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Something Star Trek Missed
May 23, 2019 at 2:32 am
Never mind the fact that the whole universe speaks English.......
If two races that evolved on different planets met - wouldn't simple contact likely be fatal for both sides due to bacterial and viral contamination?
After all - we teem with microbes that we are immune to - but an alien wouldn't have that immunity.
Meet, shake hands, dead within hours....
Kinda makes "live long and prosper" moot.
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RE: Something Star Trek Missed
May 23, 2019 at 3:53 am
Since his reputation preceded him, the federation forced Kirk to have shots for all 9 million species of transmissible diseases in the known universe prior to engaging first impulse at the Planitia Ship Yards!
No God, No fear.
Know God, Know fear.
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RE: Something Star Trek Missed
May 23, 2019 at 4:04 am
At work.
Actually..... if the two sophonts are of completely different evolutionary paths not only would their respective micro-biomes be completely foreign and incompatible but, potentially, neither species could eat or drink (Barring water) from each other's staples.
Something covered in 'Alien Nation' and 'Mass Effect'. 
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RE: Something Star Trek Missed
May 23, 2019 at 4:38 am
Star Trek, AKA "plotholes 'r' us".
Playing Cluedo with my mum while I was at Uni:
"You did WHAT? With WHO? WHERE???"
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RE: Something Star Trek Missed
May 23, 2019 at 4:45 am
(This post was last modified: May 23, 2019 at 5:13 am by BrianSoddingBoru4.)
(May 23, 2019 at 2:32 am)onlinebiker Wrote: Never mind the fact that the whole universe speaks English.......
If two races that evolved on different planets met - wouldn't simple contact likely be fatal for both sides due to bacterial and viral contamination?
After all - we teem with microbes that we are immune to - but an alien wouldn't have that immunity.
Meet, shake hands, dead within hours....
Kinda makes "live long and prosper" moot.
I don't think so. It's wrong to draw parallels from human history (smallpox in the New World, for example), because all life on earth shares the same genetic lineage. Aliens would have a completely different genetic map, so the viruses and bacteria wouldn't have any effect on them.
The bad germs we deal with evolved to deal with us, so I doubt that Yersinia pestis would give a Vulcan so much as a head cold.
Boru
edit: Come to think of it, a much bigger plot hole is humans and ETs producing offspring. The likelihood of a human/Vulcan child is roughly equal to the successful cross breeding of a Percheron with a petunia.
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RE: Something Star Trek Missed
May 23, 2019 at 5:27 am
(May 23, 2019 at 2:32 am)onlinebiker Wrote: Never mind the fact that the whole universe speaks English.......
If two races that evolved on different planets met - wouldn't simple contact likely be fatal for both sides due to bacterial and viral contamination?
After all - we teem with microbes that we are immune to - but an alien wouldn't have that immunity.
Meet, shake hands, dead within hours....
Kinda makes "live long and prosper" moot.
How about aliens breathing the same O2, and all being upright walking tetrapods? This kind of stuff just perpetuates ignorance on how life evolved, and the idea that humans are the "peak" of evolution. There is no peak in evolution.
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RE: Something Star Trek Missed
May 23, 2019 at 5:49 am
(May 23, 2019 at 5:27 am)LastPoet Wrote: (May 23, 2019 at 2:32 am)onlinebiker Wrote: Never mind the fact that the whole universe speaks English.......
If two races that evolved on different planets met - wouldn't simple contact likely be fatal for both sides due to bacterial and viral contamination?
After all - we teem with microbes that we are immune to - but an alien wouldn't have that immunity.
Meet, shake hands, dead within hours....
Kinda makes "live long and prosper" moot.
How about aliens breathing the same O2, and all being upright walking tetrapods? This kind of stuff just perpetuates ignorance on how life evolved, and the idea that humans are the "peak" of evolution. There is no peak in evolution.
To be fair, that was largely the financial and time constraints of episodic television. And Trek did make a few stabs at non-humanoid life forms.
Boru
‘I can’t be having with this.’ - Esmeralda Weatherwax
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RE: Something Star Trek Missed
May 23, 2019 at 6:34 am
(This post was last modified: May 23, 2019 at 6:38 am by Brian37.)
(May 23, 2019 at 5:49 am)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote: (May 23, 2019 at 5:27 am)LastPoet Wrote: How about aliens breathing the same O2, and all being upright walking tetrapods? This kind of stuff just perpetuates ignorance on how life evolved, and the idea that humans are the "peak" of evolution. There is no peak in evolution.
To be fair, that was largely the financial and time constraints of episodic television. And Trek did make a few stabs at non-humanoid life forms.
Boru
True, and the "Transporter" motif was actually two things.
#1, it was a motif that Gene got from prior si fi B movie screen wipes. But money wise, and #2 the producers cut costs to avoid the shuttle scenes.
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RE: Something Star Trek Missed
May 23, 2019 at 6:39 am
Dammit biker, I'm a doctor not a TV critic!
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RE: Something Star Trek Missed
May 23, 2019 at 6:47 am
(May 23, 2019 at 6:39 am)no one Wrote: Dammit biker, I'm a doctor not a TV critic!
You'd be surprised to think about how many people really believe that "Judge Judy" is a real court. While it is true that she was a former judge, too many of her fans stupidly think the loser in each "case" pays, while in reality it is nothing more than a game show, and the producers pay the winner based on what Judge Judy says.
Damn it Jim, reality sucks.
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