Talk:Betazoid

Reference needed

Females are considered to be the stronger sex on Betazed; males are seen less intelligent or even significant. Females get all the families' belongings after the death of a parent, they are subject to reject their mate, and are responsible for the entire administration and government of Betazed.

Is there a canon source for this? -- EtaPiscium 20:15, 22 Sep 2004 (CEST)

Lower-class, caste-system citizen status based on gender, or any other non-meritocratic, unearned method, is not permitted of members by Federation law. (DS9: "Accession"). --ChrisK 07:02, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

removed sociology

Removed the section titled 'sociology', guessing it was suppose to be society, either way all the information in it could go under culture and Physiology. I have no idea if the info in that part was all canon or not. Signed, Tyrant

No, I don't think that first part is canon. Sounds like speculation.

Also, I don't remember the specific details, but I think it's worth mentioning. In "Half a Life", when Lwaxana was arguing with Timicin, she said something how years ago, on Betazed, women were forced to wear atrocious hats, that had little birds in them, and that it was hurtful to the women and the bird. Until one woman stood up against the tradition. Can this be added somehow by someone who knows more on the subject? AJ Halliwell 1145 29 Mar 2005 (EST)

Amphibious?

Don't know about that. Barkley devolved to a spider because there was SOME common DNA in the Earth evolutionary tree, and Picard devolved to marmoset, but there's no scientific theory stating that we had evolved from these animals only that we shared a common lineage. The same probably applies here.Logan 5 16:17, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Telepathy

Say, how is telepathy sent over subspace? Someone should look that up. – The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.245.29.229.

The mechanics of telepathy are not stated as far as I've seen; the energy emissions involved are not described as being standard EM. In fact, there is good evidence in the world of Star Trek most extreme mental powers work at speeds beyond that of light. --JCoyote 05:03, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

ST:Enterprise

Sigh...my memory is getting faulty. Wasn't there a "one-liner" reference to Betazoids somewhere in ST:ENT? – The preceding unsigned comment was added by 209.92.136.131 .

I don't believe there was a reference to Betazoids in ENT. I could be wrong (after all, I'm trying to recall references from 98 episodes of continuity), but I really don't recall any reference to them and really don't think there was any such reference. --From Andoria with Love 12:28, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

I just finished watching ST:ENT a few weeks ago. I do not recall any mention of Betazoids at all, nor encounters involving them and humans. Just a vote; I could be wrong.

I do recall seeing somewhere in a Wiki a chart detailing which series contained which major species of sentient beings, if that helps at all. Probably here or Wikipedia.

Telepathic Development

The article seems to imply the strongest telepaths develop there powers in adolescence, but wasn't the whole problem with Tam Elburn the fact that he developed telepathy in early childhood, so he wasn't prepared to block out the emotions of others, and he was the strongest betazoid seen in the series. Is the article confusing, or is it just me? – The preceding unsigned comment was added by Jellico (talk • contribs).

Betazoids as genetic augments

ok reading through the section on betazoids it seems to imply that they are not human, only nearly indisinguihsable from humans- however there's a ds9 epsiode where it is learned bashir was genetically modifed or w/e by his parents to increase his inteligence etc. this is ofc illigal, and the betazoids are referenced as one of the lucky examples of benevolent genetic experiementation on humans. any of you hardcore trekkis wanna verify or at least check this out? quite an interesting angle to the culture. -- grinin 03:44, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Unfortunately, the Betazoid culture has references that predate earth having warp travel. So even if they are humans, from earth, any movement or experimentation on them likely would have been by a third party. Though, to be honest, I do believe the major similarities of betazoids and humans are because of a common origin. Though also, I don't see a reason why betazoids would HAVE to be results of experimentation, evolution has obviously produced forms of telepathy in a wide range of very disimilar species. So there is no reason why a group of humans wouldn't possibly develop it as well. If I were to write it up as things stand now, I'd say the group selected and pulled from earth to transplant to betazed were selected because they were the first humans to show telepathy on some level; thus the Preservers or whoever selected them specifically to put elsewhere and see how they develop. That'd be a form of selective breeding, but would make sense. But I am not familiar with that reference from DS9. --JCoyote 07:05, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

