Vulcan Telepathic and Other Mental Abilities

[WarpGirl]

OK... During the course of many discussions here Vulcan mental abilities have often been a big part of the picture of Trip and T'Pol's relationship. So I thought we might like a place to discuss them all. Mind-melds, touch telepathy, regular telepathy, empathic abilities, and other ESP. This isn't supposed to be about psychic bonds per se but I'm sure it will come up. In reality Vulcans arent your garden variety telepaths, they are empathic telepaths. Not even Betazoids have both abilities at once. Granted these abilities vary in strength in individuals but the baselines are in all Vulcans. Also these mental abilities influence the need for Vulcans to "repress" their emotions.

I find it interesting that the Romulans don't share any of these abilities, which makes me think that while they are related to Vulcans there are significant differences in their brains. What accounts for these differences? I haven't a clue, but it could be a factor in why they rejected Surak and abandoned Vulcan altogether. Anyway I hope you find it interesting.

[pookha]

if it were a teaching of surak they might not have learned how to meld.
add in that there may have been hundreds of years of interbreeding they might might also interfere with their being able to do it.

[WarpGirl]

Well I have to say I've never really thought about either of those possibilities. They actually make a lot of sense, particularly the second one. I was under the impression that Vulcans always had strong empathic and telepathic powers. Becuase of this their super-charged emotions caused chaos because they affected everyone and everything around them. Surak and logic brought order. If I'm wrong please correct me. I seem to remember in "The Forge" T'Pol being able to sense a wild Shalet from miles away. Actually one of the few things that got me angry about that whole Arc was that the concept of a Katra existed long before Surak. Yet the writers made it into a new development. That is rediculous!

[Silverbullet]

I have often thought that the writers of the different series gave Vulcans abiities to further the Episode story.

Certainly smmetimes not canon.

Reading the Star Trek Encyclopedia there are things in that about vulcans that are contrary to what the writers put in their episodes.

Of coure I don't have the very latest Enclyclopedia.

There are a lot of things I don't like about the forge so I won't go there.

[WarpGirl]

I'd like a ST encyclopedia. But I doubt that will happen any time soon. I actually liked the Vulcan Arc, although not nearly as much as the Andorian Arc. But the thing about katras just about killed me. Canon is a word I don't get along with, mainly because episodes can screw themselves up.

For example, in VOY "Faces" establishes that B'Elanna's father left the family when she was 5. In "Lineage" the episode says she was 12. Which is true they are technically both canon!

As for Vulcans and their mental powers I don't remember seeing anything contradictory. But I am on tons of cold medicine so my brain is fried. Perhaps you can give me some examples.

[Silverbullet]

Just consulted my copy of Star Trek Encyclopedia. It is not the latest edition. Only goes from TOS through voy. No ent references in it. I believe that thre is a later edition Out that I wish I had.

anyway. In this edition it says that vulcans are telepathic but it is very limited. Used mostly for mind melds and touch telepathy.

It does say that Spock Heard the death cry of 400 vulcans over a large span of space.

also says that on vulcan children are bethrothed by thier parents at age Seven and that a telepathic link is formed between the children. I suppose that link would only be local and would not work over any distance.

The edition I have has some drawings of vucans and they are not very attractive.


So, if the encyclopedia is Canon then vulans are telepathic but their ability is very limited.

However Spock heard over a vast distance which might support Trip and T-Pol minds liking in her White room on Enterprise.

I actualy like the vulcans in Enterprise better than in the Encyclopedia.

[Silverbullet]

Just consulted my copy of Star Trek Encyclopedia. It is not the latest edition. Only goes from TOS through voy. No ent references in it. I believe that thre is a later edition Out that I wish I had.

anyway. In this edition it says that vulcans are telepathic but it is very limited. Used mostly for mind melds and touch telepathy.

It does say that Spock Heard the death cry of 400 vulcans over a large span of space.

also says that on vulcan children are bethrothed by thier parents at age Seven and that a telepathic link is formed between the children. I suppose that link would only be local and would not work over any distance.

The edition I have has some drawings of vucans and they are not very attractive.


So, if the encyclopedia is Canon then vulans are telepathic but their ability is very limited.

