To boldly go...

...requires emotion. As the more dedicated fans amongst you have no doubt noticed, the title is a famous phrase from the popular TV series called Star Trek. The movie, screened only recently, was generally thought to be surprisingly good, an opinion with which I fully concur, having just watched it today (with Ian and Chen Yi), in spite of or perhaps because of its estrangement from canon. Admittedly it was a neat way of avoiding criticism from the more hardcore fans. They 'cheated' so to speak.

But anyway, to the main point of this post. Within the Star Trek universe, there exist extraterrestrial beings called vulcans, certain individuals of whom choose to undergo a process intending to purge themselves completely of emotions, the idea being that this detachment will allow for better judgment. Logic would function unimpeded by irrational emotions, and as such enable the vulcans to consider matters in a clearer light, so as to allow for error-free decision making.

First off, the idea is correct in certain aspects, emotions do on ocassion impede good judgment, and its regulation goes a long way towards making good decisions. And secondly, it does indeed allow people to perceive things that their more emotional counterparts might not, being able to view matters with greater clarity. Case in point: for many great scientists, their extraordinary insights were made possible by their avoidance of getting emotionally involved with the inanimate world, looking instead for the cold, hard facts. So the movie gets that much right.

However, completely distancing oneself from all emotion is not only aesthetically distasteful, it is also suicidal. Without emotions there would hardly be any motivation for doing anything, or indeed living. What, if not the emotion of fear, motivates you to run from the tiger charging you, all claws and bloody maw agape? To put it succintly, life and death would be equally stripped of meaning, and as such a person devoid of emotion would simply look his askance at the tiger and stand eyebrow cocked, as the tiger rushes to devour him. Imagine for a moment, yourself without emotion and now consider the whole of life with all the cold detachment of logic that you can muster. Why should you want to continue living? There is no pleasure to be had, no joy of reading Terry Pratchett, eating at Williams, seeing Manchester United beat Barcelona, or listening to Green Day rock until your parents complain of the loudness. What then can life offer you besides pain, those days you spent outdoors with the sun beating on you with merciless intensity, or the accidents you had and the subsequent agony of a broken ankle. You would, perhaps, be then gifted with extraordinary insight and clarity of thought, but what the hell does that signify to you? You know such intelligence must be preferable to stupidity, but how could you take any pleasure or pride in possessing the former? You might as well be stupid as not, or share your insight as remain silent. You could not feel any obligation to do so for the sake of advancing the general good of society. You become a rudderless ship, drifting according the whims and caprice of the wind and waves, till at last you lie broken on the now colourless shores of your life. Forgive me if I wax here poetic. Hah.

Ah well. My objections to the plausibility of the vulcans' supposed complete detachment notwithstanding, I still have no hesitation in recommending the movie to those of you who have yet to watch it.

And if you're wondering why I decided to speak so on the subject, it was because one of my two companions, I will not say who ^^, seemed particularly enamored of that vulcan concept...