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Daystrom Institute
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Episode Guides
The /r/DaystromInstitute wiki held a number of popular Star Trek watch guides. We have rehosted them here:
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- OpticalData’s guide to Star Trek: Voyager
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I think that's an oversimplification of what GP was getting at.
Tuvix was an accident, knew and accepted that fact, and initially was voluntarily assisting in finding a way to undo it. He seems more than capable of grasping, even at that early point in his existence, that undoing the accident means the end of him.
GP made the argument that his demeanor started changing as he got a name, a job, responsibilities etc. All the superficial hallmarks of a "person" in the very limited environment of the ship.
Nobody is saying he wasn't a person from the start, but getting assigned all the trappings of what he saw to be individual persons undoubtedly started him thinking of himself as a person as well instead of just an accident to be corrected.
I'm going to add to that, as this post made me rewatch it as we speak 🙂
The two very first lines Tuvix speaks, when challenge 6 for his identity, are "I am luitenant Tuvok. And I am Neelix."
He really didn't realize he was a person yet - he thought he was two persons.
Had you asked, in that initial time, whether he would like to be split up, I'm sure he would have answered in the positive.
Of course he's allowed to change his mind as realization grows, so the whole thing remains a dicey proposition, but imo it just reinforces the fact that it was Janeway who triggered his (becoming aware of his own) personhood.