2d ago

What happens if one of the people in a mindmeld is sedated or unconscious?

If Beverly had sedated Jean Luc during Sarek, or if a meld were initiated on an already unconscious person? Is this ever touched on in universe or extended universe?

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In VOY S5E07: Infinite Regress, Seven was sedated and Tuvok mind-melded with her to save her from the effects of the Vinculum. The way it was portrayed there, it would be like the mind melder entering the dream of the meld-ee.
- thats not cool man. not cool. non consensual mindmeld is uncool.
  
  Even to save the persons life (as was portrayed in the episode)?
- So in reality, REM sleep is only a small portion of the cycle, right? What if they weren't dreaming?
  And what happens if it starts as a conscious meld, like in Sarek? Would Sarek have collapsed as the meld entered a dream?
The only instance of a meld while unconscious I can think of is Spock offloading his katra into McCoy before sacrificing himself in STII. Whether or not that's an actual mind meld is anyone's guess. It could indicate though that both sides need to be sufficiently lucid for the mutual link to be established. So it's possible to mind meld with somebody who is passed out but you don't get two-way exchange out of it. So it's useless unless all you want to do is store your soul in somebody else.
I have a feeling Tuvok may have melded with an unconscious person. A meld was always his plan A.
ENT 04x07 The Forge might be the earliest human mindmeld and the recipient is brain damaged and comatosed:
SOVAL: He's comatose, brain-damaged, and he's human. A mind-meld is dangerous under the best of conditions, but under these…
Later
SOVAL: I don't know if this has ever been attempted with a human before.
SOVAL: My mind to your mind. Our minds are one. Our thoughts are joined. Yes.
SOVAL: I see what you see. The embassy. I'm at my station. At your station. So many new people arriving for the summit. I don't recognise them all, but some I know. A package. That's all right. I don't need to see it. Go right through. Who are you? Who?
If we’re talking about “general anesthesia”, I would hope that it wouldn’t work. The brain kind of “disconnects” under this sedation, so I would think there wouldn’t be anything to communicate with.
Might be an interesting storyline about the dangers of melding with an anesthetized person being dangerous — allowing for the melder to take over higher brain functions, or inadvertently connect to “monkey brain” dragging them down with it.
Of course it’s the future, so who knows what anesthesia/sedatives work like in that century.

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