Ent: The Breach

[Mickey_Rat15]

I actually agree with you in that a Tribble is clearly a prey animal. They exist to be eaten. Am I about to poke the vegan hornets nest by saying that not all animals are created equal? Probably.

No animals exist to be eaten, otherwise they wouldn't evolve behaviours to try to avoid it. That's different from pointing out that they make up part of the food chain.

But the tribble's survival strategy does not seem to avoid being eaten, it is a reproductive strategy to overwhelm the predators with sheer numbers. They actually require predation to keep their numbers down so they do not outbreed their environment.

[Riedquat]

I actually agree with you in that a Tribble is clearly a prey animal. They exist to be eaten. Am I about to poke the vegan hornets nest by saying that not all animals are created equal? Probably.

No animals exist to be eaten, otherwise they wouldn't evolve behaviours to try to avoid it. That's different from pointing out that they make up part of the food chain.

But the tribble's survival strategy does not seem to avoid being eaten, it is a reproductive strategy to overwhelm the predators with sheer numbers. They actually require predation to keep their numbers down so they do not outbreed their environment.

That's a way of avoiding the impact of being eaten - have so many of you that it doesn't dent the population. "Avoid" might be the wrong term there but it's still doing that from the point of view of the species, if not the individuals. Similar strategies are used where individual chances of survival are low from things other than predation, e.g. have lots of offspring so some might survive the winter. They don't exist to freeze to death.

On the "they're bred for that purpose" point, people have at times throughout history been happy to have slaves breed to supply more slaves...

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

I actually agree with you in that a Tribble is clearly a prey animal. They exist to be eaten. Am I about to poke the vegan hornets nest by saying that not all animals are created equal? Probably.

No animals exist to be eaten, otherwise they wouldn't evolve behaviours to try to avoid it. That's different from pointing out that they make up part of the food chain.

But the tribble's survival strategy does not seem to avoid being eaten, it is a reproductive strategy to overwhelm the predators with sheer numbers. They actually require predation to keep their numbers down so they do not outbreed their environment.

Take that, vegans.^^

[Taurian Patriot]

I don't remember anything about this episode. I know I've seen every episode of every Star Trek until Discovery... but this is a total blank. Is it because the episode itself is so forgettable, or because I've just mentally deleted anything focused on Phlox or the Denobulans? Or both?

And how is Tucker both unfamiliar and disgusted with a personal waste extraction device? It seems like that should be included in any space explorer's basic training.

[bluebydefault]

Lol the first thing I thought when I saw them climbing down that cave was the Molemen ep of MST3K.
I heard Mike saying Down Down....

[Nightbeat74]

I was kinda hoping Phlox's degree would be the subject discussed, as I went through about nine versions trying to make it as both ridiculous yet plausible as possible.

To clarify about the Tribble:
1) Carnivores and Omnivores eat meat. I hope that those who feed it to me end the lives of my food in as humane a way as possible.
2) I first confirmed via several sites that veterinarians recommend against live feeding for a number of reasons, including protecting the pet (live prey fights back) and the cruelty of forcing a terrifying, unnatural end on a creature (being trapped in a cage allows for no means of escape, which most prey animals have as their defense). They say that the number of pets that cannot be trained to accept dead food is virtually nil (things like crickets are pretty much the only exceptions).
3) The tribble is clearly both aware and terrified as it screams several times before death. No attempt is made to mitigate its suffering, either because it is not possible without harming the predator, or because Phlox can't be arsed to do it.
4) If Phlox could do something but instead smiles while the tribble screams in its final moment, that's monstrous.
5) If Phlox can do nothing, smiling doesn't suggest he's exactly torn up about sentencing this creature to its terrifying end.
6) The scene is presented as dark comedy, which it is, but it is the same as when Janeway does something cruelly authoritarian, the show unwittingly confirms the joke as being the reality (that Phlox is someone for whom "ethics" is merely a word for "I don't want to do that").
7) Nice timing in placing this scene at the start of an episode supposedly about how Phlox is not an unethical monster.

I liked the overly long ridiculously fake degree joke but,i am wondering just what the other ones were?also thank you for all the research you do.

[Taurian Patriot]

Lol the first thing I thought when I saw them climbing down that cave was the Molemen ep of MST3K.
I heard Mike saying Down Down....

Rock climbing and sandstorms. The cue for any MST fan to go make a sandwich or something, because nothing interesting is about to happen.

[Nealithi]

I actually agree with you in that a Tribble is clearly a prey animal. They exist to be eaten. Am I about to poke the vegan hornets nest by saying that not all animals are created equal? Probably.

No animals exist to be eaten, otherwise they wouldn't evolve behaviours to try to avoid it. That's different from pointing out that they make up part of the food chain.

That is a matter of perspective: If you were to ask a tiger then he would say that the antelope exist to be eaten because he cannot eat anything else. If you were to ask a farmer then he would say that the pigs exist to be eaten because he reared them to be eaten - without him, the pigs would never have been born.

While I am still an omnivore. This argument is in error. Pigs can breed just fine without the aid of humans.
And as far as evolution is concerned. Predators evolved to eat prey. Part of prey evolution is higher birth rates. Rabbits, mice, and tribbles. . .

A pig can indeed given birth perfectly fine without the aid of humans... but if I went and bought a pig to eat from a farmer who breeds pigs for no other reason then to eat, and then that pig gave birth to another pig to eat using resources that I paid for and a man pig that I have also bought for the sole reason to mate with the lady pig, then that pig would never have existed if I didn't one day decide to go and buy a pig to eat (yes, I have no idea the correct names for male and female pigs).

And on a side note, that is one thing that vegans never seem to understand. What do they think is going to happen to farmyard animals if we ever stop eating meat? They won't be freed, they'll be culled for being unprofitable because animals do not exist for free.

I believe the terms are boar and sow. (I know females are sows. Not 100% on males.)
And the culling will take place because you can't just free a domestic pig. They go feral and are quite dangerous. And having been domesticated don't fear humans. So they are even more aggressive.

[Thebestoftherest]

Wait a minute, if the Enterprise and star fleet interact with tribble's before the trouble with tribble's how did no one in Kirk Enterprise know how dangerous they were.

[TGLS]

I can only assume the situation went like this:

[A Zoologist on the Enterprise checks his space Email]
Z: Dangerous species alert: USS Cabot lost due to rogue genetically engineered Tribbles; Bahahaha! Into the trash bin with that one; like Tribbles could be dangerous.