I see the Prophets as more the least bad option than a good option.
Although Q would make the universe the most fun.
And the Klingon gods would be pretty awesome too, cause then you get to kill them!
Which Godlike beings would be the best at guiding humanity?
- Thread starter Wadjda
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I see the Prophets as more the least bad option than a good option.
Although Q would make the universe the most fun.
And the Klingon gods would be pretty awesome too, cause then you get to kill them!
I'd put it in a tie between the Prophets and any Q not portrayed by John DeLancie.
I agree with Melakon: none of them. I think the gods need worshipers more than the common people need gods.
Roddenberry had at least two less-than-god-like civilizations presume to "guide" humanity—the people who sent Gary Seven, and whoever built Questor from THE QUESTOR TAPES.
Granted, children need guidance, but humanity is not a child. At some point, baby birds get pushed out of the nest. If they don't fly, or at least survive their initial failure to fly, the parent birds will not pick them up as baggage, to be carried around for the rest of their lives.
"Welfare" in human society is not a bad thing, until it becomes perpetual and conditions like working are removed. I remember running around with my cousins as a child. One of us took a hard tumble and ran into the house sniffling to be cleaned up. The women all cooed over the injured kid, but I remember grand-dad grunting, "They should fall down once in a while. They'll learn faster that way."
Or as Spock said in "Day of the Dove": "Those who fight must stop themselves, otherwise it is not stopped."
If humanity had a god who unambiguously answered every prayer and took care of us, we'd be nothing but pets for eternity.
Roddenberry had at least two less-than-god-like civilizations presume to "guide" humanity—the people who sent Gary Seven, and whoever built Questor from THE QUESTOR TAPES.
Granted, children need guidance, but humanity is not a child. At some point, baby birds get pushed out of the nest. If they don't fly, or at least survive their initial failure to fly, the parent birds will not pick them up as baggage, to be carried around for the rest of their lives.
"Welfare" in human society is not a bad thing, until it becomes perpetual and conditions like working are removed. I remember running around with my cousins as a child. One of us took a hard tumble and ran into the house sniffling to be cleaned up. The women all cooed over the injured kid, but I remember grand-dad grunting, "They should fall down once in a while. They'll learn faster that way."
Or as Spock said in "Day of the Dove": "Those who fight must stop themselves, otherwise it is not stopped."
If humanity had a god who unambiguously answered every prayer and took care of us, we'd be nothing but pets for eternity.
And that's why we have so many people in their upper 20s with college degrees living at home.
Yeah, I remember the play structures we had at playgrounds when I was a kid. They weren't as safe as modern play structures, I hurt myself once in a while. But they were a lot more fun to play on. And as a result of having to learn how not to fall down and hurt myself, I now have balance and coordination.
To me the most interesting Gods in fiction are the self interested ones. The ones who are neither inherently good or inherently evil but just sort of do their own thing, like the Roman Gods only without the pedophilia. Back when I DMed every pantheon of Gods I made up was exactly like that, they just kind of did their own thing and granted powers to clerics because they aligned with their general philosophy.
Ooh, can we pick the Lord of Light?
Absolutely none of them. As soon as people start following 'gods' problems start.
Thankfully Trek humans realize that. Humanity needs to lead itself as Trek shows. The Founders/Q etc would all hinder progress and stifle humanity.
Thankfully Trek humans realize that. Humanity needs to lead itself as Trek shows. The Founders/Q etc would all hinder progress and stifle humanity.
I will follow whichever God proclaims that all fun topics shall be responded to by indignant atheists preaching atheism to a crowd of other atheists!
...Here! Here!From the episode Bread and Circuses.
The Son of God would of course be the best at guiding humanity.
The Picard, from the mythology of the Mintakans.
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Okay then, why don't you transfer over to the mirror universe where you get exactly this "survival of the strongest" and "evolution through conflict"?
Just make sure that while you stab your superior officer in the back, somebody else is watching yours.
Bob
Okay then, why don't you transfer over to the mirror universe where you get exactly this "survival of the strongest" and "evolution through conflict"?
Just make sure that while you stab your superior officer in the back, somebody else is watching yours.
Bob
B5 also addresses issues of order and chaos, and which is more productive. And I would call it a big mistake to claim that the show judges one superior to the other.
Look Bob, this is the god I'd choose, and I'd choose the Shadows in a heartbeat over the Vorlons. You can apply all the negatively freighted adjectives you like, because somehow my choice gets your dander up, but your choice of words won't change what I've chosen into what you imagine it is inside your own head.
Interesting that you'd select social Darwinism as an inherently pejorative phrase to apply to my selection here--I was thinking more of actual, genuine, biological change, through a very sophisticated form of breeding program. I'm sure I don't have to explain to you that modern ev. theory is far more than Darwinism. Neither Darwinism in any form nor modern evolutionary theory applies to the OP's question, as both are entirely undirected/nonteleological.
The mirror universe would not give me what I'm talking about here, because there is no guidance/control (as far as we know). Your stab-in-the-back paradigm is chaos without direction. No Nagilum or Shadows shaping species. That's what I wanted.
Why don't you propose an alternative answer? Not a "no God"-type equivocation, but an answer derived from Trek canon. And tell me why your choice would be better than Nagilum.
I don't understand how The Founders are godlike for the OP's intent. They're "gods" to the Vorta and JemHadar, but not to anyone else, and don't have any special transcendental/cosmic powers. I assumed the OP was looking for beings with cosmic/godlike powers, like Q, the Organians, Douwd, possibly the Providers, Metrons, Nagilum, Prophets, etc.
B5 has a pair of godlike villains who try to run the universe through philosophies of order and chaos, but to the narrative the issue is reduced to 'These big powerful creatures are here to blow us up'. It doesn't really analyze anything on a higher level than any other smarter than average space opera or make any real attempt to deconstruct or analyze the issue.
What about Amanda Q? Puppies for everyone!
What about Amanda Q? Puppies for everyone!
Yeah - B5 had an opportunity to tell a deeper story, but whiffed. Basically it's message was "hey older awesome races. we don't need you for anything, let us figure it our ourselves"
Ok. Thanks.
Amanda Q would be cool, that was a storyline that I wish TNG would have revisited.
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