How Today's Technology Is Rapidly Catching Up to Star Trek

huffingtonpost ^ | : 07/01/2014 5:59 pm EDT | Vivek Wadhwa

[ckilmer]

In a distant part of the galaxy, 300 years in the future, Starship Enterprise Captain James T. Kirk talks to his crew via a communicator; has his medical officer assess medical conditions through a handheld device called a tricorder; synthesizes food and physical goods using his replicator; and travels short distances via a transporter. Kirk's successors hold meetings in virtual-reality chambers, called holodecks, and operate alien spacecraft using displays mounted on their foreheads. All this takes place in the TV series Star Trek, and is of course science fiction.

[Steely Tom]

I believe that Dr. McCoy’s “tricorder” is between five and ten years away.

ObamaCare is accelerating development of this technology.

[I want the USA back]

Science fiction: faster than light travel. Transporting living beings from one place to another. Translator that can handle previously-unknown languages.
Will not happen. Ever.

[wally_bert]

My chiropractor uses an adjusting tool that looks like the hypo spray on the old series. He laughed when I told him. Originally it was used in dentistry somehow.

[bunkerhill7]

We got a crude tricorder medical device, but nobody believes us.

[Maceman]

We will soon see a new generation of wearable devices such as bracelets, watches, and clothing that use external sensors to perform electrocardiograms and measure our temperature, blood oxygenation, and other vital signs. These will later be replaced by less obtrusive sensors in skin patches, tattoos and eventually microchips embedded in our bodies. As well, we will have cameras and heat, gas, and sound sensors in our bathrooms, kitchens, and living rooms that constantly monitor our health and lifestyle.

Of course, the government will NEVER use technology to monitor our lifestyles. That would be tyranny, and Obama said that would never happen.

“Unfortunately, you’ve grown up hearing voices that incessantly warn of government as nothing more than some separate, sinister entity that’s at the root of all our problems,”Obama told the audience at the Ohio State commencement ceremony. “They’ll warn that tyranny is always lurking just around the corner. You should reject these voices.” Calling on the students to dispense with “individual ambition,” Obama attempted to align his big government agenda with the vision of the founding fathers, lamenting the fact that less and less Americans trust the state.

[Blood of Tyrants]

I’m still waiting for the flying car that has been promised since the 50s.

[JimRed]

Transporting living beings from one place to another.

Horseback. Horse and cart. Horse and wagon. Donkey cart. Chariot. Boat. Ship. Bicycle. Motorcycle. Automobile. Aircraft. Spacecraft.

;^)

Forgot camel and elephant...

[AFreeBird]

Flying car? Yea, I’d love one, but then I consider how well a lot of people handle four wheels on terra firma, and I shudder at the thought of them operating in three dimensional space.

[Blood of Tyrants]

By the time there are flying cars, there will be computers that do the flying for you. Just get in and speak the destination and the computer does the rest.

[needmorePaine]

Let me know when the holodeck is available.

[tanknetter]

Iirc, ( this may be from one of the books, which are non-canon, i know) the translator worked on the basis of there having been a common origin to all the humanoid species. An ancient species that had seeded the galaxy, including providing at least rudimentary language from which all humanoid language derived.

The translator worked on the principle that a computer could identify the rudimentary commonalities and extrapolate a working translation.

There were episodes where the translator didn’t work because the species was non-humanoid. The result was Spock getting to mind meld with things like rocks and whales. There was also an episode (Next Gen) where the translator figured out the words, but couldn’t figure out the language constuct because the aliens spoke in allegory/metaphors.

Finally, with really advanced species there was an assumption that THEY had figured out humanoid language and were speaking to us in a language the translator could understand.

[Minutemen]

All has come to pass, sadly, minus the actual “hardware” to get to outer space.

[C210N]

My chiropractor uses an adjusting tool...

When I was going to one, he used one of these as well. I viewed it as a "clicking" device. Probably with a spring from one of those ball-point pens, it was designed to make a soft "click" noise when button was pressed.

Seemed placebo-ish to me...

But, I'm no Chiropractor.

[C210N]

I double-shudder at the thought of scofflaw no-license illegals driving in four dimensional space.

[AFreeBird]

Illegals with a time machine! I triple shudder at the thought.

[hecticskeptic]

Well... I am hoping that just before this world falls totally apart, a ‘beaming up’ will happen that will be so fast that I won’t even hear the trumpet that is supposed to sound in advance of the event.....1 Corinthians 15:51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

[bigbob]

I’m holding out for the Jetsons version that folds into a briefcase

[bigbob]

Simpler yet, look for chemosensors that will be integrated into cellphones in order to analyze the users health non-invasively. For example, think of the advances in measuring blood sugar for diabetics - there’s already been work on chemosensors that are sensitive to specific chemicals in the exhaled breath that are produced by certain diseases, including cancer. The phone provides the needed intelligence and communications gateway.

It is already possible to attach instruments to a standard smartphone that rival Doctor McCoy’s scanners, like the Wello: https://azoi.com/

Before long these technologies will surpass what was envisioned on Star Trek just as mobile devices have already surpassed the capability of Captain Kirk’s flip-phone communicator.

[wally_bert]

It seems to help with me. I’ve been going to an upper cervical one for years and it has been worth every penny. I wished I had gone to one long before.