“The smell of the Deep Space 3 comedy club is highly unpleasant and I do not care for this human concept of the ‘two drink minimum,’ but my feigned laughter seemed to please the Tellarite ambassador, which I feel will improve our chances in the grain shipment negotiations.”
Not to this level obviously, but there basically was a character like this in Enterprise. She was T’Pol’s hero, and shocked the crew of the Enterprise by being friendly, shaking hands, and wanting to try their food
Season 1, episode 23, “Fallen Hero”, in case anyone was wondering.
Inversely there’s the one where Will Riker in TNG does this like a Klingon exchange student and absolutely kills it! He apparently makes for a top shelf Klingon.
It’s just the Star Fleet approach in pretty much every situation. They’re always the ones to make the accomodations
So kind of like high functioning autistics IRL. Cool.
That basically sounds like me at a party lol.
Thank you for your service to the empire
Same and everyday of my life at work.
“So… Linda. How did Tim do at his first day at school?”
Inside voice: I could give a flaming shit about your crotch goblin. I just don’t want to be outted as an emotionless lizard person. Please Satan make this a quick story, so I can go back to my soul crushing labor.
It is logical to behave illogically when doing so will accomplish your goals.
That actually is quite logical.
I think any Vulcan would agree. It just makes sense to mirror the energy of your counterparts at a gathering. Even if you don’t understand why they’re doing something, you participating includes you in things. Being passive and externally emotionless sets you apart as “other”. Being vulcans, they would likely desire to know why, and would do their research.
I imagine alien-facing industries would have a whole section of their organization dedicated to studying alien socialization so they can be ready at interspecies functions.
Anything less would be illogical.
Now the real question is whether these vulcans who mix “too heavily” will end up becoming “less Vulcan-y” over time, or if other vulcans would treat them differently by default just because they’re “tainted”. We’ve seen how… Particular… Vulcans can be about the slightest divergence from “standard”.
Yeah, Vulcans are surprisingly bigoted and stiff.
Behaving emotionless in a universe where 99% of all sapient lifeforms are emotional is illogical when dealing with them. You don’t have to actually feel the emotions, but behaving in a way that puts them at ease makes cooperation much easier.
It’s mentioned a few times that Vulcans feel strong emotions but suppress them because they are afraid of losing control.
That’s a good point. However, is it fair of them to then look down on other species that don’t suppress their emotions?
Going a bit more doylist here, when Vulcans are well written they project their own insecurities on other species and that scares them. They then do all kinds of rationalization to deal with their feelings. In one of the season 4 episodes of Enterprise there’s a small scene that covers this a bit.
It’s called masking. Rbf mode is real. A lifetime of neurodivergence can make you pretty good at parties.
Conclusion, Vulcans are just autistic.
People often ask me if I’m pissed off or if everything is okay if they catch me unawares.
Like no I just didn’t see you there and couldn’t get my face ready in time.
My wife has several immediate and extended family members on the spectrum and she still tells me things like “I don’t know why you say you don’t like parties, you did great and looked like you had a fantastic time”
Apparently “you were all SUPPOSED to think that” is not the correct response.
I tried to explain this AT a party once to people I didn’t know at all. They thought I was pulling their leg. And I somehow doubt they even noticed when I left due to spoon depletion.
It’s not a big secret that a lot of such characters Vulcans, Data, etc are just autistically coded
Yeah i always figured a lot of sci fi has autistic writers. Makes sense for them to include autistic coding
SPOCK: Captain, I believe you have made the right decision. If I can be of assistance, I would be happy to accompany you on the away team.
KIRK: You? Happy?
SPOCK: I was simply attempting to use your vernacular to convey an idea.
KIRK: Thank you, Mister Spock.
Human Diplomat: *Laughs at joke.*
Vulcan Diplomat (To Himself): This is great. I’m going to get a good grade in Party, something that is both normal to want and possible to achieve.
https://toast-the-unknowing.tumblr.com/post/737885534519738368/
Sooo an accurate representation of my life with Adult Autism?
Kind of, but in this case he would actually be good at it.