However Spock heard over a vast distance which might support Trip and T-Pol minds liking in her White room on Enterprise.

I actualy like the vulcans in Enterprise better than in the Encyclopedia.

[Asso]

I actualy like the vulcans in Enterprise better than in the Encyclopedia.

I'm with you.

[WarpGirl]

Tuvok didn't need to touch other telepaths in VOY to communicate. There was an episode where a Security Lady from some planet asked about why he didn't use more of his abilities and he explained about humans. I've always been under the impression that MOST Vulcans are telepathically weak only with non-telepathic species. Like Klingons, Cardassians, and Romulans. This requires them to touch in order to get a full read. But Vulcans are also powerful empaths, Spock says this somewhere. So they pick up on things like lying whether a species is telepathic or not.

I think T'Pol must have very very powerful abilities if she could fight off Tolaris and use the telepresences unit, without training. People like T'Pau and T'Lar are super powerful becuse they can keep three seperate consciouses in tact. T'Lar kept her own, McCoy's, and Spock's katra safe in ST3. And T'Pau eventually learns to do the same. If Surak's katra hadn't fought her off she would have as well.

[Silverbullet]

I have always thought that someone should have maintained a continuity board from all of the sereis and movies as to what the writers in each did to the vulcans.

It seems that vulcans were protrayed to suit the series or the movies and things got added or left behind.

One of the reasons I like the Ent Vulcans is because I can relate to them.

In other series and movies they left me cold. Not even spock seemed to be the kind I could relate to. Just me I guess.

[WarpGirl]

I love Spock and Sarek. Tuvok struck me as cold for the first three years of VOY but he grew on me. The thing about canon is that only what is specifically stated in the TV episodes is CANON! See where things get dicey. It is SO irritating!

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

I have always thought that Vulcans were touch telepaths - they have to touch (or meld) with someone for it to work. They can do it without that if they're in very close proximity to the subject, like Spock did through a wall with a guard on Eminiar VII (A Taste of Armageddon), but it's very rudimentary. A bonded couple will have a much stronger connection. With training and practice they could communicate at distances if they're both in a meditative stance, like TnT in the "white space".

Betazoids on the other hand seems to be much stronger telepaths. They can read minds and feelings and stuff over distances. Correct me if I'm wrong, I'm not an expert and I never liked Betazoids much anyway.

[WarpGirl]

Betazoids usually only read thoughts. Empathic connections are rare. Deanna was unique. Like I said, most Vulcans rely on touch telepathy but not all.

[pookha]

we really dont know how old is the concept of katra.
at least i dont remember it being said.
actually i sometimes wondered if a lot of the telapathic mental ability didnt emerge until the time of surak. that it was a byproduct of the extensive meditation vulcans must undertake every day.

from what i gathered in the vulcan trilogy the melds were connected with surak and his people.

the telepathic imprint done in children at their promise ceremony really seems to act as a homing beacon and nothing else.

there really isnt a sense that it builds empathy ect in the couple.

if this is true then the year of being together that was created in enterprise makes sense.

it is also possible with the melds being rejected during the time of enterprise that there was just a promise ceremony without the telepathic homing beason put into place.

and if the meld is needed to activate the mind then it might explain why full fledge bonds were almost unknown.

and i dont know but while vulcans dont go around reading minds it would seem it would take a lot to implant a thought into the mind of another through a wall.

though i sometime suspected they were uncomfortable with making spock that powerful because of the top of my head i cant remember if he used it again.

[WarpGirl]

In "Search For Spock" T'Lar says that the ritual she preforms on Spock and McCoy hadn't been practiced since before Surak's time if I remember correctly. Something to that effect anyway. That says to me that the katra had always been a part of the Vulcan identity even before the awakening of logic. As for how powerful Vulcan telepathic and empathic abilities are, I'd think that it would depend on the individual Vulcan using them. But I do believe that all Vulcans are capable of the same abilities to a certain extent, and can probably augment them with training. Still I would think its a highly individual process. So that most things could seem to be rare. T'Pol just seems to strike me as someone who would be naturally giften because she did last so long on Enterprise. Therefore it seems reasonable to conclude that given training she could be capable of many things, including having an unbreakable psychic bond with Trip.