
The Plague Shawl: 1878 - Petiver
https://thevictorianbookofthedead.wordpress.com/2020/01/29/the-plague-shawl-1878/
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dehrmann
Vaguely reminds me of the TNG episode where Data has amnesia(!) and sells
radioactive metals to a pre-industrial town. Hilarity does not village.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thine_Own_Self](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thine_Own_Self)

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sircastor
It's a great episode. It discusses empirical reasoning, peer review, mob
mentality, and more. It's written very intelligently.

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j9461701
At the risk of being a Connie Contrarian, I don't think it is. Data makes
wild, un-evidenced leaps of assumption that are only "empirical" because we
the audience understands what he's saying is correct. But in-universe his
ideas are ridiculous and unjustified. More-over Data invents a 'cure' for
radiation sickness pulled directly from his butt, with no testing of safety or
efficacy before he administers it to a large population.

The B-plot is also a great illustration of the fact that the writers have no
idea what to do with Troi. The character was included on the show literally
just for sex appeal, and by season 7 the writers were scrambling to justify
her existence in a way that didn't openly acknowledge the fact that she was
only included because Roddenberry was a womanizing horndog.

Meanwhile if the show had written her as an actual person from the start,
she'd have already proved herself a thousand times over. An empath on a ship
whose primary missions are diplomatic and exploratory is INSANELY useful:

(a rock monster appears on the view-screen)

"Lower your shields for cultural exchange."

"Counselor, opinion?"

"Despite the strangeness of this species and their lack of outward emotional
cues, I sense only curiosity and openness coming from them. We should comply"

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Isamu
>Data makes wild, un-evidenced leaps of assumption that are only "empirical"
because we the audience understands what he's saying is correct. But in-
universe his ideas are ridiculous and unjustified.

Same with Spock, he presents "logical" conclusions where the priors are not
knowable from where he stands.

Maybe it is just a popular caricature of logic, that if you are just not
purely "emotional", then you are the opposite: logical.

Don't tell people that Spock is not logical though. You'll get an emotional
response.

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ncmncm
I have read of this transmission method being used deliberately to depopulate
regions of South America in recent decades, and of North America in times
earlier.

