"to boldly go"

[Jeff Prucher]

In an SF context, I would expect "one" to be able to refer to sentient nonhuman aliens. I wouldn't expect Kirk to be able to ask if anyone is in a room, be told "no", and then find Spock inside. I would, however, expect to be able to ask if anyone is in a room, be told no, and find a cat inside. In the context of Star Trek, I think the gloss for "no-one" in this quote is not literally "no being", but rather "no-one that we know of" (where "we" = the United Federation of Planets) or potentially, "no-one that the writers have mentioned before", depending on whether you want an in-universe answer or not. It wouldn't make much sense to limit "one" to humans, since the Federation consists of many races, and there are usually nonhumans on the crew. (For the same reason, the phrase "no human" is unsatisfactory, since the parts of the show that portray exploration do focus on places unknown to the Federation, and not, say, on places that have been thoroughly
 explored by Vulcans but not humans.)

Jeff Prucher


----- Original Message ----
From: "RonButters at AOL.COM" <RonButters at AOL.COM>
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Sent: Wednesday, January 30, 2008 9:19:33 AM
Subject: Re:       Re: [ADS-L] "to boldly go"

Interesting
question.
If
I
said
"No
one
has
ever
been
in
that
dog
house"
could
you
properly
say,
"Wrong!
MY
dog
has
been
in
that
dog
house"?
I
don't
think
so.
In
other
words,
Klingons,
being
nonhuman,
do
not
qualify
as
"one"
any
more
than
any
other
nonhuman
(including
your
brilliant
dog
or
even
Noam
Chimsky).
Of
course,
since
the
world
of
science
fiction
is
purely
imaginary,
one
can
imagine
an
alternative
universe
in
which
"one"
refers
either
any
humanoid
being.
Obviously,
though,
when
the
voice-over
says,
"...
where
no
none
has
been
before"
the
speaker
does
not
mean
to
include
nonhumans
of
any
sort,
since
it
is
a
given
that
there
are
other
human-like
creatures
out
there.

On

the
other
hand,
I
guess
I
might
not
find
very
odd
this
sentence:
"No
one
seriously
challenged
the
human
race
except
the
Neanderthal."

In
a
message
dated
1/30/08
11:22:36
AM,
laurence.horn at YALE.EDU
writes:


>
Maybe
so,
but
I'd
think
with
a
loss
of
accuracy,
since
if
for
example
>
a
Klingon
had
ventured
into
some
distant
corner
of
the
universe
to
>
plunder,
pillage,
or
whatever,
that
would
satisfy
the
"no
man/person
>
has
gone
before"
clause
but
not
the
"no
one
has
gone
before"
version.
>
The
"no
one"
is
a
stronger
claim
than
the
original,
as
well
as
a
more
>
sex-neutrally
expressed
one.
>
>
LH
>




**************
Start
the
year
off
right.
Easy
ways
to
stay
in
shape.

http://body.aol.com/fitness/winter-exercise?NCID=aolcmp00300000002489

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