Areas where you'd respectfully disagree with Chuck

[Dragon Ball Fan]

but again, magic has presedent in Star Trek as I said. and how can you come up with any satisfactory explanation when you're dealing with spores from another dimension with different laws of physics?

[Meushell]

but again, magic has presedent in Star Trek as I said. and how can you come up with any satisfactory explanation when you're dealing with spores from another dimension with different laws of physics?

For me, the spore issue (aside from the lack of continuity) is that they kept piling on. It allows them to transport quickly...and into other dimensions...and talk to the dead...and destroy the universe...

I do agree that it makes as much sense as Q does.

[Yukaphile]

While I agree with most of everything Chuck said in "Sacred Ground" regarding religion vs. science, I do disagree you can't perform lab experiments to prove the existence of God. Maybe religious people can't prove the existence of the Bible or Quran's version of God, but that does not mean there isn't a God that we could prove created the universe. But that God might be nothing like in the Bible.

[clearspira]

While I agree with most of everything Chuck said in "Sacred Ground" regarding religion vs. science, I do disagree you can't perform lab experiments to prove the existence of God. Maybe religious people can't prove the existence of the Bible or Quran's version of God, but that does not mean there isn't a God that we could prove created the universe. But that God might be nothing like in the Bible.

Agreed. Because what is God or what are gods? This is a question that needs to be asked. Because technically all a God or gods would need to be is THE creator. Whether its THE creator of us of as a species, or the planet, or the galaxy, or the universe.
Human beings have now reached the point where we can create life, and we are fully aware of the principles behind making a planet or a sun even if we can't do it. And one day, when we finally start traveling planets, who knows what we might accidentally or deliberately seed and then move on without a second thought? Would we not be their gods now? Sure, their theology surrounding us would almost certainly be a load of crap but we would hopefully still exist somewhere out there and be contactable via science.
I am a full subscriber of the idea that any sufficiently advanced technology can and would seem like magic to us.

[Yukaphile]

If the universe is indeed a hologram like some scientists speculate, then someone had to have switched it on. It could be like the creatures from the Cthulhu Mythos. This is where higher dimensions come in. And as a hologram, you would be capable of manipulating it in certain ways.

And yeah, it's just like the Q.

[TGLS]

If the universe is indeed a hologram like some scientists speculate, then someone had to have switched it on.

You're equivocating and you probably don't realize it. The holographic principle suggests that the universe isn't really three dimensional, but really two dimensional with the third dimension being generated in a way similar to holographic patterns on a credit card.

[Riedquat]

but again, magic has presedent in Star Trek as I said. and how can you come up with any satisfactory explanation when you're dealing with spores from another dimension with different laws of physics?

You can't draw an unarguable boundary, particularly in fairly soft science fiction but wherever that boundary lies the spores cross it. You can get away with that sort of thing - sometimes - when setting up your fictional universe in the first place.

And yes, Q pushed it rather too much too although they never doubled down on the stupid by explaining anything much about him although Voyager went a little in that direction and that turned out badly.

[J!!]

i think the idea of the shroom-network as originally presented was fine, if a little silly sounding. Some sort of 5-dimensional lifeform, with roots extending across all dimensions of space and time, is exactly the sort of cosmic weirdness that the Enterprise stumbles across on a weekly basis. The only real difference is that most Start Trek shows use the wierd thing once to solve the problem of the week & then forget about it forever.*

Where they crossed the line with it was claiming that killing the network would somehow kill all life everywhere. Though that said, the whole 'veins & muscles of the universe' thing is really no sillier than the Traveler's whole 'thought is the basis of reality' shtick (which as i recall, Chuck had exactly the same criticism of), or howthe OG Enterprise just kept repeatedly stumbling across planets identical to Earth. While i rather like Discovery despite its flaws & missteps, I do hope they just quietly sweep that bit under the rug, as was done with those other things.


*Personally, I like to think that the shrooms were originally discovered by the Enterprise in exactly this way, and that the USS Disco is part of a small fleet whose entire job is to follow them around and try to make something out of all the wierd shit they routinely come across.

[Dragon Ball Fan]

why is the idea of it destroying the whole multiverse the point that crosses the line, though? that makes sense based on the original premise of the network.

[Riedquat]

why is the idea of it destroying the whole multiverse the point that crosses the line, though? that makes sense based on the original premise of the network.

Then that's a problem with the premise. It's too all-encompassing and it raises too many questions of the "someone will have already destroyed the universe with it if it covers every planet, every star, ever galaxy, every universe" variety.

Of course every sci-fi idea isn't going to stand up to detailed scrutiny - to be able to do that with, say, warp drive you'd have invented warp drive for real, but if the holes pop into my head instead of me working them out suspension of disbelief gets shattered at once. That's especially bad if you're still watching the episode (not that I've actually seen any ST:D episodes).