I realize you can just answer, “mysterious aliens beyond our understanding,” but why would a space probe have a mandate of either talk to a whale for 30 seconds or destroy Earth and disable everything in its path on the way to Earth?
Why? What does that achieve?
Which is more improbable: that, or there being no hallucinogenic drugs in Kirk and Spock’s time?
If they can easily manipulate molecules to make sheets of materials like transparent aluminum, AND they seem to keep an illegal stash of Romulan Pale Ale, imagine the mind-bending mind-enhancing substances they can come up with four centuries from now, yet square-jawed Kirk seems completely oblivious to the whole concept.
If you’re referring to the LDS flub, that could really be easily handwaved away as it was a drug that just fell so far out of fashion and use it’s barely a foot note in history books. Enough for Kirk to be aware of its history yet to not remember the correct name.
By his point in time humanity has chosen to expand their minds with knowledge and exploration…and lots of booze
He seems oblivious to swearing too. I’m glad that got retconned.
Swearing they’re aware of, but it’s more of correct colloquial context for the time. It’d be like me going back 40 years and calling someone a fucktard.
Kirk shouldn’t be so stupid that he can’t figure out what “dumb” and “ass” mean when you put them together. Especially when both words had already been in use for centuries by the 20th century and English had clearly barely changed in the following centuries.