Putaro wrote:I have a theory on Vulcans that's based on the best science I can find with Google. To some extent, emotions are based on our brain chemistry. I see Vulcans as having the ability to self-regulate their brain chemistry. This allows them to NOT experience emotions in many cases. You could take this as kind of a gating process where they can control when those chemicals are released and their meditation process would be a time when they can slowly release them while maintaining equilibrium.
Actually, you're not far off... Based off a lot of VOY (I wish more people around here liked it) Spock, Sarek, and The Savage Curtin it basically comes down to what you're talking about. However, even with attaining Kolinahr a Vulcan can never completely stop the production of chemicals and horomones that creat emotion. That would kill anyone. What meditation, and verious other diciplines allow them to do is basically ignore them. The training a Vulcan does throughout their lives is to look beyond what they're feeling so they would not be influenced by it.
Here's an example... Trip is captured by Romulans... Archer dies in the battle... T'Pol is in command... If Enterprise loses the battle the Romulans gain a strategic advantage pointing them directly to Earth... But T'Pol sees an opening to get Trip back, she can draw power from the weapons to the transporter, and beam him out... If she does this she fries the weapons, but the engines are fine, and they could retreat... The thing is that they might never get a chance to stop the invasion again...
The only logical choice she has is to find a way to destroy that ship, even if her mate is on it. Now let's pretend her brain chemistry is perfect... If she truly could turn off her emotions, in that moment she wouldn't even care that she's in effect killing her husband. That's not how it works. A Vulcan's love, hate, grief... all emotion is always there it's metaphorically 'locked in a box.'
I've always said GR used the wrong word when he chose logic as Vulcan philosophy. It should have been hyper-rationality. Vulcans are supposed to be rational. Not robots.
But as Spock said to Data in Reunification pt2... This is paraphazing...
you are the embodiment of everything my people aspire to be.
Which always confused me quite honestly because out of all characters on Trek Data, is probably the most compassionate of them...
And that's another thing, Vulcans are not sociopaths! If they were truly obligated to turn off every emotional impulse they would be incapable of comapassion. There would be no right or wrong, good or bad. Their entire existence woul have to centered on self. Something completely opposite of Surak's teachings.
And they wouldn't care whether they ate meat or not. They wouldn't have any preference what so ever, and we know they do. They wouldn't care if their food was disgusting, the music is terrible, or the dog smells bad. It's just not true.
It was more a feeling that something was amiss. Luckily I was never harmed. Now I am old and wiser. 
