# Would you be willing to become a Vulcan? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 26, 2007, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-willing-to-become-a-vulcan/431302 "2007-12-26T18:30:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-willing-to-become-a-vulcan/431302/1 "2007-12-26T18:30:33Z")
Let’s say a wormhole drops standard issue technobabble Trek device capable of resequencing your DNA; in other words, it can change a person of one species to another. It was damaged during the interdimensional transit, so it’s stuck on the Terran-to-Vulcan setting, and the broken part is made of unobtainium, so it’s not going to be fixed. Would you be willing to transform yourself into a Vulcan? To be clear, I’m talking about a REAL Vulcan, like Mr. Spock. (Take that, T’pol!) If transformed, you get superhuman strength (let’s say you become 5 times stronger than you are now), eidetic memory, lightning calculator abilities, enhanced hearing, and so forth. No change in skin tone, but the eyebrows and ears definitely get wonky. And, your sex drive gets…um…strange. Would you do it? Why or why not? ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-willing-to-become-a-vulcan/431302/2 "2007-12-26T18:38:50Z")
Lots of pros to that idea, those mentioned above plus of course longer lifespan and the ability to haunt someone. (In a manner of speaking anyway) The whole ‘Only gets randy once every 7 years’ bit would take some thinking over though. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-willing-to-become-a-vulcan/431302/3 "2007-12-26T18:45:02Z")
This would mean trading off my insatiable sex drive and strange magnetic attraction for alien chicks, as well as my improbably effective fighting style. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-willing-to-become-a-vulcan/431302/4 "2007-12-26T19:15:51Z")
Um, if you were transformed into Mr. Spock, you’d still be half human. You’d be conflicted by the emotionally embracing Terran half of your psyche and the emotionally suppressing nature of the Vulcan half. So for the sake of discussion, since you can’t go back to your original state, does the device turn you into a half-human/half Vulcan hybrid, or a full Vulcan, like Spock’s father, Sarek, for example? Yeah, I know. Leave it to me to discover a _diptera_ in the viscuous topically applied preparation. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-willing-to-become-a-vulcan/431302/5 "2007-12-26T19:20:41Z")
_Pon farr_ is a culturally imposed restriction, not a biological one. For that matter, the emotional control is culturally imposed as well. If all the machine is doing is making your DNA into Vulcan DNA you’d be more like a Romulan in the end, since you weren’t raised as a Vulcan. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-willing-to-become-a-vulcan/431302/6 "2007-12-26T19:21:44Z")
[QUOTE=cochrane] Um, if you were transformed into Mr. Spock, you’d still be half human. You’d be conflicted by the emotionally embracing Terran half of your psyche and the emotionally suppressing nature of the Vulcan half. So for the sake of discussion, since you can’t go back to your original state, does the device turn you into a half-human/half Vulcan hybrid, or a full Vulcan, like Spock’s father, Sarek, for example? Yeah, I know. Leave it to me to discover a _diptera_ in the viscuous topically applied preparation. [/QUOTE] Ah, but with your username, you’re a much more appropriate commenter in this thread than the rest of us… ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-willing-to-become-a-vulcan/431302/7 "2007-12-26T19:34:21Z")
[QUOTE=Antinor01] The whole ‘Only gets randy once every 7 years’ bit would take some thinking over though. [/QUOTE] Hey, for some of us, that’s a step up. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-willing-to-become-a-vulcan/431302/8 "2007-12-26T19:40:38Z")
[QUOTE=cochrane] Um, if you were transformed into Mr. Spock, you’d still be half human. You’d be conflicted by the emotionally embracing Terran half of your psyche and the emotionally suppressing nature of the Vulcan half. [/QUOTE] As has been pointedf out, the Valcun emption-suppression thing is cultural, not biological. From my admittedly limited understanding of the Vulcan backstory, Vulcans are actually naturally inclined to extreme emotional states, especially anger; they’re prone to outburts of tremendous fury and violence. The cultural opposition to emotional behaviour was an effort to save them from themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Contrary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/db5fbb/32.png) [@Contrary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrary)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-willing-to-become-a-vulcan/431302/9 "2007-12-26T19:41:05Z")
When I was a little girl, I wanted nothing more than to be a Vulcan. That was just the BEST to me. Until I met and married my husband, I certainly FELT more Vulcan what with my lack of emotions. Now – eh – well I think I’d stay human. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-willing-to-become-a-vulcan/431302/10 "2007-12-26T19:57:43Z")
[QUOTE=Skald the Rhymer] And, your sex drive gets…um…strange. [/QUOTE] But regular. Highly regular. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-willing-to-become-a-vulcan/431302/11 "2007-12-26T19:59:48Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] Ah, but with your username, you’re a much more appropriate commenter in this thread than the rest of us… [/QUOTE] Has anyone ever told you that you have a warped sense of humor? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-willing-to-become-a-vulcan/431302/12 "2007-12-26T20:01:45Z")
[QUOTE=JThunder] Has anyone ever told you that you have a warped sense of humor? [/QUOTE] More often than you can possibly imagine. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-willing-to-become-a-vulcan/431302/13 "2007-12-26T20:10:37Z")
Fascinating. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-willing-to-become-a-vulcan/431302/14 "2007-12-26T20:27:57Z")
Full Vulcan? Sure. I’m barely getting it more often than every seven years anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-willing-to-become-a-vulcan/431302/15 "2007-12-26T22:39:28Z")
I’m half-way there already. Sure. as far as Pon Farr, isn’t just that they _have_ to mate every seven years, not that they _only_ can every seven years? ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-willing-to-become-a-vulcan/431302/16 "2007-12-26T22:49:53Z")
Yes, it would be the logical thing to do, after all, I can already do the eyebrow-thing and the Vulcan Salute… Live Long and Prosper. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-willing-to-become-a-vulcan/431302/17 "2007-12-26T22:51:42Z")
[QUOTE=Silver Tyger Girl] I’m half-way there already. Sure. as far as Pon Farr, isn’t just that they _have_ to mate every seven years, not that they _only_ can every seven years? [/QUOTE] Exactly that. They’ve sublimated all of their emotions in regular interaction, but I think they found that mating can’t be done sublimated…the emotions are too strong. So as part of the Vulcan culture, they sublimate all mating urges. They can only do this for seven years before it finally builds up to be too strong and they MUST mate or die. Like I said, the pon farr is cultural, not biological. It results from the emotional suppression. If there were no emotional suppression, they’d mate pretty much like Romulans, who have no such restrictions, IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![Will\_Repair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a698b9/32.png) [@Will\_Repair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Will_Repair)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-willing-to-become-a-vulcan/431302/18 "2007-12-26T22:57:28Z")
Vulcans are stupid. They expect illogical species to act in a logical manner. That is illogical. ---
**Author:** ![Racer1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee59a6/32.png) [@Racer1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Racer1)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-willing-to-become-a-vulcan/431302/19 "2007-12-26T23:21:43Z")
None of the advantages would be worth the haircut. Also, I’ve been to Vulcan (it’s in Canada right?) and there was an unfeasibly large queue in the Subway. So there. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-willing-to-become-a-vulcan/431302/20 "2007-12-26T23:44:51Z")
Very long lifespan. Looks good. Also, Vulcans _learned_ logic & emotional control, it isn’t inborn. So, basically, you would have a Romulan-maker. Cool. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-willing-to-become-a-vulcan/431302.md?page=2)