IDIC (glossary term)

IDIC is a canonical term from Star Trek: The Original Series and stands for "Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations." In Star Trek canon, IDIC is a Vulcan philosophy and also a prestigious Vulcan award of merit.
==The Philosophy==
Gene Roddenberry originated the IDIC philosophy as a Vulcan belief: 
The phrase in Vulcan is Kol-Ut-Shan.IDIC on Memory Alpha, the Star Trek wiki
Gene Roddenberry Jr. says the entire show was: 
Gene Jr. also goes into detail on this in his documentary film Trek Nation, with input from fans on the importance of his father's message of universal acceptance.
Star Trek fandom quickly adopted the IDIC philosophy and internalized it to the point where it has become a cornerstone of real world fannish interactions. Star trek and sacred ground by Jennifer E. Porter and Darcee L. McLaren. "IDIC" is often used in fandom as shorthand for "To each her own," or to indicate respect for fans with different preferences -- primarily, the debate over Slash (see Slash Controversies), explicit, X-rated fanfiction of any type, and kink in the sense of depictions of unconventional sexual practices. For example, bradygirl_12, I understand I'm probably in the minority with this opinion but that's fine. I am happy to honor IDIC. :) Posted Jan 3, 2010. Last accessed October 25, 2010. 
However, some fans are turned off by the Doylist revelation that the introduction of the IDIC symbol was pushed into the show by Gene Roddenberry, as a commercial for IDIC merchandise. kindkit, TOS reviews I sort of enjoyed the discussion of the IDIC symbol (yay Kirk for coming to Spock's defense) but knowing that it was just a marketing ploy by Gene Roddenberry rather palls my enthusiasm. Posted July 10, 2009. Last accessed October 25, 2010. The practice of offering a premium within a program (for kids or adults) is as old as radio. Roddenberry may have been thinking of this practice when he thought of putting the IDIC on the show, rather than merely offering it to fans through mail order.He stopped just short of having a special announcement at the end of the show offering IDIC to viewers for three Geritol labels and a dime. In fact, it's clear that he didn't understand the difference between tie-in merchandise (like the Enterprise models, comic books and toys) and premiums displayed in-show. For some background and examples of radio premiums, see Jim Harmon, The Great Radio Heroes (MacFarland, 2001), and the website Old-Time Radio Premiums.
Responding to a question on Quora, "IDIC (Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations) is, essentially, a recipe for pure chaos. However Vulcans are all but defined by their adherence and respect for logic. How are these two fundamental principles not completely at odds with each other?", Josh Engel wrote the following. 
And from Josh Marsfelder's Vaka Rangi, anthropological/sociological Star Trek rewatch:
==The Physical Symbol: Origins, and Intensive Promotions==
Fans first heard of the IDIC during the the summer of 1968 via a "Vulcan Pendent" [sic] announcement, probably written by Roddenberry himself and published in the first issue of Inside Star Trek (July 1968, pp. 15–16). It describes "ardent rock hound and amateur lapidary" Roddenberry as having come up with the Vulcan philosophy after he presented Leonard Nimoy with a unique "hand-crafted piece of jewelry," a "pendent" [sic] of polished yellow gold (circle) and florentined white gold (triangle), with a stone of brilliant white fabulite — an artificial gem "developed by the laser industry and used in space mechanisms for its optical qualities," and thus well-suited as a gift for an actor in a science fiction show. Readers were encouraged to submit their interest in such a product to the Star Trek Enterprises mail order firm. It was noted that "less expensive materials" would keep costs down. 
The IDIC was first offered for sale in May 1969, first as a special announcement sent out to fans and then on page 4 of Inside Star Trek.
The Vulcan IDIC pendant was designed by Gene Roddenberry as a marketing premium long before the third season. As early as the end of the first season, fans of the show had begun writing in asking for copies of the scripts, film clip frames, etc., and these were soon sold through Roddenberry's "Star Trek Enterprises", run at that time by Bjo and John Trimble before Roddenberry renamed it Lincoln Enterprises and turned it over to Majel Barrett. As evidenced in some of his letters and memos, Roddenberry was fond of circle-and-triangle designs and had wanted to use them for purposes of theatrical unity as early as the first season's "The Return of the Archons". 
Roddenberry himself wore an IDIC pendant to at least one con, something that fanned the interest and promoted its sale. From a fan in August 1968 who was at FunCon: 
From a zine editor's encouragement to subscribe to "Inside Star Trek": This, fans, is it--the official newsletter ST. Contents of #1 include [snipped] news of all the ST stars; and information on that Vulcan idic. What are you waiting for? Energize!"
