The Dangers of the Vulcan Mind Meld 

Vulcan - "Why is there screaming?" Me - "I don't know there's just always screaming." Vulcan - starts crying.

I am positively embarrassed that I never realized Picard's use of the neck pinch stemmed from his earlier mind meld with Sarek, but now it's obvious.

I think mind melds do have lasting consequences. All of Picard's experiences with them should lead a person to that conclusion. His meld with Spock's father, Sarek, comes to mind.

Mind Melds. Side effects may include: Dry eye. Madness. Cotton mouth. Loose stool. Murder. Hotdog fingers. Death. Oily constipation. Dramatic swings in theme music.

"Emotional Transference is an effect of the mind-meld." - Spock, (Star Trek 2009)

Also, when plot armor is needed, Vulcans can use their telepathy to control other sentient beings through walls, etc.

For some reason I’ve always remembered The Doctor telling Tuvok “I know more about mind melds than you do.” Maybe it just seemed like a very The Doctor line or something.

So there’s a possibility that the seldom used Star Wars trick of “masking your thoughts with inane tasks, or thinking of one strong emotion while thinking about a memory that inspire the opposite feeling” could work against vulcans too, interesting

Kirk: "And then we-" Spock: "Bored now. Reading your mind." Kirk: "You can read minds?! HOW!?" Spock: "Muffin button."

Ever since I watched through Voyager I love seeing "Starship Mine" and watching Picard take down Tim Russ as a "not Tuvok" Vulcan lmao. Never gets old! I love how they have a tendency to use bit actors from previous series as main or secondary cast on following shows!

You could easily describe a mind meld as the most intimate thing a person can experience. And even if you can control your own thoughts to the point that only your most conscious thoughts were shared, it's still deeply connecting and a far more intimate form of communication than any human being can do naturally.

I sort of view mind melds as having originally been one of Spock's convenient super powers that would show up when needed to advance the plot. Among those I include the long-range-telepathic sensitivity to the destruction of the USS Intrepid, the forgotten Vulcan third eyelid, the ability to control guards from a distance, the ability to direct Sirah the Yang, his ability to simulate the Vulcan Death Grip, and even his super strength, his occasional near invulnerability (The Apple), super hearing and genius intellect, and of course his ability to have his body function for a long time without his physical brain being present. Originally, of course, he was just the smiley alien with pointy ears that liked the singing plants on Talos IV.

Remember the TV series "Highlander" with the dark quickening where they absorb one two many evil souls and needed to share the burden with another. They should've had a dark Vulcan meld episode where they had to struggle to regain control of their personality.

Sarek: I know your fetish Picard: And I, yours

One of my favourite things to come out of Discovery Season 1 was the “Artificial Mind Meld” device that Stamets used on Burnham to connect with Surak when he was injured. The idea that the bioelectrical impulses that begin a mind meld can be recreated - albeit imperfectly - with technology was interesting to me, and something that I hope we see used in more ways.

I never really understood how Picard can manage to do a nerve pinch. My head cannon says that the meld with Sarek left residual energies in Picard that allowed him to do this.

As shown in TOS episode A Taste for Armageddon, Spock, a half Vulcan mind you, is able to implant a suggestion at a distance but through a wall of unknown construction and density. If Spock can do this imagine what a full Green blooded Vulcan can accomplish or better yet, imagine what a Vulcan/Betazoid mix might be capable of...!

“It probably would take a greater degree of control for a mind to *Allow* a Mind Meld to occur than to *Resist* it.” Ok, now I want to see a group of monk-like ppl dedicating months/years of their lives to prepare themselves for a proper melding of minds. It’d be a fascinating exploration of primitive “hive minds”, and the efforts that one would go thru in order to facilitate such an exchange of thoughts/memories/emotions.

I would have to say a little from column A and a little from column B when it comes to the Vulcan mind meld. It is and was used as a convenient plot device as it did get you further along in the investigation without slowing down the story or plot. There also should be consequences when such action is taken that could be expended in future storylines and episodes.

Excellent touch showing Agent Simpson's use of the Nerve Pinch.

The Rick roll The Greatest defence against pesky vulcan mind invaders

First thing a Vulcan hears when initiating a meld with me: "COME ON FEEL THE NOISE!!! GIRLS ROCK YOUR BOYS!!! WE'LL GET WILD, WILD WILD!!!"

I like to imagine that Vulcans pick up hobbies and sense of humor from their friends and spouses they meld with. Captain:" I didn't know you ice skated T'vala." T'vala:" I didn't until i melded with your mom. Boom shakalaka as they say."

The one dislike is definitely from an undercover Romulan agent.

Like any tool, i suspect it comes down to intention and application. Ideally I would love to see a counselor who could get to the root of the matter with something like a mind meld. On the other hand how many times have we seen melds go wrong, used without consent and pass on disease or kill people.

They never seem to go as planned, and smart characters have caught on to this.

