3 in The Passenger (Deep Space Nine S01-E09)

Make...me...live!!

Religion and superstition never asked how to prolong life because the soul is the answer. When the body dies there is an eternal place of rest waiting for the living soul. Now what if the soul has a scientific angle shall we say?

In science fiction, the question of prolonging life goes two ways: extend the life of the physical body which include using biomechanical replacements, or find a way to copy the entirety of the human mind. 

Copying the mind with the prospect of transferring the entire essence of a person to a new vessel is analogous to the concept of the soul, at least in the sense that the body won’t matter. Episode 9, The Passenger, is about such a way of extending life. 

Rao Vantika faced life imprisonment so he had no means to escape but to concede that his life ended – only after discreetly finding new body for himself. Had this story been written in the 19^th century it would be possession. In modern science fiction, mind transcending a specific body, besides this episode, gave rise to stories like Dax or the Ship of Theseus scene in Wandavision, just to name a few.

Here are the 3 things that stand out in the Episode. 

via GIPHY

 

Jadzia’s morning Routine

At your service (Jadzia). Day or night. - Quark

There are three things to love in this scene.

First, I think it’s a good thing to be serving the ungettable woman every day, like Quark does. It means seeing Jadzia smile and she is friendly. There are possibilities in friendship until the dreaded friendzone, which is a story for another day.

Second good thing in this scene is Odo and Quark talk about mundane things in life like they’re old friends, which they don’t consider themselves to be – overtly at least. The love and hate routine is enjoyable. I mean if this is how enemies treat each other then give me enemies. 

For today it’s about Quark deluding himself that Jadzia would love him in a special way. Well Quark talks about Jadzia like it’s a dream and Odo treats it more like a delusion hence unworthy of a moment’s thought. 

Then the banter turns philosophical as it always does, moving beyond Jadzia to wants and desires in general. Does it have to be realistic to be worthy of a dream? It was fun until Odo starts to talk shop, sniffing out what Quark knows of a deuridium shipment.

Third and last point this scene opens up is, what the hell is coffee – rakatajino – to a Klingon? Are there any traditions or habits surrounding it?

I’m a morning coffee drinker which is why this scene, although there was no reference to time of day, feels like morning to me. 

It's good to want things...Especially things I can't have

 

Like Jadzia I would be sitting down with a brand new cup of coffee, reading messages that came in the night or social media posts, then YouTube, and also sometimes on a mobile of similar shape as Jadzia’s PADD. Had there been no pandemic I would be in office “reviewing” the goings on in the world like Odo is to Quark.

Which begs the question what do Klingons do when they drink their coffee.

 

via GIPHY

 

Downloadable Soul

Here's the hypothesis... the body dies... but the consciousness lives on...

How much information does the human mind have? How do you copy it or transport it in a way that soul might travel or possess another body?

There have been cumbersome technologies: the Mauler twins of invincible have one such device. It looks like it’s on the verge of blowing up every time they do a copy. Avatar has that tanning bed but then again it looks more like a user interface than mind transfer. Modok in the Winter Soldier movie had an entire hanger to store his mind but to be fair the context was maybe 70s era computer storage.

What are the possibilities if the human essence can be downloadable to a chip? For that I’d recommend the series Altered Carbon, at least the first season. Imagine a society where the essence of the human soul is reduced to something as common as copying a USB stick.

What would you do if you could conquer death? 

via GIPHY

 

Odo and Primmin

And I don't mean to be throwing my weight around.  No hard feelings.

 
Odo and Lt. George Primmin of Starfleet Security started off on the wrong foot.

The young Starfleet officer thought Deep Space Nine’s security chief was either reckless or on the take, loudly proclaiming the secret deuridium  shipment going through the station to Quark. Likewise Odo saw the lieutenant as a know-it-all, a young buck who has had no experience that may be of use to him. 

Commander Sisko had to stand in the middle so to speak; he ordered the two had to work together and supports Odo’s position as resident Chief of Security. 

What I love about this scene is that Odo had an insight of Vantika’s tactics. Lt. Primmin could have kept his pride and stick to Starfleet tactics but he went about the mission with Odo’s insight in mind, towards a conclusion the security chief hadn’t even considered.

Commander, your Lieutenant Primmin there just saved us all a lot of problems.

 

In an act of respect the lieutenant reported to Odo as his superior when he hit jackpot. He could have jumped over him as a Starfleet officer. Odo in return could have reported that the success belonged to anonymous members of his department, but in reciprocal act of respect gave the lieutenant all the credit when he reported up to Commander Sisko.

Mutually reaching out to understand the beauty in the differences and accept it makes the unity of Odo and Lt. Primmin beautiful to see.