The appeal of a pendant or medallion with a Vulcan theme for young viewers in the 1960s cannot be overstated. There was already a demonstrable fan craving for any souvenir of the show, and this was the first item to be specifically manufactured for the fans. Medallions on long chains were extremely stylish in 1968, many featuring Gerald Holtom's familiar peace symbol. The IDIC was instantly and enthusiastically embraced as a "Vulcan peace symbol". Along with the Vulcan hand salute and the phrases Peace and long life / Live long and prosper, IDIC was a recognizable code symbol for the growing subculture of Star Trek fandom. 
It was a masterpiece of timeliness and astute marketing instinct on the part of Roddenberry. Star Trek was first developed in 1964 and came to fruition in 1966, almost exactly coinciding with the hippie/counterculture movement with its 'peace' hand salute and identifying phrases like "do your own thing", "make love, not war", being "on the bus", and "turn on, tune in, drop out".Kirk Jusko, Strange New World Just Ahead, or: How to Make a Vulcan Feel at Home (Part 2 of 15): The Evolution of Gene Roddenberry. Shadow of a Doubt blog post dated July 15, 2015, puts Star Trek and Roddenberry in the context of the 1960s' Sexual Revolution, the anti-Vietnam/anti-war movement, and the popularity of psychedelic drugs. All of his "Strange New World Just Ahead" posts are worth reading for their contextualization of Star Trek within not just a 1960s framework but American culture in general.What we think of as "hippie" things were a combination of art and political-philosophical movements ca. 1963-1967. Originating with the Beats, they included the Diggers, the Artists Liberation Front, various craft entrepreneurships, Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters and Timothy Leary's League for Spiritual Discovery, and perhaps most important, innovations and experiments in popular music (most notably by The Beatles) and film. In 1967, lured by two years of media hype about an ecstatic utopia of free sex, drugs and psychedelic music, thousands of young people flocked to the Haight-Ashbury and other districts where this was taking place. These seeking people were the ones the media referred to as "hippies". Most of them didn't realize that this was a small cultural experiment, still very much under construction, and while some of them came to understand and joined in to help, the influx of seekers essentially destroyed it. The "Summer of Love" was actually the end of the "hippie movement" on a wide scale. The movement did not die but diffused into a number of channels including commune experiments and the back to the land movement, natural/organic food, quantum mechanics research, psychedelic and progressive rock (some of which, combined with classical, jazz and indigenous/tribal music into New Age/space music) and the development of personal computers/internet. Use of LSD to gain insight and self-understanding, as well as for recreational purposes, began in the 1950s. New clinical LSD experiments started in 2009. Many people now take tiny amounts of LSD and psilocybin to enhance mood and creativity without "tripping". 
According to the blog Star Trek Fact Check, "Roddenberry first tried to include the IDIC at the end of 'Spock's Brain"... In a July 10, 1968 memo to Fred Freiberger, Roddenberry outlined his idea for a scene with the IDIC. Perhaps emphasizing the importance the jewelry had to Roddenberry, the memo was titled 'Spock's Medallion.': 
Roddenberry was successful in inserting the IDIC into the episode "Is There In Truth No Beauty?". According to William Shatner in Star Trek Memories, the book about TOS he dictated to Chris KreskiWilliam Shatner and Chris Kreski, Star Trek Memories (Harper, 1993), pp. 287-289. Roddenberry sent down several pages of new script for the dinner scene, in which Spock was to give a long-winded explanation of the philosophy. The actors all knew IDIC was a mere advertising toy. Worse, Leonard Nimoy found the dialogue "deadly dull and almost completely pointless... we were both just babbling at each other." The episode's director, Ralph Senensky, said that Leonard Nimoy first phoned producer Fred Freiberger about the IDIC debacle; Freiberger wouldn't do anything, so Leonard called Roddenberry.Ralph Senensky, "Is There In Truth No Beauty?: Filmed July 1968", in Ralph's Cinema Trek blog, probably written in March 2011. Nimoy confirms this in Star Trek Memories and adds: "Overnight, the irrelevant scene had been replaced with a far more irrelevant scene. The dialogue now consisted of Diana Muldaur asking me something like, 'What's that medallion you’re wearing, Spock?,' and I explain that it's an IDIC and then I proceed to spend the next page-and-a-half explaining exactly what this IDIC is and why it's so great."
While Senensky remembered Roddenberry "vehemently denied these accusations" that the IDIC was a premium, Shatner said in his book that Roddenberry was honest about that. However, the actors refused to film the scene until Roddenberry cut out the lengthy exposition.Senensky confirmed this in an interview with Edward Gross for Starlog 172 in November 1991, quoted in Marc Cushman, These Are The Voyages: TOS -- Season 3 (Jacobs Brown Press, 2015).
