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star trek - Why Did Scotty Not Go Insane?


On the question about the transporters in Star Trek on whether the original person dies in the transporter, I provided this answer based on the text of the Writer's Guide for the series Star Trek: The Next Generation. Much of the material in the Writer's Guide and Writer's Technical Manual from the series was later published as a technical guide to the Enterprise (NCC-1701-D).


One point I reference is that the episode Realm of Fear shows us the transport process from the point of view of a person being transported, in this case, Lt. Barclay. During the entire process, Barclay stays conscious and sees other people trapped in the pattern buffer. These people in the buffer approach Barclay, again showing that someone in the beaming process is aware and able to think and act.


In the episode Relics the crew of the Enterprise (1701-D) rescues Scotty after he has been trapped in a pattern buffer for 75 years. From what we see in Realm of Fear, people are conscious during that process, meaning Scotty was in a buffer, with nothing to do, and nobody to talk to for 75 years.


(While Scotty had also placed another person in the pattern buffer, he wasn't aware if that person survived or not, indicating there was either no interaction or that Scotty had no way to be aware when that person was no longer conscious.)



Seventy five years is a long time to be alone and with no other human interaction.


How did he survive this without losing his sanity or showing other serious ill effects mentally?



Answer



Another explanation is that Scotty (being a genius engineer!) knew this would happen and modified the transporter so he would not be concious until freed. He did not anticipate for himself to be in there for 75 years, but he expected it to be a while (I think at least days, if not even weeks).


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