Nemesis: why is Geordi so impressed with "normal" vision?

Discussion in 'Star Trek Movies I-X' started by alpha_leonis, Jun 30, 2014.

  1. dswynne1

    dswynne1 Captain Captain

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    I always thought that it was weird that Geordie had a VISOR to begin with (being a fan of the "Six Million Dollar Man" television show). You would think that scientific and technological development would have enabled him to have ocular implants to begin with. Then again, IRL, we're talking about 1987's perspective on the future, and GR probably wanted something tangible in terms of having character with an obvious non-disability.
     
  2. The Old Mixer

    The Old Mixer Mih ssim, mih ssim, nam, daed si Xim. Moderator

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    I suspect that it's a complicated psychological issue for Geordi, not a simple good/bad. For example, when it was brought up that he could take something for the pain that his VISOR caused, he refused on the basis that it would reduce what he saw.
     
  3. MarsWeeps

    MarsWeeps Fleet Captain Premium Member

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  4. Morpheus 02

    Morpheus 02 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Except i don't think he can turn off his vision/focus it exclusively in one spectrum. I mean he can focus on a one thing for a few seconds...but not all the time. It's like being able to hear something through a bunch of background noise...you might for a minute or two...but you can't enjoy a song or a hear a speech that way.

    And his vision also cause him constant pain.
     
  5. Trevacious

    Trevacious Captain Captain

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    He also had telescopic vision, casually mentioned during Hide & Q.
     
  6. Crazy Eddie

    Crazy Eddie Vice Admiral Admiral

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    HE can't, obviously. But it would be relatively simple to reprogram his VISOR to only give him input in the visual spectrum in order to simulate normal vision. Basically, just narrow the VISOR's frequency range or, failing that, reduce the number of frequencies it actually sends to him. And again, the only real reason to NOT do that is because he would loose quite a bit of perception that way and that's not something he would find all that beneficial.

    Until he takes it off, of course. That, more than anything, is probably why he switched to ocular implants after Generations. And the above consideration is also why he didn't arrange to have a set of eyes that give him a perfectly humanlike frequency response range: he didn't WANT normal vision, he wanted the full-monty broad spectrum Terminator View.
     
  7. Mytran

    Mytran Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Like many good sci-fi technology tropes, Geordi's VISOR is an "all or nothing" piece of kit. Similar to Steve Austin's arm and legs, it seems the only way to replace a missing human ability is with a superhuman ability! LaForge once described his VISOR as "seeing the entire electromagnetic spectrum at once" which may just be the natural state of whatever exotic material the VISOR is made from - selectively tuning it down may simply not be an option, not in a way which keeps the unit light and portable.