I am not a fan of Star Trek, but the other night I watched an episode of Voyager. I was rather surprisred to hear ‘engrams’ being mentioned. Isnt that a Scientology term? Is there some Star Trek Scientology link?
From the Merriam-Webster dictionary:
Main Entry: en·gram
Variant(s): also en·gramme /'en-"gram/
Function: noun
Etymology: International Scientific Vocabulary
Date: 1908
: a hypothetical change in neural tissue postulated in order to account for persistence of memory
Well, it’s certainly possible a writer of Voyager was a Scientologist and put in the term. However, “engram” as a term dates from 1908, meaning “a permanent and heritable physical change in the nerve tissue of the brain, posited to account for the existence of memory.”
I’m sure the theory is discredited (for one thing, its rampant Larmarkianism), but the term lingers on. Hubbard used the concept, but he wasn’t the only one.
Its usage is typical of the contempt of science in later Star Trek.
Not just later Trek, Chuck. The word was used in the original series episode, “The Ultimate Computer.” (Dr. Daystrom programmed the M5’s AI with copies of his own engrams.)
Hoo-eee, I love it when I’m ignorant. What the heck is “Larmarkianism”?
Obviously the word ‘engram’ has evolved in several hundred years, since it has no real meaning in the 20th century. Dr. Framistat used it in the 22nd century to describe a real, physical, genetic bit of memory which can be encoded by using the phlogiston ray and fixed in place with some steady-state universal adhesive.
It has no relationship to the Scientologists, who all moved to their own planet, “ElRon,” in 2197 anyway, and have completely dropped out of sight.
Lamark held that a physical change in one’s body brought about through activity, such as exercise, could be passed along to one’s offspring. Darwin held that random mutations caused the changes, and natural selection determined which ones were passed along. Darwin was of course correct, and Lamark wrong.
Which, for me, completely ruins the books about Korak, Son of Tarzan.