Posted on 02/20/2020 6:45:35 AM PST by C19fan
After more than 50 years on the air, Star Trek has become a sort of universal vision of the future. Where other stories imagine a world torn by war, or at the mercy of technology run wild, Star Trek imagines, if not the best possible future, one very close to it.
Creator Gene Roddenberry's vision of humanity in the 23rd and 24th centuries unifies the planet, does away with grand-scale internal conflict, erases the need for a money-based economy, and opens up a whole galaxy of possibilities for the human species. The result is a people working together to create art, advance science, and explore the cosmos. We break the light-speed barrier, visit strange new worlds, enjoy lifelike virtual reality simulations, and crack teleportation. Distances both near and far are within our grasp. It's a veritable utopia, challenged only by external threats. Or at least it was, until Star Trek: Picard premiered.
(Excerpt) Read more at syfy.com ...
I read the article, and an answer (at least according to Trek lore) is in place for two of the problems posed.
Power: According to the article, the power in a three-mile long lightning bolt would be enough to dis-assemble a human. The warp core, with its matter/anti-matter technology, would have the power and much more to spare. Powering a warp drive takes incredible amounts of energy, provided constantly, for long periods of time..Not to mention powering all the necessary systems of a starship. In the Trek universe, the matter/anti-matter system fills the bill. Doesn’t exist, yet..but maybe one day.
Computational power: The article said that the power and speed of computation necessary would be astronomical to map, dis-assemble, and re-assemble a human. Based off what’s available to Starfleet in the 23rd and 24th centuries, they get around that with tech that (obviously) hasn’t been invented yet. According to Trek sources, one of the things they do to boost computer speed is to surround the computer core in a subspace field. Since atoms move faster-than-light in subspace (hence warp speed), that allows the computer to make computations at ‘warp speed’.
I know it’s all conjecture anyway, but that’s my .02 cents.
I read the article, and an answer (at least according to Trek lore) is in place for two of the problems posed.
Power: According to the article, the power in a three-mile long lightning bolt would be enough to dis-assemble a human. The warp core, with its matter/anti-matter technology, would have the power and much more to spare. Powering a warp drive takes incredible amounts of energy, provided constantly, for long periods of time..Not to mention powering all the necessary systems of a starship. In the Trek universe, the matter/anti-matter system fills the bill. Doesn’t exist, yet..but maybe one day.
Computational power: The article said that the power and speed of computation necessary would be astronomical to map, dis-assemble, and re-assemble a human. Based off what’s available to Starfleet in the 23rd and 24th centuries, they get around that with tech that (obviously) hasn’t been invented yet. According to Trek sources, one of the things they do to boost computer speed is to surround the computer core in a subspace field. Since atoms move faster-than-light in subspace (hence warp speed), that allows the computer to make computations at ‘warp speed’.
I know it’s all conjecture anyway, but that’s my .02 cents.
Star trek, smar flec
go expanse
And every problem was fixed with “inverse polarity”
My main problem with Star Trek started when I figured out that Star Fleet was some sort of totalitarian military dictatorship, spanning many planets.
Star Wars Jedi were also a bit on the Warlike-Space-Imans-control-the-government scale.
Exactly.
The episode “The Enemy Within” is one of the best of the series and used a malfunctioning transporter as a plot device.
I always interpreted the transporter as acting similar to their warp engines. Meaning, the engines warp space - Take a sheet of paper. It represents space. Mark a position A at the bottom of the page. Draw a line from A to the top of the page mark that spot as B. Fold (warp!) the paper until A touches B. The space craft has now moved from A to B, continue the rate of bending are your “warp factors” . So warp engines fold\warp\bend space, the transporter does that locally bends space from transporter to spot on planet\other starship, etc. My explanation gets around all the dis-assemble re-assemble store the information computer problems and the moral & philosophical issues of kill, re-animate (Actually you’re making a copy & killing the original!) of the users. Also with my explanation you’re kind of containing everything within the same technology umbrella that allows interstellar flight (Which is fantastic on in itself!).
If you really want to think about it..........
I got the Enterprise Blue prints. There is another transporter room that can send like 30 ppl at a time. Its on the lower deck somewhere.
Also, when the transporter broke, I noticed they never took the shuttle down instead. This bothered me to no end as a kid when I watched this.
Also the phasers, sometimes they carried the pistol version and sometimes the little version. But the pistol version had the little version mounted on the top, so I dont know what was different.
In the words of the Great Philosopher:
“If you’re wondering how he eats and breathes
and other science facts
Just repeat to yourself: “It’s just a show,
I should really just relax...
...for Mystery Science Theater 3000.”
Although the shuttles on the original Battlestar Galactica were used effectively as plot devices.
A military space battleship or a cruise starship with a bar run by Whoopi, two very different versions of the future...
Transporters are the natural extension of 3d printing technology. Will they ever do living things? Maybe, if we manage to not exterminate mankind.
1) I think that would be the Cargo transporters, which had to be adjusted for human transport in an emergency.
2) I definitely remember the episode where the small landing party was slowly freezing to death and they never thought to use a shuttle.
3) Aren’t the pistol grip versions mostly an extended power pack?
It’s fantasy and science fiction....how can folks try to have “an honest conversation” about it - without being dressed up and attending a Comic Con?
In particular, the replicators. There is that socialist bent to the future, but if you have a replicator it does take away a motivation to earn and acquire...is there a restriction on what a replicator can do?
Musings from a Trek geek...
"Lost in Space" was for children, Star Trek was an adult show.
I still watch them - even after all these years and scores of viewings, it's still great television.
Theoretically thanks to quantum entanglement it would be possible but the original is destroyed, not transported you would end up with an exact copy in theory..
Michael Crichton dealt with some of the details of teleportation in his novel, “Timeline”. He notes that the ‘person’ coming out the other end is a facsimile of the original which was destroyed in the process of scanning & teleporting the subject. Oh, and the subject seemed to be limited to the number of times he/she could be teleported as there was some replication errors that grew with each cycle.
“and puts the meat you occupy back together. But it would be lifeless.”
That explains Democrats.
Expanse is the most boring show I think I've ever watched. Whenever I have trouble getting to sleep, I put Expanse on and I'm out like a light in under ten minutes.
Roddenberry was after utopia. Supposedly the Federation had done away with money and one worked for the common good. There are a few scenes in DS9 and Voyager where they need ot come up with “money” or trade with alien races to get what the want. I think the argument is that replicators allow the people to focus on higher things such as human development. In STNG on their trips back to Earth I don’t recall their being replicators in the story line. Bars, restaurants and the Picard winery seemed to be the focus. It is a good discussion topic.
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