Most people think I’m quirky and would never guess I was Autistic until I told them. Thanks for the slight though… kinda weirdly judgy for a Star Trek sub
It was meant as a joke (that could apply to myself as well). I did not mean genuine offense.
Thats fair I guess. Its IS kind of risky to make a joke at another persons expense though if you arent meaning to offend, especially when tone cant be applied
Well that’s the internet for ya
Damn. Too real. Cheers whoever you are.
When Game Theory moves on to Party Theory
John Nash style Vulcan attempting to get everyone on the Enterprise laid so he can leverage their post coital haze to win additional diplomatic concessions.
As someone who’s leaning more towards the introverted side of the specturm this is just what I do at house parties when my social energy for the day has left me, but it’s not socially acceptable to go home yet. The longer the night goes on, the more I’ll be in the bathroom. Not because I drink so much, but because it’s the place where I’ll be guaranteed a few minutes to myself where I don’t have to keep pretending that I’m enjoying this.
I’m pretty sure my relatives think I have some sort of horrible digestive issue. I spend like 25% of holiday gatherings in the bathroom. I just need a few minutes of dark, quiet, not having to think about what to say or what expression I should be making.
I’m pretty sure my relatives think I have some sort of horrible digestive issue
Is that where your username came from?
😂💨✨
My dad thought he was very funny and he absolutely wasn’t, but he expected you to laugh at his jokes, so I learned how to do this a long time ago.
Pretty much. Although eventually we discovered that as long as we said, “that’s very funny,” he was satisfied. We didn’t have to fake laugh anymore.
Well, that makes it a bit easier!
Ive been known to do that. Takes work to be social
“Your joke runs deep… share it with me.”
Do most Vulcans not do this due to a feeling of superiority?
No they just see emotions as useless/illogical iirc. They don’t see any logic in emotional reactions so they reject them.
Though the more I think about it the more sense it would make for more Vulcans to do this as it would end a lot of the typical misunderstandings and awkward situations.
No they just see emotions as useless/illogical iirc.
I’d say they see them as outright dangerous. The reason they avoid them that strongly is not because they are indifferent.
I think its worth remembering that most vulcans allow some emotion in interpersonal relationships, especially older vulcans. Spock is just trying to be super duper logical to prove he’s vulcany enough even with his half human heritage (which is ironically an extreme emotional reaction)
Like Worf trying to be super duper honorable, to the point that many Klingons he meets fall short in his eyes.
Like his son.
You know, I’m starting to think that Worf is a bad father.
Actually they are hyper emotional by nature, which has given them a lot of grief (in the form of brutal violence and wars against each other) over the millennia until one guy came up with their philosophy of pragmatic rationality, which as its core element asks vulcans to learn to ritually suppress their emotions.
It isnt so much them considering emotions as useless, more them being very wary of them due to their past, and their philosophy/belief system teaching and emphasizing rational thought as paramount and the highest ideal, and (their) emotions being fundamentally irrational. So they are often a bit miffed when humans for example make obviously emotional decisions.
Are those the wars that created the split between Vulcans and Romulans?
I’ll be honest my star trek knowledge is lacking I just know bits and pieces.
IIRC the cause for the split isnt completely fleshed out, but supposedly it happened around that time with the romulans rejecting the new philosophy. I am not sure if they simply left or were exiled though.
What I also find interesting in this regard is that the vulcans are slightly telepathic, and the romulans are not. Perhaps it is an ability that developed from generations of mental discipline the vulcans went through.
Another fun (and not very likely) take I once read is that the vulcans we know are actually augments, similar to the ones earth made and banned after they became tyrannical.
The theory here being the original vulcans (physically romulans) tinkered with genetic engineering, creating the modern form of the vulcans with increased mental capacity and psionic potential, also losing the romulan forehead in the process. Then they would go the same route as the human augments, paired with their violent emotions, and start a civil war with their regular brethren who then eventually lose this war and leave or are exiled.
The new vulcans then start warring with each other until eventually surak shows up with their modern philosophy.
Trouble of course is if they feign emotion but are not convincing to their hosts they’ll alienate people even more than if they just act in their natural Vulcan way
