o_19kdfsn0q18e31dfraas1esh19vta.pdf

Kim: You mean, where am I from? Well, I was born in South Carolina, but I grew up in—
Seven: Lieutenant Torres, explain why you became a member of the Maquis.
Torres: It was through Chakotay. I met him. Well, actually, he saved my life—
Seven: List the sports you play.
Kim: I've dabbled in quite a few. Tennis, Pareses Squares, but my favourite is volleyball—
Seven: Specify the foods you find enjoyable.
Torres: Seven, what is this?
The formula for Seven of Nine humor was to take a typical NT or INTJ trait (i.e. distaste for
pointless small talk) and play it to the extreme. Rationals audiences enjoy this sort of humor
because it reveals the underlying absurdity of so much human behavior. Indeed, the exact same
formula was used in Star Trek: The Next Generation in the case of Commander Data, an NT
android who was trying to learn to be human. Each temperament has its own archetypes; for
example, the tale of a duty-bound person learning to loosen up is an SJ archetype. It seems that the
tale of a mechanical creature learning to be human is a popular NT archetype.
Of course, as type aficionados, we should be asking ourselves whether Seven's journey to recovery
is really a Pygmalion project. Is the message here "Recover your lost humanity" or "Shrug off your
INTJ personality and become normalized"? At one point Seven says to Captain Janeway, "I may
have come a long way, but not in the direction you think. You've attempted to influence my
development. You exposed me to your culture and ideals, you hoped to shape me in your own
image, but you have failed. You may have noticed our tendency to disagree." [Emphasis mine.] At
what point does socialization become an excuse for changing I to E, N to S, T to F, or J to P?
In the book Seven of Nine, author Christie Golden has Janeway observe, "...Seven of Nine, late of
the Borg, was an attractive woman... But she had always been, to Janeway's mind, like Pygmalion's
statue—cold, without the spark of warmth to make her truly human, truly alive." 178 (Because
apparently being an INTJ is the same thing as being a cold, lifeless statue.) Does Janeway want to
bring Seven back to life, or just make her a little more EF?
The ironic part of this is that no one would have thought Seven's cold personality remarkable if she
had been a Vulcan. In contrast to her other relationships, Seven got along fabulously with Tuvok,
the ship's ITJ Vulcan head of security. They never had any personal friction because neither one of
them was interested in small talk, emotional bonding, or personal sharing of any kind. When they
worked together, they simply announced information about the task at hand and the steps they were
taking towards reaching the goals. If Seven of Nine had been rescued by Vulcans, she would not
have been required to change her habits at all. In fact, they probably would have approved of her
logical, non-emotional approach to life. 179 (Of course, the Vulcans are the product of a specieswide
Pygmalion project, so maybe this isn't the best example.)
What's So Great About Star Trek?
So why do INTs like Star Trek, anyway? We've already mentioned one reason, namely the fact that
the show is crawling with awesome Rational characters and even entire Rational species. There's
also the obvious fact that it's sci fi, and Rationals as a group are fascinated with space.
But there is a third reason. Star Trek stories cater specifically to those with intuitive preferences.
Listen to how how an INTP praised an author that he liked: 180
[In the author's hands] everything becomes great. Even when he is dealing with petty relationships...he
178 Golden, 1998
179 Or maybe not; in one episode, Seven does say, "Logic is irrelevant."
180 Speer, 1976