Life is a "Kobayashi Maru" Scenario

A famous scene that is repeated in many Star Trek movies and books is the so-called Kobayashi Maru scenario, a “no-win” battle simulation for the training of Starfleet Academy cadets. For example, cadets taking the computer simulation are lured into the Klingon Neutral Zone in order to rescue a distressed civilian spaceship, the Kobayashi Maru. If the cadets make a rescue attempt, then they will have walked into a trap, because Klingon warships suddenly surround the Federation ship resulting in a loss. Cadet James T. Kirk (future Captain of the Enterprise) was the first to “win.” He won by surreptitiously reprogramming the computer using the central rule of warfare: “All is fair.”

Starfleet cadets eventually learn that the Kobayashi Maru scenario is NOT a test of skill in war but a test of character when facing death.

So, pardon me, if I am completely off the wall. Maybe I am just taking Star Trek far too seriously, but I cannot help but wonder if this earth life (reality) is a Kobayashi Maru scenario. Perhaps life is a “no-win” scenario and a test of character while facing death. Perhaps only the atonement of Jesus can save us from a loss, perhaps by reprogramming the “game.”

Perhaps we really are Cadets in the training for the war against evil and the promotion of universal peace. Perhaps we really do have to be “thinking” soldiers prepared to take orders when necessary, and prepared to lead when called.

Or…. maybe I have just flipped a lip under the stress of the end of the school year.

I don’t feel too bad. SteveP, a BYU professor under similar stresses, over at Mormon Organon has been complaining about how the monsters and predators in movies (such as in Star Trek) always seem to scream and roar at their prey just before gobbling them up. He correctly indicates such behavior is an evolutionary unstable strategy because it warns prey to escape.

It was late at night, and I was far removed from cogency and clarity. I wrote back to SteveP the following:

[H]ave you not noticed that theaters are loud? Yet, we are sucked in like a school of fish. The theater is like a mouth and the seats are teeth. We just think we are there to be entertained, but the monster screams at us and then swallows. Then, when we leave the mouth cavity we think we are going home, but in reality we are just going further down the monster’s digestive track.

So, with such a Matrix of nonsense being spewed, you the reader have been forewarned. You have FULL permission to disbelieve … or to believe, because after all, this may be JUST another Kobayashi Maru scenario.

*****

Copyright 2009 S.Faux (Email: foxgoku54 [at] gmail [d0t] c0m; URL: http://mormoninsights.blogspot.com). Readers may distribute this post for noncommercial purposes provided such distributing is of the entire post, including author's copyright and contact information. All other rights reserved.




Please feel free to give my blog site a "Blogged.com" rating and review by clicking here.

*****
Support Mormon Insights by making a COMMENT.