Yeah, but I don't think they're people who know what space travel is.
OT: You said they were on the path of logic and reason before Picard showed up? I'd just go out of my way to explain to them that everything I have done is a viable result of using logic and reason.
Dependency on something that's just as able and just as likely to burn you to a crisp as it is raise you from the ground should be discouraged if you don't want people to either turn into totally-dependant tools or paranoid schizophrenics out to kill you/others.
If a race is to survive it has to learn to work as a race toward the goal of better living for its race and the future of it. I always consider the most social animals as the most successful.
1. i'm not omnipotent, omnipresent or omniscient. that means that i cant do shit to help them. i cant watch over them, or protect them or hear their prayers. but the faith will remain, and fuck shit up.
2. they're to a Vulcan what a Pict is to us or something. but i know what they'll evolve into, and that, to become that, they need to get rid of religion for logic.
This seems a little far fetched though, if the natives had accepted logic and reason over an existence of god, why is the one who was saved proclaiming he was saved by god. Surely he could understand that the sufficiently advanced technology could appear to be magical?
Ah I remember that episode when I was ill.
Yeah I would do the same thing that Picard did in that episode including showing them my blood (he took an arrow from them) to prove them I'm not immortal/ god. (Since when do gods bleed?)
This is a little more complex than yay or nay. I, personally, would allow them to deify my, though I would try to convince them that I was not. Freedom of religion is something I consider important, as is truth.
Personally , no I wouldn't let them think I was a god, as religion could be very detrimental to their society's progression. However, perhaps they could be convinced that they don't have to dedicate their society to their god, and that they don't have to abandon logic and reason in favour of faith? As a god you could be in a position to convince them of that.
binnsyboy said:
OT: You said they were on the path of logic and reason before Picard showed up? I'd just go out of my way to explain to them that everything I have done is a viable result of using logic and reason.
I've been watching Star Trek: The Next Generation for the last few weeks and recently I watched the episode entitled "Who Watches the Watchers".
The episode begins with the generator at a federation anthropologist's viewing hideout exploding. The Enterprise responds and beams down to help the wounded, and in the process, one of the inhabitants of the planet, a race of proto-Vulcans who the anthropologists were studying, climbs up the rock face to the window of the viewing area. The away team and the Vulcan guy are surprised and the Vulcan falls. The fall gravely injures him and to save his life, the Enterprise violates the prime directive and beams him aboard. When he is returned to earth, he thinks he was saved by a god, who he calls The Picard, as he saw Picard giving orders The rest of the episode revolves around Picard trying to convince the Proto-Vulcans, who had previously abandoned religion in favor of logic and reason, that he is not a god.
So put yourself in the position of Picard, you've come across a primitive civilization that has decided you are a god. You're faced with a question of morals, do you allow them to continue to think of you as a god, or do you go to whatever lengths necessary to prove that you are simply human?
Me personally, I would not allow them to think of me as a god. This is partly because of my views on religion, but also its because I think that it would alter the natural growth of the civilization in such a way that would be detrimental to both them, and the civilizations around them.
OMG I just watche this again the other day (probably for my 4th or 5th time, I watch each Star Trek show once a year in full, TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT, repeat).
Yes, I too would do what Picard did, even allowing myself to be shot at the end. I really can't fault anything he did, except perhaps Dr Crusher could've better sedated the guy who got shocked, would've solved a number of problems really.
It would be interesting to see how that solved 'just' that problem actually, he climbs up and sees these strange people after having seen a twinkle of light from the cave/dug out, he gets shocked and wakes up - still with that memory since Dr. Crusher couldn't wipe his memory clear.
Anyway - also, "I am not a merry man!" - good avatar
I've been watching Star Trek: The Next Generation for the last few weeks and recently I watched the episode entitled "Who Watches the Watchers".
The episode begins with the generator at a federation anthropologist's viewing hideout exploding. The Enterprise responds and beams down to help the wounded, and in the process, one of the inhabitants of the planet, a race of proto-Vulcans who the anthropologists were studying, climbs up the rock face to the window of the viewing area. The away team and the Vulcan guy are surprised and the Vulcan falls. The fall gravely injures him and to save his life, the Enterprise violates the prime directive and beams him aboard. When he is returned to earth, he thinks he was saved by a god, who he calls The Picard, as he saw Picard giving orders The rest of the episode revolves around Picard trying to convince the Proto-Vulcans, who had previously abandoned religion in favor of logic and reason, that he is not a god.
So put yourself in the position of Picard, you've come across a primitive civilization that has decided you are a god. You're faced with a question of morals, do you allow them to continue to think of you as a god, or do you go to whatever lengths necessary to prove that you are simply human?
Me personally, I would not allow them to think of me as a god. This is partly because of my views on religion, but also its because I think that it would alter the natural growth of the civilization in such a way that would be detrimental to both them, and the civilizations around them.
This feeling of control over other people you have is entirely illusory. Regardless of what actions you take, people will think whatever they will. As a contemporary example, view last Thursday's Daily Show (the second segment featuring John Oliver). As a biblical example: take Jesus for example.
My first thought when you said "[would you} go to whatever lengths necessary to prove that you are simply human?" was that you would bleed, or, more likely test of mortality, is that you would die. Well, Jesus died, and he was simply deified. I imagine that the proto Vulcans would simply believe that your energy (or spirit or whatever) simply passed on to the next being who took Command of the Enterprise (I.e. "the Riker").
Simply put, you cannot control the belief system of another person (much less a race). Just let it go. No matter what you do, the other people can simply justify their responses by using faith or false logic.
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