In [[I Am Spock], Leonard Nimoy remembered objecting to the ethics of a product insertion. While he liked the IDIC philosophy, he didn't appreciate Spock being used as a "billboard" and "the whole incident was rather unpleasant; Roddenberry was peeved at me for not wanting to help his piece of mail-order merchandise get off to a resounding start, and [Fred Freiberger]] was peeved at me for going over his head."Leonard Nimoy, I Am Spock (1995), p.123-124
Roddenberry agreed to rewrite the scene, but explained -- again showing he had confused tie-in merchandise with in-show premiums: 
Steve Smyth has this to say about its manufacture:
In 2007, Richard Arnold talked about the marketing at his Creation Con appearance: 
50th anniversary official replicas with 18k gold circles and rhodium-plated triangles were designed by the Fleet Workshop in 2015 and made available in 2016. The designers discuss their research and craft process in considerable depth:
These are selling at the Roddenberry Shop for $200 and fetch as much as $350 on eBay. "This recreation, painstakingly handmade by a traditional jewelry atelier in New England, is the result of a collaboration between Roddenberry Entertainment and a community of Star Trek prop replica enthusiasts, who worked together to ensure that this is the most faithful replica ever produced. Access to original dress uniform braiding and Bill Theiss insignia patterns was obtained and used in concert with sophisticated digital modeling software to ensure that the sizing and shape contours were a perfect recreation of the original. Evoking Star Trek's simultaneous long history and vision towards the future, futuristic fabrication methods such as high-resolution 3D printing and laser micro-welding were combined with ages-old traditional hand florentine finishing techniques to yield a model with the correct contours and texture."
==Fan Uses of IDIC==
Star Trek fans were immediately attracted to the IDIC and Lincoln Enterprises was soon flooded with orders. The symbol was subsequently offered as pendants in three sizes and as earrings, pins and patches. The largest pendant went for $7.50 (close to $60 in 2020). Apparently Roddenberry failed to trademark the symbol for the reasons Smyth speculated, or he wanted to leave it free for public use like Gerald Holtom's original peace symbol. 
Today, the IDIC symbol is printed on t-shirts and hats, and has even turned up on scrabble tiles for use by crafters. Numerous fan associations - for example Star Trek Action Group (STAG) - use the symbol in logos, newsletter banners and flyers.
Many fannish institutions have taken their name from IDIC or related subjects. IDICon, a K/S con was held in Houston throughout the mid-'80s. The Surak Awards were named after Surak, founder of the Vulcan IDIC philosophy.
There have been several Star Trek zines and newsletters called IDIC, and others with IDIC themes, such as the United Federation of Planets Journal, which has the subtitle, "Dedicated to the Universal Understanding of I.D.I.C." 
In 2009, Vividcon's Challenge show had IDIC as its prompt.
==The Philosophy as Fans Saw It==
IDIC was invoked frequently in the debates concerning Slash Controversies in the mid- to late 1970s. The pages of the letterzine Interstat became the home of much of this lively debate. Fans who objected to depictions of their beloved heroes in homosexual relationships, for whatever reason, were reminded that the universe has room for all and that diversities are required for health and growth. Those who felt that homosexuality itself was immoral often received an education on the gay rights movement, then in full swing. Although there were times when people seemed to use "IDIC" as short for "don't like, don't read", on the whole the discussions were intelligent and thoughtful.
* In a 1985 issue of Interstat, a fan responds to a new subscriber's complaint about fans arguing with each other: "Those who bellow 'IDIC!' loudest in public are often those who displaythe crudest understanding of the concept...IDIC...is not a delicate, hothouse, faraway philosophical idea. It's a tough, adaptable, demanding, way of living one's life. IDIC, when confined to a television or movie screen or to the printed page, is a very pretty thing. IDIC in everyday life isn't quite so attractive; it's often aggravating as hell and ugly as sin... [reading Interstat, I] began to realize that what I was witnessing—the blood feuds, the elite alliances, the extravagant praise and vitriolic condemnations—was IDIC in action. Within the pages of Interstat...within ST fandom itself...IDIC works. Oh it creaks and groans and more often than not seems past the point of total disintegration...but it does, somehow, hold together."
Not everyone had this kind of optimism regarding the inclusion of things like "blood feuds" and flamewars in the general IDIC philosophy. On the Women at Warp podcast website, contributor Sue calls IDIC "a specific piece of lore that gets twisted into a weapon... Too often, I have seen someone make a racist, misogynist, ableist, or otherwise bigoted comment, get called out, and then post something like, 'What happened to IDIC? If you believe in IDIC, then it has to include my opinion.'" She reminds readers that the "infinite" refers to an infinity of diversities, not "every possible ideology or opinion."
==IDIC in Fanart==
File:Bondmates1-2.jpg|artist is Starshadow, from Bondmates #1 (2006)
==Meta/Further Reading==
* Philosophy of the IDIC by David Henry (printed in Phoenix #1) (1975)
* IDIC, a 1984 essay
==Notes==
==References==
Category:Star Trek Fandom Glossary