I remember reading an interesting thread by a few other members of the comm a while back - unfortunately I can't remember where, otherwise I'd link it - but if I'm remembering right, they were arguing that in some kinda of situations there could be benefits to being a voluntary controller. I think the examples used where on the issue of mental illness, and how having a Yeerk could help someone who was incapable of controlling their own behaviour. I wish I could remember where that thread was, because the people in it were discussing this much better than I could.
I also imagine they could also be highly useful for diagnostics, much like Aftran was in The Sickness. And also just for research, in understanding how the brain works and functions.
Of course, as a few people have pointed out, there's a lot of issues surrounding the possibility of abuse, not to mention societal attitudes. There'd need to be strict regulations in place, like perhaps whenever the Yeerk feeds the host has to go through a process to make sure that they haven't been mistreated and that they still really want this. I also imagine that if becoming a voluntary controller were permitted, there would be a lot of stigma surrounding it.
Canon-wise, I think the most likely scenario is that all Yeerks either had to choose to become a nothlit or return to the pools forever (and most likely only the pools on their home world). Purely because they were the aggressors in a war they had just lost. There's not going to be much public sympathy for them, either from humans or the Andalites. That's not to say that any other scenario is impossible though, because history can take strange turns sometimes. But, if there's going to be any kind of voluntary co-operation or infestation between Yeerks and other species, it'd probably happen further down the line when the war is no longer an immediate memory and the species involved have had a chance to make reparations.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2012-05-03 12:27 am (UTC)I also imagine they could also be highly useful for diagnostics, much like Aftran was in The Sickness. And also just for research, in understanding how the brain works and functions.
Of course, as a few people have pointed out, there's a lot of issues surrounding the possibility of abuse, not to mention societal attitudes. There'd need to be strict regulations in place, like perhaps whenever the Yeerk feeds the host has to go through a process to make sure that they haven't been mistreated and that they still really want this. I also imagine that if becoming a voluntary controller were permitted, there would be a lot of stigma surrounding it.
Canon-wise, I think the most likely scenario is that all Yeerks either had to choose to become a nothlit or return to the pools forever (and most likely only the pools on their home world). Purely because they were the aggressors in a war they had just lost. There's not going to be much public sympathy for them, either from humans or the Andalites. That's not to say that any other scenario is impossible though, because history can take strange turns sometimes. But, if there's going to be any kind of voluntary co-operation or infestation between Yeerks and other species, it'd probably happen further down the line when the war is no longer an immediate memory and the species involved have had a chance to make reparations.