It would have been worse if she mistook it for a suppository.
So the entire basis for Roddenberry's original vision of the future is reduced to: humans were used as gullible tools while forming the Federation.
I'm not okay with that.
The Rikers seemed relatively happy and accepting of their son's death. Shit happens to everyone (having him die of a computer virus or something was pretty weird though.)
Further back than that. TOS - “The Ultimate Computer”For those of you mentioning Control... I would like to point out that Control technically didn't originate in Discovery. Rather... that thing was yoinked from the Section 31 novels (centered around Dr. Bashir).
That was brilliant, actually. It showed the unintended consequences of knee-jerk reactionary bullshit policies governments come up with in response to a tragedy or attack. That’s not a new thing for the Federation either. They wholesale banned an entire field of research due to fear from the eugenics wars. Research that would have saved lives, and improved life for those with disabilities, but no instead they threw the baby out with the bath water. We saw the consequences of that in DS9 with Bashir.
Further back than that. TOS - “The Ultimate Computer”
I lolled when Romulan Spy gave Agnes the tracker and Agnes ate it without any instruction. “Uh.. you were just supposed to put that in your pocket...”