Starfleet Jedi

What is, in your opinion, the best benchmark question to ask people engaged in a debate over Star Trek and Star Wars?

That is to say, what question most improves the accuracy of predictions about what they will answer in future questions about Star Trek and Star Wars? This came to mind looking at the "Sovereign vs ISD" poll, which I would suggest is a benchmark question of sorts.

Within the VS community, the question of "do you think the ICS books give accurate firepower estimates?" seems very good, but it is a technical question that most Star Wars and Star Trek fans would not be able to answer off the tops of their heads - not knowing what the ICS say that has proven so controversial.

Another benchmark question is to outright ask what the result of war between the Federation and Empire would be.

More subtle benchmarks are the result of community cohesion, I should think, but they seem to exist. "Can fighters threaten capital ships?" and "How long did it take to build the second Death Star?" seem to have stronger correlations than we might initially expect when we start comparing VS fans with the general fan population; "Do transporters kill people?" and "How much of the galaxy do Federation ships actually travel about?" do as well.

Even some seemingly general questions have answers that seem to strikingly divide similarly, correlating strongly for one or another subdivision. "Does prosperity justify dictatorship?" is one, as is "Does rudeness distract from material debate?"

What's the best benchmark? Is the idea of a benchmark flawed?

Would it be worth surveying people to see if the patterns really exist in general, or are they simply illusory shadows cast by the most visible personalities?

Well, I'd say the "Sovereign vs ISD" thread is the best becnhmark you can have, because it basically brought back all other arguments into the fray (ICS, Strafighters vs Cap ships, etc...).

It is also a very good indicator of the opinion of people, and also allows us to glimpse on whether the debaters actually are mostly subjective, or mostly objective, according to their answers.

Praeothmin wrote:Well, I'd say the "Sovereign vs ISD" thread is the best becnhmark you can have, because it basically brought back all other arguments into the fray (ICS, Strafighters vs Cap ships, etc...).

It is also a very good indicator of the opinion of people, and also allows us to glimpse on whether the debaters actually are mostly subjective, or mostly objective, according to their answers.

Star Trek tricorders' range and abilities.

Star Trek is communist or ...

'Which one would last longer against the Culture?'

Most "Warp Drive versus Hyperdrive" type debates since it covers not only the canonical speeds of each drive, but often delves into the issues of actual territory controled by the Trek and Wars powers.
-Mike

I know the actual extended discussion of the drive systems inevitably reveals a great deal, but the short answers not nearly as much in that case.

Still good if you ask for a comparison, but people on wholly opposite sides might both answer 20,000c for warp drive.

The question I typically ask people is which would be victorious out of a Galaxy class and an ISD, since those are the ships most people are familiar with.

Although, I had a fun little exchange during a Memorial Day celebration which my family hosted. A friend of mine thought an ISD would ably defeat any Federation starship. So I asked him if an ISD could defeat a Borg cube, and he didn't really know which would win. I have all of TNG, DS9, Voyager and TOS on DVD, so I showed him a few clips of Endgame, where the enhanced Voyager pops Borg cubes, spheres and transwarp hubs with ease. It's a shame we've never seen those technologies again, but given the Federation's proscriptions against temporal incursions and weapons of mass destruction, its not surprising. Needless to say, my friend's views were somewhat "modified."

For a common trek/wars debater it is simple, "Do you believe the ICS books are accurate."

For a non debater who is open minded and knowledgeable about both medias, "what, in your opinion, is more powerful, an ISD or *insert galaxy, defiant, or sovereign class here*."

For a simple fan boy... walk away.