The Vulcan got Rick Rolled during a mind meld.........LOL

Because thoughts, memories etc. are essentially electric signals bouncing in the brains, mind meld in real life would require very sensitive nerves in the tip of the fingers. Some people are innately hypersensitive and as such, could theoretically perform mind meld if they can also reroute their own internal brain signals at will through their own fingers. The location of the fingers when touching someone else's head depends on how close in proximity the brains are to the skull or skin of the person being touched. This is similar to how EEG is taken. What comes to nerve pinch, it has been extensively discussed before, and there is theories that human nervous system has points across the spinal cord that are hypersensitive to touch and can trigger involuntary reflexes. I haven't personally tried yet to find those points to verify if the theories are correct. However, common sense tells me that those points if they really exist must be in close proximity to neural pathways that actually connect the relevant muscles to the spinal cord.

Meanwhile, despite TNG running for seven seasons, and Lwaxana Troi appearing a couple of times on DS9, we still know extremely little about the capabilities of Betazoid telepathy beyond its long range.

Imagine what a ½ Betazoid & ½ Vulcan child could do with their enhanced Psychic abilities. Vulcans are touch Telepaths, while Betazoids can be "Empaths and/or Regular Telepaths". So imagine the long range mind meld being possible without having to physically touch somebody.

What a missed opportunity to have a picture of Tuvok nerve pinching someone next to Picard nerve pinching Tuvok

In the case of Tuvok and Suder, Tuvok had a rare case of overconfidence or maybe it was a naïveté, that he could not imagine that Suder could be as dark as all that and he was not prepared for the inflow of all that violent emotion.

Vulcan " what is that song? " Me " I don't know it's been there since I was 7"

I'm reminded of the Eragon books, where mental training was required for spellcasters. You need a good defense in order to protect yourself from enemy magicians. Eragon himself would often imagine one of Sapphira's scales as a mental shield, it being so difficult to break.

What a wholesome, funny and _true_ ending =) Thx man Edit: Now that I think of it, the Asari use a very *clears throat * similar technique faaaar more casually. Aand for other stuff too... but yeah.

Please do a video on the Vulcan Nerve Pinch, and why _some_ people can learn to do it but others _can't._ Sometimes, Spock's hand barely touches a person & they go out, so does it include some kind of telekinesis more than physically pinching an actual nerve (that every species seems to conveniently have in their neck, whenever the plot needs them to)?

A Vulcan Betazoid hybrid, just saying… Or even ½ Betazoid, ¼ Vulcan, ¼ Human - Lwaxwana Troi and Spock got busy during a Pon Far in the early 24th or late 23rd century.

Man, I can't even give up control for marijuana to take effect. A mind meld must be even more overwhelming.

Don't forget the pon farr, with it's requirement for the two vulcans to be reunited or face death, or a death challenge / severing the need in challenge and it did not matter just how far away the two bonded, married, were. I rather think the childhood marriage of Vulcans has to do with the linking of the Katras of each so they must stay married as well as awakening the ability to meld in a lesser extent with others, aka the Vulcan Mind Meld.

I always found the Stone of Gol a fascinating piece of technology that has, since its introduction, been a wasted resource in terms of story telling in the Star Trek canon; how far did this technology progress and could the telekinetic energy be used as an alternate power source: more Vulcans in gestalt, more power?

1:10 We see Data can do it. It's possible he can send the appropriate electric signal through his fingers to mimic the effect as performed by Spock.

A Vulcan's mind meld proves the level of discipline and control that a Vulcan has over his nervous system. This is shows why they are so sophisticated. They possibly levels of control over their neurology that gives them the ability to store and retrieve information efficiently.

Oh trust me I've been around a long time and seen horrors that would break lesser beings so a mind meld with me would be ill advised

I always thought it was an illogical cheat that anyone outside of a Vulcan could use the grip.

So the reasoning of having things like the unanswerable and incoherent question of "What if if?" running through your head during a mind meld. Could send a Vulcan into 'meltdown'? Good to know, and seems like an interesting, if not a very creative, defense.

Having 3 times a human mans strength and here Sisko challenged one to wrestle. Dumb or brave,or both.

I must admit, I think it is more than just a plot device to read another person's mind. I think there is a true danger that the person (Vulcan or otherwise) who initiated the mind meld, if they are unprepared for the willpower of the person they are melding with, can be overwhelmed and eventually even succumb to the will of the person they are interrogating. I would think this would be more akin, and even more established, that this only happens with people who truly trust each other to open their minds and share their inner-most thoughts as opposed to a type of interrogation.

I wonder if you could go on a holodeck and have the holodeck simulate a mind meld. This could be especially helpful for psychotherapy or that imparting skills thing you mentioned.

What The Mind Meld did to T'Pol combined with finding out she's Half Romulan really messed with her head, and combine that with the death of her Daughter when she was 'cured' she was never quite the same and doubted her self for years even decades afterwards. It was kind tragic really and we lost something precious in that stories proper resolution by having Enterprise axed when it was. Or to put it another way I actually care what happened to that crew - I can say as much for most members of starship crews in more recent times and to be honest perhaps I can now say the same about DS9 as well. (as I'm back on a DS9 isn't much good tip when I did actually like it at one point but the more I understood it the less I liked what it was saying "morally speaking" it's kinda immoral - which I can excuse Voyager being - as Voyager is a big pile of stupid fun - I can't say the same about DS9 - so over time i'm back to disliking it again for that immorality)

Who wants Pa'nar Syndrome? Don't get anywhere near Tolaris or let any untrained Vulcan mess with your mind as he did with Sub-Cdr.T'Pol (until T'Pau healed her later).

