I see an oddness in Star Trek: Voyager. When Tuvok wants to do a mind meld, the Doctor gets all uppity about it, and everyone gets a bit bothered by the idea. When Chakotay goes on a “vision quest” everyone is fine about it, despite the mind-altering technology this requires. Seems like one rule for humans, and another rule for Vulcans.

People were a little less touchy about such things in the original series. Apart from McCoy.

My first post here in ages, to answer a Star Trek question.

Indeed it wasn't explained very well until Enterprise. I think it went along the lines of Mind Melds being a very dangerous technique which could cause brain damage if performed by Vulcans without sufficient training. As a result they built up a reputation for being bad for one's health (possibly even outlawed, I can't remember) until more people started taking the training (Spock must have done). Perhaps this perception of danger lingered among doctors into the 24th century.

As for vision quests, yes they may be weird and involve mind-altering tech but I think the risk to one's long-term mental health was lower.

Much appreciated though! I wondered about it too

Stu's on it. The "Melders" as they were called many years ago on Vulcan (before JJ destroyed it) were regarded as a very bad element in Vulcan society. Melding was frowned upon as they saw it as crude and of course it carries emotions. They had worked so hard to move past their more "human" emotional past, that it has always been regarded as somewhat renegade. Vision Quests on the other hand, are a spiritual thing. So I would imagine that would come under the Prime Directive, Federation way of thinking. In that people should be free to pursue their beliefs. The other thing to bear in mind is the crew dynamic on Voyager. Tuvok is trusted by Janeway, but he's still a Vulcan. Spock had the same relationship with Kirk in relation to the rest of the crew. And he's 100% Vulcan don't forget.

I'd take a vision quest any day. With a mind meld you get nosey bar stewards looking into your mind.

Spock is half human, half Vulcan. Tuvok is 100% human.

By the end of Voyager, I was kind of discounting it as Star Trek. It got too “soft” for my liking. Enterprise really didn’t add much to the mix. Writing a prequel series for something which had 30+ years of material to weave into was never going to work satisfactorily. In a way, sadly JJ has made it part of canon for his 2.0 reboot.

NICKED from wikiped

Mind melds

A "mind-meld," is a technique for sharing thoughts, experiences, memories, and knowledge with another individual. It usually requires physical contact with a subject, though instances of mind-melds without contact have been seen (for example, in the episode "The Devil in the Dark"). Vulcans can perform mind melds with members of most other species, most notably Humans, with Jonathan Archer being the first known Human participant in such a ritual in 2154. Even the Earth Humpback Whale can be successfully melded with. The Ferengi are one of the few races known to be impervious to the mind meld; mentally disciplined Cardassians may also be resistant to mind melds if properly trained. It is not established if this potential ability is inherent to Cardassians, or if members of any race could be trained to resist a mind meld. Machines, such as the Nomad probe, have been melded with even if only through complete contact. Though not canon, in the Star Trek: The Animated Series episode "One of Our Planets is Missing", a touch-less melding of a gaseous nebular entity was depicted.

Mind melds have been used to erase memories, as Spock performed on James T. Kirk in the TOS episode "Requiem for Methuselah." Mind melds can also allow more than one mind to experience memories and sensations, and sometimes even interact with the memories, as seen in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Flashback".

The mind meld can be considered a terrible intimacy because of the strength of Vulcan emotions and the strict psycho-suppression disciplines in which they are trained, and thus not one to be taken lightly. In the Star Trek: The Next Generation installment "Sarek," when the diplomat proves to have Bendii's syndrome and thus to be incapable of completing his last great mission without assistance, he executes a mind meld with Captain Jean-Luc Picard, gaining enough emotional stability from this to complete his mission—but Picard himself almost goes insane from the direct onslaught of Sarek's powerful emotions as a result.

Though mind melds are frequently portrayed as a consensual act, that is not always the case. In the TOS episode "Mirror, Mirror," Spock of the Mirror Universe performed a forced mind meld on Dr. Leonard McCoy in order to learn what McCoy was keeping secret. Mind melds can also be very violating and potentially harmful under certain circumstances. In Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Spock forcefully used the technique on Valeris in order to discover information she had that could be used to prevent a war; Valeris began screaming just before Spock broke the connection.

The use of the mind meld was taboo for a period of time. In the Vulcan timeline, this changed when experienced melders were shown to be able to cure Pa'nar Syndrome, a condition passed on by melders who are improperly trained. Within a week of the Kir'Shara incident in 2154, the stigma against mind-melders was evaporating, and sufferers of Pa'nar were being cured in large numbers. By the mid-23rd century, the mind meld is a fully accepted part of Vulcan society, and was even used once to rejoin Spock's katra with his healed physical body (see below).

As originally depicted in TOS, mind-melds were considered dangerous and potentially lethal. Over the course of the original series, however, the element of risk was no longer mentioned, although it was revived on Star Trek: Enterprise with the revelation that Pa'nar Syndrome can be transmitted this way.

For a number of years, it was held that not all Vulcans are genetically capable of initiating a mind-meld, such as T'Pol. However, the overthrow of the Vulcan High Command in 2154 revealed that this is not the case, and T'Pol conducted her first mind meld soon after.

Some Vulcans appear with advanced mental abilities. For example, in the TOS episode "A Taste of Armageddon," Spock was once able to induce uncertainty in the mind of a prison guard on Eminiar VII, and in the episode "The Devil in the Dark," he was able to perform a limited mind meld with a horta without actually making physical contact with the being. It is made apparent that a touch-less meld is limited in effectiveness compared to physical melds. During more intense melds, the melder is sometimes shown using both hands.


Me want T'Pol

vision quest's need strange funny mushroom's and stuff

Chakotay. surely?

Tuvok was the male Vulcan.

I don't usually get my Vulcans mixed with my humans, it has to be said. The raised eyebrows, pointy ears and vocabulary usually give it away

Just realised that my grammar might not have sounded like that. I meant that Spock didn't share the same depth of relationship with the rest of the crew and he was only half Vulcan. Tuvok had even more of a struggle on his hands due to his heritage and Nelix doesn't really count IMHO.

Up to a point. But Tuvok wasn't the only Vulcan seen on Voyager. There was an Ensign Vorik in engineering as well.

Thought this was cool:

Star Trek (2009) Movie On 4GB USB Stick - £7.99 Free Delivery



http://www.play.com/Gadgets/Gadgets/4-/ ... duct.html#

I think a bog standard 4Gb stick is probably about £8 on it's own these days, and it's a good film to boot

It's cool in a nerdy kind of way. However, I can't see how that will fit into any of the USB sockets my kit has.

If it is locked to the USB drive then what good is that? If the DRM stops you putting it on a computer then why?

But, Mind-Melding is having an effect on another persons mind, Vision Quests only affect the mind of the person carrying them out. The difference is surely that people are free to screw up their own brain if they want to, but not fiddle around in other peoples?!