Not quite. Lycurgus introduced his harsh regime in order that Spartans could always defend themselves. Invading other lands would lead to the corruption of the people and in fact that’s exactly what happened in later times when Sparta dominated Greece. The laws of Lycurgus were gradually abandoned, gold and silver were re-introduced to replace the iron currency that Lycurgus had stipulated and luxurious living was no longer a crime. Spartans then became indistinguishable from other Greeks.
canonically Vulcans turned so hard to logic to keep their immensely deep and strong emotions in check. Spock going ponfarr is a good example of logic failing to do so. Which is logical. A race too far into logic over emotion is probably going to die out if there’s no sort of biological trigger to enforce mating.
“Spock, let us mate now. It is logical.”
“I do not know why you consider it logical, but I will acquiesce.”
<later>
“Spock, your failure to bring me to climax was not logical.”
“I attempted four of the 76 positions of Ponn Farr. It is not logical that you failed to climax. It was, however, logical for me to cease my attempt, as I could no longer ejaculate.”
“Then would it not have been logical for you to continue, using other means?”
“Logically, if you cannot climax through normal means, you would alert your partners to this so that they do not exhaust themselves attempting to bring you to climax.”
“Perhaps your physical prowess is overrated. I shall seek other lovers to investigate this possibility.”
“Most logical. Tell them I said… “hello”. Live long and suffer, bitch.”
In the first episode of Star Trek, when Gary Mitchell starts mutating into a superman, Spock’s first recommendation is strand him on an automated mining station. His second is kill him right now.
Here’s what I don’t understand about Vulcans. Vulcans have green blood. Their blood has copper in it instead of iron. It has hemocyanin instead of hemoglobin. The thing is, we have creatures on earth, mollusks and arthropods; crabs, lobsters, octopus, whose blood has hemocyanin instead of hemoglobin. Their blood is blue. Why don’t Vulcans have blue blood?
Because the writers of 1960s science fiction television shows aren’t marine biologists? :rolleyes:
… Or because green blood better explained the yellow coloration they were forced to give to Spock.
As noted above, he was originally supposed to be half-Martian with a reddish hue, but it looked phoney when it was photographed.
And of course there’s a trope for that.
To continue on the physical possibilities:
What about the pointed Vulcan ears?
Earth animals that have pointed ears (like horses, mules, cats, some dogs) also have several muscles to move the ears so that they can be aimed in different directions to locate sound better. (Otherwise, what’s the use of the points?) But neither Spock or any of the other Vulcans seems to show or even mention any ability to move their ears.
Also, pointed ears are normally located on the top of the head, not the side.
Then there’s the ‘Vulcan nerve pinch’.
This seems to be in the clavicular region (though it moves about a bit in different episodes). Now the clavicle is only on the appendicular part of the skeleton, not the axial part. There is no reason a major nerve would even be in that area at all – they run up the spinal cord and into the brain. An injured nerve in that area could paralyze that arm, but not likely to cause an immediate, silent & complete body unconsciousness. In fact, neural injury generally doesn’t causes unconsciousness at all, just pain & paralysis in the associated limbs. (Unconsciousness is mostly caused by an interruption of the blood or oxygen supply to the brain – those are supplied through the neck, and choking or choke holds are the usual way to interrupt them.)
Finally, the alleged extreme strength and/or endurance of Vulcans. There isn’t much specific about this, but if it is supposed to common to the race and more than just similar to an exceptional (Olympic-class) human – well, it isn’t reflected in any physical features of the Vulcan body. They don’t have the musculature of gorilla strength, nore the fleetness of cheetahs, etc.
In fact, the physical differences in Vulcans seem to be limited to what the make-up department could do easily. Like the red-then-green skin, and the pointed ears (which turned out to be harder than they sounded to do). No real scientific thought put into it. (As is true of a lot os science-fiction writing.)
The reasoning behind Spock’s ears: Vulcan has an atmosphere thinner than Earth’s, so they were needed to cup sound waves more efficiently. (The denser a medium, the better it transmits sound.) It’s also possible they’re a species marker, or maybe an erogenous zone or point of sexual attraction.
With the nerve pinch, it was claimed that in addition to being stronger than humans, Vulcans have a certain “vibe” that can render someone unconscious, so it wasn’t entirely a matter of physically blocking blood and nerve impulses to the brain. (What actually happened, of course, was that Nimoy balked at knocking out Evil Kirk with the butt of his phaser when they were filming “The Enemy Within,” since it was “a holdover from westerns.” He came up with the nerve pinch on the spot.)
Other than Vulcan being hotter and having gravity stronger than Earth’s, no one has ever been able to come up with a satisfactory explanation for Vulcans’ superior physical abilities. It was pointed out in one work I’ve read that for Vulcans to appear the way they do and still be stronger than humans, their muscle tissue would have to be much denser, meaning they would also weigh considerably more than humans do, but we never saw any evidence of this either.
No, pointed ears don’t do that – cupped ears (like on humans, or radar antennas) ‘cup’ the most sound waves in. Pointed ears pick up less sound waves, but have the advantage of being more directional, so the hearer can locate the sound source.
I seem to recall this being address in an episode, perhaps/probably in one of the later series, or reading this very thing in some Star Trek publication somewhere, but for the life of me can’t think of where.
I think 100% logic is not really possible because at some level you have to have goals and logic can’t really give you that.
Even if we concede that vulcans are simply willfully repressed, there are many examples in fiction of 100% emotionless beings not only having career goals, say, but getting married and having children. And it never works when you think it through: what motivates them?
And this is something that we’re appreciating more in neuroscience: that you can’t understand the brain and mind separate to a body; that our natural impulses and the interaction with the body is absolutely critical to the whole function of the brain.
I have a pocketbook somewhere that’s a collection of fan works, some of which are serious analyses of different topics. I don’t have it with me, and I can’t think of the title, but one of the articles is a very thorough attempt to identify Vulcan’s star using standard scientific methods (e.g., Kepler’s laws) and the information presented in the TV series and movies. I *think *that’s where I read it, but I can’t be sure (it’s been a while).
Nevertheless, the “thin atmosphere” explanation is part of the teachings of Chairman Roddenberry.
Possibly one of the “Best of Trek” books The Best of Trek | Star Trek Expanded Universe | Fandom
Taking the title at its face: Yes, because it’s fiction. No, because it’s fiction.
Reading the OP: “But it involves the fictional Vulcans.” Yes.
Remember, Zachary Quinto as Spock revealed emotions at the end of the Reboot Original.
Not sure I fully understand the question, thus not sure I fully supplied an appropriate answer.
Why, when that’s what humans do? Our logical thinking overrides our innate desires constantly. You don’t have to be Aristotle or Pliny the Elder to know that grabbing a woman willy-nilly off the street is not a practical way of assuaging our neanderthal urges.
Yes, that’s the series. The one I was referencing is vol. 17.
Why should we assume that Vulcan physiology is at all similar to Terrans? Maybe they’re stronger than us, not because their muscles are hooked up like a chimp’s (they’re not), but just because the mechanisms their muscles are built out of just happen to be better? Evolution doesn’t always find the best solution; it just finds a solution that’s good enough to work (unless of course it doesn’t, and the species goes extinct).