Ironically, my current defense against potential mind readers is to recite Star Trek trivia and lore obsessively.

Picard may have learnt how to do a Vulcan nerve pinch, via a mind meld…

Lon Suder and the issues around mindmelding with Betazoids could have used a mention

So is it only in the books that Vulcans are able to initiate melds without touching, or did I miss that in the video while someone was talking to me?

How to fight a mind meld, Rick rolled, think of rivers of disgusting limburger cheese, the cheese from Europe that has maggots introduced into it, cow crap, and finger nails on a chalkboard. Let's see the Vulcan get through all of that. In the end they will have the song that never ends with people singing it not knowing what it is and keeps on singing it because it's the song that never ends.... That will be stuck in their head. Should drive a Vulcan crazy, lol

My question is when it comes to the Romulans how did they loose the vulcan telepathy ability? They have to use various technology to pull information from prisoners's Minds and you would think they would want to keep mind reading abilities at least in the top ranks for intelligence.

A society that is developed enough where mind melding and telepathy wouldn't destroy the integrity of its citizens would probably be fine, otherwise likely not good.

Vulcans are seen using there abilities without contact but need more focus when not touching physical touch is not required but much easier for them.

When T'pol use a mind meld on tucker in mirror darkly it could have unseen consequences for both of them.

Great video today

Would a psychological mind meld be corollary to social quantum entanglement?

There's a fan theory that suggests Picard developed irumodic syndrome as a result of his mind meld with Sarek.

Pretty much everything living thing have a bio-electric field that can interract with their environment (including other life form). Vulcan are just more efficient at using that to their advantage but human interrested in alternative medecine can use some lower form. Been able to channel bio-electric energy (or more precisely synch) with my friends to run faster (got balance problem that diminish when I synch with other) or diminish anxiety (mine and others) using hand energy sharing since childhood. Can also use accupression for a variety of self-healing techniques.

If you want to get an idea of what a Vulcan holds back in a daily basis, think of what Tuvok did to the poor guy in Random Thoughts Voy: S4E10.

So why the hell was Soji's sister, an android in star trek Picard able to mind meld? I don't understand their recent writing on these shows.

How about trying mind meld with a trill, it will know the difference between the host and symbiont memories?

I never understood how that android lady in Picard could do the mind-meld.

Happy you done Trills and none Trills?

Live long and prosper!

the Vulcan Mind Meld is the Sonic Screwdriver of Star Trek

The question remains, are Bajorans telepaths or at least empaths. When they grab your ear they can sense your pagh.

Remember that time a robot performed a mind meld.....

Myriad does not require an “of”, it’s implied. “There are myriad things” > “There are a myriad of things”

🤔 Do the 2 people doing the Mind Meld have to speak the same language? So if Picard wanted to resist a Meld, then could he think in French? 🤔💭🇫🇷 Sulu in Japanese? Chekov in Russian?

You know, ive never seen Suraks teachings as an actual discipline. Its comes more off as self repression. Pretending its not there. Discipline would come from experience and self control, using the right emotions in any given situation. But that comes from life experience.

how come you didnt discuss how androids can do mind melds?

If mind melds were a thing I don't think I'd want one either as I've learned the HARD way that my mind has... For lack of a better term extra defenses, Defenses that I have ZERO control over... The most extreme of which is apparently a Literal KILL SWITCH

5:42 I lol'ed.

I💜Ric!! 🖖🏻

*guess i'm safe...little chance anyone would want to mess about with my mind or the random thoughts generated by my wonky internal synapse network...even i'm reluctant to devote prolonged activity searching the various tangents that any given thought might lead to or what memory that could suddenly leap out from behind the grey matter equivalent of the innocuous woodland arrangement of shrubberies encountered whilst traveling though the hinterlands during a quest looking for arboreal examples to be felled by repeated blows from a sturdy herring*

🤘😜🤘⚔

😶 Still waters run deep...... It's so difficult, being inside an Introvert's head, you can't imagine how dark & ominous it is in here 🖤. Being an introvert is like being a secret personality the world doesn't get to see. The Vulcans might hesitate to mind meld with one of us 🤔 Humans are a complex & screwed up species. 😈 A place where Angels & Vulcans fear to tread. 👿🌩️⚡🌩️ --Live Long & Prosper 🖖🏻👽 ~~An INFJt-Empath 🌌🔭

Imagine being able to use a meld to see your wife's POV on things? It could save a marriage potentially On the other hand, IDK if I want to see into my wife's head XD

My mind to your mind sys it all doesn’t it. 😱 🧠

Its a plot tool - in universe it should be treated with respect and care. Not used casually.

AB0MINATION!!!

Another thing Star Trek Picard ruined....