But the Federation has no history with the Illyrians. The Illyrians weren't forced to live in Federation society. Their ancestors weren't enslaved by the Federation. Their planets weren't conquered by the Federation. As far as we know, they're not refugees who had to flee into Federation space.

It would be different if Illyrians had always been a group within the Federation. But they chose to go to the Federation with full knowledge of the Federation's laws. They have the choice to reject Federation membership if they wanted.

I don't know how well that metaphor works since Illyrians are aliens. The Federation is already full of aliens with biology and abilities different than humans. So what if Illyrians have modifications that make them different than humans? Vulcans have two sets of eyelids and are adapted to live in harsh deserts humans can't survive in. They're also telepathic, three times stronger, and have perfect memory.

Does that mean the Federation is a segregated society between all different races? If they split cities between Illyrians and non-Illyrians, wouldn't they also be splitting cities between Andorians, Vulcans, Tellarties, etc.?

Which actually contradicts a TNG episode where the Federation had an entire research facility dedicated to creating genetically enhanced children with super powers like immunity to disease, telekinesis, and rapid maturity.

That colony wasn’t a member of the Federation, though.

But they have discussions about it in the episode and no one brought up any laws about it. Picard even says he disapproves of it personally but says nothing about it being banned.

One could argue that’s not an augmentation.

From Dr. Bashir, I Presume: "DNA resequencing for any reason other than repairing serious birth defects is illegal."

The Doctor specifically said that many of the modifications Torres wanted to make had nothing to do with the baby's health.

TNG overall never said anything about the Federation or Starfleet being against genetic modification. It wasn't just Darwin Research Station. They didn't say anything about it in "Masterpiece Society" either.

Dr. Bashir I Presume was the first episode that any kind of ban was ever brought up. They didn't even say anything about a ban in "Space Seed" or "Wrath of Khan."

Also, when Torres was pregnant in Voyager, she wanted the Doctor to modify her baby to remove Klingon traits and no one said it was illegal.

I always thought the genetic modification ban was pretty flimsy. It wasn't even established until DS9 since TNG had the Darwin Research Station.

I really don't like how strict they made it in SNW. Why should humans dictate the laws for all races in the Federation? What happened to the Denobulans? Phlox said that they genetically modify themselves.

DS9 said that genetic modification was still allowed for the treatment of serious illnesses. So it doesn't make sense for all permanent genetic modification to be banned.

Also, in DS9, genetic modification was more like performance enhancing drugs. Bashir's modifications gave him an unfair advantage over other people. It's kind of like someone cheating to get into a good school. But that argument also has problems since there are aliens with naturally superior abilities compared to humans. Vulcans have perfect memory, superior physical abilities, and telepathy, they would have a big advantage over humans in a lot of things. But Vulcans aren't banned from Starfleet.

I think the Skrulls being immune to radiation is going to be very important.

They're trying to start a war between the US and Russia, which could go nuclear. And the Skrulls will be fine if the earth gets irradiated.

The immunity to radiation could be a way to detect them. They'd have to give someone radiation poisoning to make sure they're not a Skrull, but it is a way to confirm a person's identity. But it also means the Skrulls might not be able to impersonate someone who has cancer, and maybe other illnesses.

Same thing with Robocop and American Psycho and Fight Club and Wolf of Wall Street and Taxi Driver and Wall Street and Glengarry Glenn Ross, etc.

I think Patrick Stewart might be more like Director Bullock from American Dad than Captain Picard.

But warp speed isn't the same as impulse. Warp doesn't accelerate based on Newtonian principles. It's bending space in a bubble around the ship. That's how it's able to go faster than the speed of light.

Changing directions at warp has other issues. From what we've seen, they actually have to drop out of warp in order to make large course corrections.

Starships are fast but they really shouldn't be that maneuverable. You do still have to worry about the inertial dampeners. If you're constantly changing directions, the inertial dampeners have to compensate for the acceleration. Keep in mind that starships can accelerate at rates that would flatten anyone into bloody goo without inertial dampeners.

Even if they're always using a warp bubble to change the ship's mass, it would not be easy to compensate for quickly accelerating to 0.1c, going down to 0, and then immediately accelerating to 0.1c to another direction.

How does creating a product through research and committee equate to being "woke?" Countless products have been and are created to appeal to specific audiences. If you just define any product that is designed by committee, researched, focus tested, and made to appeal to a certain lifestyle or segment of the population, then everything is woke.

Country music is woke because it's made to appeal to rural audiences who believe in rugged individualism. The Fast and Furious movies are woke because they're made to appeal to people who are part of the car culture and like racing and modding their cars. Sennheiser headphones are woke because they're designed for audiophiles who are willing to spend thousands of dollars for the best audio quality.

And blaming bad writing on some vague undefined notion as "woke" makes no sense. I don't like Discovery. My criticisms are based on plots not making sense, characters doing dumb things, characters and plots not being inconsistent, episodes ignoring previously established plot points or lore, etc. It's the same kinds of criticisms I have towards any bad movie/show/book. For example, the Michael Bay Transformers movies were bad. Why were they bad? Plots not making sense, characters doing dumb things, people ignoring previously established plot points or lore, etc. The quality of those movies have nothing to do with the presence or lack of "wokeness." Saying that Discovery is bad because it's "woke" is like saying Michael Bay's Transformers movies are bad because they have explosions.

We're Babylon 5. Steve Huffman is President Clark.