

The only negative point of this episode for me is, that it is not believable that Picard could or would just carry on with his life on the ship as captain. In his mind it has been decades since he was captain of the 1701-D. It is a part of his far away past now. I doubt if this scenario would be "real", Picard would have (and could have) continued business as usual as captain in Starfleet.

 

[BillJ]

It was very obviously mind rape, I've been saying it for years. One of the worst episodes of Star Trek. Forty-five minutes of me watching Picard being forced to watch a movie.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The only negative point of this episode for me is, that it is not believable that Picard could or would just carry on with his life on the ship as captain. In his mind it has been decades since he was captain of the 1701-D. It is a part of his far away past now. I doubt if this scenario would be "real", Picard would have (and could have) continued business as usual as captain in Starfleet.

Remember what was happening as the 'simulation' wound down - characters started talking to Picard directly (i.e. not as though he was Kamin), explaining what the probe was doing out there. It would seem that the probe was designed to do this, i.e. gradually 'wean' the person off of the alternate life depicted in it and prepare them for when they'd have to wake up.

 

[Makarov]

Not necessarily torture, I think this is a crime that there are no laws for as he says about that invincible alien in season 3. Mind-theft or something.

If Picard had been told up front what would happen, that he would be the only one to experience a long dead culture in an instant, I think there's no question he would say yes. (after a few hundred conferences/debates with the senior staff)

I agree that this would completely change Picard more than we see. He would be a completely different person. At least we got some follow up in Lessons, but I hate the ending of that episode. Putting work ahead of romance? No thanks!

I wonder what the next day was like for Troi having to help Picard out with this experience. Maybe she showed him the neck tapping thing she suggested to Barclay in Realm of Fear.

 

[HIjol]

To "our" standard, this was indeed intrusive and unwelcomed and all that is posted above. But, perhaps to the Kaatani, it would have been acceptable and even, indeed, an honor to carry all that they were.

Batai says, "You saw it just before you came here. We hoped our probe would encounter someone in the future – someone who could be a teacher, someone who could tell the others about us."

Eline says, "The rest of us have been gone a thousand years. If you remember what we were...and how we lived...then we'll have found life again."

Unacceptable to us, perhaps, but a sincere attempt to "exist" for them.

btw, I agree with Makarov about Picard saying yes. Exploration, indeed!

 

[T'Girl]

I don't think it was torture. Picard resisted, at first, but eventually came to accept and love his life on Kataan

But did Picard actually come to accept that life, of his own choice? Or was it part of the program that he did?

Picard simply couldn't have full freedom in the program, for the purposes of the aliens Picard had to spend his "life" in that one village, take a wife, have children.

If Picard said screw this and left to have a life in the big city, that wouldn't suit the aliens plan.

If Picard climbed to the highest cliff and jumped to his death, what then? Basically the move Groundhog Day?

I don't think it was "Picard" who accept the life there.

I agree that this would completely change Picard more than we see. He would be a completely different person.

Consider this, if Picard had retired from Starfleet and then forty years later returned. With no retraining of any kind, would he immediately be placed in command of a large starship? Obviously not.

The effects of the program simply must have faded almost immediately. Some few implanted "memories" and impressions would have remained, but the day before for Picard would have been on the Enterprise, and not on Kataan.

 

[Timo]

In the end, we don't know if Picard really lived that life - or just got the highlights. The logic of the dream could be the logic of dreams in general, with huge jumps from scene to scene, from mental state to mental state, from apparent age to another age. Once awake, Picard would remember those highlights, at least for a while, but it wouldn't leave much more impact than any other livid dream.

Sure, Crusher says a thing or two about the nature of the experience. But what would she really know?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Makarov]

I tend to think he actually experienced it all, because in Lessons he says "I lived a lifetime on that planet." Although it is possible that it just seemed real to him and there were gaps

 

[tcm121]

In the end, we don't know if Picard really lived that life - or just got the highlights. The logic of the dream could be the logic of dreams in general, with huge jumps from scene to scene, from mental state to mental state, from apparent age to another age. Once awake, Picard would remember those highlights, at least for a while, but it wouldn't leave much more impact than any other livid dream.

Sure, Crusher says a thing or two about the nature of the experience. But what would she really know?

Timo Saloniemi

Yeah I agree. Just think of the confusion you can have after a memorable dream, and for a few moments after waking up it can take a while to remember it wasn't real. I imagine the probe acts in a similar way with some effects more pronounced, e.g. the perception of how much time passed and the strength & depth of emotions. And of course how to play an alien flute

 

[Taelon]

It was very rude for the probe not to have asked first.

But perhaps the Human brain wasn't compatible enough with the technology to be able to consent. The probe may have unintentionally overpowered his mind when it wasn't supposed to, and someone from another species would have needed to consciously give consent for the probe to work on them - as per the original design of the probe.

 

[Kobayshi Maru]

....in "The Inner Light" a form of torture in a way?

Yes, I understand that that dead civilization wanted to be remembered. I get that. And while that's great and all, Picard was forced against his will to live out an entire lifetime (in his mind)! So while he was only out for 25 minutes on the floor of the bridge of the Enterprise, in his mind he had to live out every minute of those 40+ years. Think about that. He didn't just live parts of that lifetime. He lived EVERY SINGLE MINUTE.

Wasn't that a bit sadistic for the dead civilization to do that?

Still a great episode though, don't get me wrong.

Actually, Picard got a bonus of forty years of a good life. That's hardly something to complain about. Imagine if at the end of your life, you wake up and it turns out that you have still half a century or so of another life to live. Wouldn't that make you happy? It beats the hell out of becoming food for worms at any rate.

 

[Timo]

Yet as with DS9 "Hard Time", there's the fact that thinking involves metabolizing. Basically, Picard did spend a lifetime in that dream for real, or at least his brain did, so odds are that he's now that much shorter on the remaining years.

Which ought to mean he won't see his hundredth birthday, if 140 years is the "new hundred" as indicated by O'Brien in "To the Death" where he wishes he'd die at that age, and the rather fit Picard was originally going to reach such perfection. After all, we have seen 24th century medicine fight almost every ailment, with the natural-looking aging of the body considered a disease of some sort in "Too Short a Season" - so it might well be down to the brain rusting out, as that is the one organ the future medicine apparently still has major problems with.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I'd technically compare it more to rape than torture.

 

[Makarov]

If starfleet was able to reverse engineer that probe imagine the stuff they could accomplish, like giving every starfleet ensign an entire a few lifetimes worth of training. Test out a new captain for a few decades before putting them in the field. Or as a weapon force your enemy to live as a human for a lifetime. But all of that is putting a dark spin on what is a pretty hopeful and positive episode.