Richard Daystrom's Legacy

[Vger23]

Does it seem over the top to anyone else that Richard Daystrom seems to be revered in later (and alternate timeline Trek) as some sort of technical / scientific giant...especially in light of the tragedy of what happened with the M-5? The guy's screw up lead to hundreds of deaths and the destruction of a top-of-the-line starship.

I mean, the guy has conference rooms, major institutions of scientific learning and scientific honors named after him.

I don't know....but, it seems...well...excessive.

Discuss.

 

[David cgc]

Daystrom was already a has-been in "The Ultimate Computer." Half that stuff had probably already been named after him before the M-5 incident.

 

[Henoch]

Daystrom was already a has-been in "The Ultimate Computer." Half that stuff had probably already been named after him before the M-5 incident.

Agreed, maybe the Daystrom Institute was started before the M-5 disaster. His prior work was still revolutionary.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

There's still a plaque with Richard Nixon's name on the moon.

 

[Delta Vega]

There's still a plaque with Richard Nixon's name on the moon.

Fuckin'ell

 

[PCz911]

"You are great... I am great"
And, major apologies, what a great episode!

 

[DanGussin]

To me this speaks to a much more enlightened attitude toward mental illness than we have today.

Recognizing that the breakdown that caused the M 5 disaster was not the intentional act of a rational mind but the result of an underlying disease process , people choose to give him the credit he deserved and not focus blame where none existed.

 

[dswynne1]

Does it seem over the top to anyone else that Richard Daystrom seems to be revered in later (and alternate timeline Trek) as some sort of technical / scientific giant...especially in light of the tragedy of what happened with the M-5? The guy's screw up lead to hundreds of deaths and the destruction of a top-of-the-line starship.

I mean, the guy has conference rooms, major institutions of scientific learning and scientific honors named after him.

I don't know....but, it seems...well...excessive.

Discuss.

Nothing new about this at all. Example: the Founding Fathers. In fact, there is a debate on the whether or not existing monuments to some of these "great men" should be removed.

 

[Timo]

Blowing up the pyramids would be a good start, too. Not only the monument to slavery (of a rather specific sort, but nobody cares), but a damn nuisance to urban planning.

I wonder whether there are monuments to Dr. Adams? Supposedly he, too, did good work before going insane.

(OTOH, apparently there were no monuments erected for Khan, despite him being such a splendid tyrant and benefactor of mankind and all, as Kirk doesn't recognize the face of his idol. Then again, he didn't recognize Zephram Cochrane by looks, either, despite there very much being a famous and much-copied statue of him. Perhaps he's face-blind?)

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Ronald Held]

Presumably he was finished after the M5 disaster. Maybe history was kinder to him?

 

[Kor]

Starfleet probably didn't publicize what happened with the M5.

Kor

 

[DonIago]

Does one terrible but well-intentioned act erase years(?) of positive contributions? I mean...yeah, the M-5 incident was pretty bad, but there've been plenty of worse accidents...

I always figured the Daystrom Institute, etc. were named after his death, recognizing that he never asked for and probably never got out from under the cloud that M-5 cast over him while he lived.

 

[Galileo7]

M-5 made a top ten list.
https://www.wired.com/2009/01/top-10-evil-com/

 

[publiusr]

I like to think he recovered and went back to work--M-7 anyone?

 

[publiusr]

I like to think he recovered and went back to work--M-7 anyone?

Had he simply used the engrams (on the Ingram?) of someone who has reached Kolinahr, there would have been no issue.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Daystrom just said, "Today I will be brilliant" after the M5 incident and invented a lot more cool things between TOS and TNG.

 

[DonIago]

He invented Clippy, then time-traveled into the past.

 

[Marsden]

There was going to be a sequel to Ultimate Computer called Scream, Daystrom, Scream! but the fourth season... you know.

 

[johnnybear]

I think that title might be lost on a few people here, Mars!
JB

 

[Ronald Held]

That fact they went to isolinear chips and systems implies a shift away from duotronics or multitronics by the mid 24th century.