posted
They could be. I wonder why the aliens did return the stragglers to Destiny. Did they know the humans would die again eventually, so they figured they might as well let them have some time with their friends? Well at least there's one shuttle back on Destiny, which they were sorely missing two weeks ago.
Registered: Feb 2005
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posted
And depending on how you interpret the ending, Caine might not actually have died. (Either in the shuttle or on Destiny.)
But as interesting as the story was, what's the point? Clearly there's some alien involvement of some kind, most likely the same ones who built the obelisk and presumably the planet. But if everyone on the planet died, what was the point of "resurrecting" them and sending them back to Destiny, only to twistedly have them die again? To let the rest of the crew know what happened to them? That doesn't make sense.
At this point, literally the only solid fact we have (from an audience perspective) is that TJ saw that glowing nebula in the sky before she saw it "for real" on Destiny. In fact, that's the only remaining element of her hallucination/vision that hasn't been disproven or called into question.
So either TJ's vision was faked, or the return of Caine and the others was faked (that is, the "real" Caine is still alive in his cabin with the baby). I would say that the former would be a much simpler conclusion.
I kinda liked Rush's reaction to that "God" argument. It just goes to point out all the logical flaws in the concept of an all-knowing, all-powerful deity. (IMO, of course.)
And I loved Eli's quotation of Clarke's Third Law. Someone had to say it—I've been thinking of it for a while!
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted
One question is - why would a presumably omnipitent race build an obelisk on a planet? Interesting that when Caine called for help they came. Maybe they built the obelisk to be worshipped? A new aliens as gods thread?
Anyone get reminded of ascended ancients when you saw the glowing light at the end?
Registered: Mar 1999
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Daniel Butler
I'm a Singapore where is my boat
Member # 1689
posted
Blah. I was bored by this ep. I think that's all I need to say.
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
I think it's pretty clear that TJ's vision came from Destiny itself, just like Rush's two "Harveys" and Young's dreams/simulations. That nebula was probably already on the ship's sensors or in the logs from the seed ships.
posted
Yeah, I was thinking that while watching the episode. The ship probably got into her brain to make her feel better.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
That idea sounds quite reasonable from a practical standpoint of answering the mystery. I like it.
But on a deeper level, that means that the there's a much bigger problem: the ship can lie. It doesn't matter if it's arguably a helpful kind of lie, it means that the ship could be providing false information. And that would open up a huge can of worms...
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted
More to the point I think it further implies something I've suspected since the first episodes; the ship itself is conscious, sentient and possibly even sapient.
As for providing false information...that's not quite what it's doing since it's not as if this is raw data, it's an unconsciously induced vision. From a machine's perspective it might see it as a sort of software patch; making sure the ship's medic is emotionally stable just like it tried to do with Young.
Still, from the get-go the ship has been looking out for the crew, locking out addresses to certain dangers, seeking out resources and supplies that they need, etc. Even if it did outright lie, nothing that's happened so far would indicate it would knowingly endanger the crew in this way. Indeed, given how firm a grasp it's developed on the crew's individual personalities it's probably much better equipped to anticipate their responses, decreasing the likelihood of them endangering themselves by being contrary.
posted
Oh, I agree with all that. Certainly the ship seems to have the crew's best interests in mind. ...So far. It's easy to imagine some kind of "ship run amok" story coming down the road. That's what I'm worried about.
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted
I doubt they'll go down that route. I mean if the thing hasn't gone crazy after spending millions of years with only the CMB for company then it's not about to go all HAL 9000 now...hang on. An AI spending millions of years listening to an intelligent signal from the dawn of creation? What if the ship wasn't launched with an AI to begin with at all? What if that universal consciousness has at least partially imprinted itself on the ship's computer? Sounds very Carl Sagan.
posted
Okay, so who was saying that the Destiny mission is implausible?
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
Registered: Nov 2000
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