At no point in that episode are the Betazoids mentioned as being the result of genetic experimentation on Humans! Here is the script. -- Krevaner 07:07, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Krevaner is completely right, there is no mention of them being genetically altered. -- Jaz ^talk 04:19, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

I would have to say that Betazoids are not human based solely on the Episode of TNG "Genesis" where the crew de-evolves. In it, Troi de-evolves into an Iguana type creature, unlike Riker who de-evolves into a missing link type primate. Doesnt really answer if the Betazoid race are genetically altered, but it might provide insight to what makes them other than human.--Secretalaskaman 06:55, 24 December 2006 (UTC)

Troi de-evolves into an amphibian, not an Iguana. Spot (Data's cat) de-evolves into an Iguana. Regardless, that is unfortunately evidence of little, since Barclay de-evolves into an arachnid, something which does not exist in our ancestry. --OuroborosCobra ^talk 07:00, 24 December 2006 (UTC)

Disease

Why is the Phase listed as a disease. it's the Betazoid equivilent to menopause, and that's certainly not a disease!--Tiberius 00:28, 24 December 2006 (UTC)

Your right. I personally don't see why we have the diseases listed at all, they are described right above that section. --OuroborosCobra ^talk 00:41, 24 December 2006 (UTC)

If someone here equates 'disease' with 'quadrupling of sex drive', particularly in the case of Marina Sirtis, then I am seriously worried...

Anyway, menopause in humans is certainly not the same as a multiplication of sexual desires and fertility.

It is the same in that it is simply another step in the life cycle. Puberty would be the same in this way as well. --OuroborosCobra ^talk 05:10, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

Honesty/rudeness

Due to their telepathy, Betazoid culture embraces honesty almost to a point considered rude by other cultures. Lwaxana Troi, on numerous occasions, commented on her befuddlement at the Human practice of fibbing to spare others' feelings or for politeness' sake.

This note has gone uncited for 7 months now. I can't remember any statement in canon regarding this, and in fact question its validity. With the If we look at the Betazoids we have seen in canon, Lwaxana Troi is one of the few to behave in such a manner or have that "befuddlement". In fact, with few exceptions, they did not tend to behave almost at all differently from standard humans. If a citation can be found, this note can go back (though it probably should include a note regarding the question of how most Betazoids we saw did not have this problem). --OuroborosCobra ^talk 03:57, 11 November 2007 (UTC)

There is a citation for this - as I recently watched a TNG episode that says almost exactly that. Unfortunately, I cannot remember which one it was. It was from before season 4, though. Hope that helps. --Icesyckel 03:09, 29 December 2007 (UTC)

From "Haven":

LWAXANA: You've been slack, little one. Allowed your mental powers to rust.

TROI: Only to avoid confusion, mother. Humans constantly think one thing and say another.

LWAXANA: Yes, they do, don't they. Poor dears. Our style of complete honesty frightens them.

TROI: On that subject Mother, there is such a thing as too much honesty with humans.

LWAXANA: If they'd only say what they think instead of hiding it. An entire shipload of such inconsistency could drive one insane.

and from "Dark Page":

TROI: You said that among the Cairn, nothing is hidden. We value honesty, but we don't always share everything we're thinking and feeling.

MAQUES: This is privacy?

TROI: Yes.

--Jörg 09:04, 29 December 2007 (UTC)

• The ability to read the thoughts and emotions of other species is inconsistent at best. Sometimes they have been able to read the emotions/thoughts of non-corporeal beings such as Nagilum Where Silence Has Lease or the energy vortex creature in Time Squared or gauge the mental prowess of beings such as Q. Other times they have been totally unable to read corporeal creature's minds, such as Ferengi and Changelings.

This is really nitpicking. Could be written differently but the opening sentence is very un-encyclopedic. — Morder 05:37, 17 September 2008 (UTC)

Half Betazoids and telepathy

"All full Betazoids are unable to read the thoughts of Ferengi, Breen, Ullians, or Dopterians, but some half-Betazoids have been occasionally successful in sensing the emotions of some of these species."

Are we sure this is because they were half Betazoids, or could this just be bad inconsistent writing? I always thought the latter. How would being half of a telepathic species help someone more than being a full member? Unless, of course the other species was also a telepathic race. Vortaborg 01:34, 26 September 2008 (UTC)