Are we talking TOS era or TNG era? I'm not sure we'll ever get to a point where we can shoot beams at somebody and selectively rewrite all their DNA. Even dermal regenerators seem like a stretch.
What technology did Star Trek Actually Inspire?
- Thread starter Prax
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Are we talking TOS era or TNG era? I'm not sure we'll ever get to a point where we can shoot beams at somebody and selectively rewrite all their DNA. Even dermal regenerators seem like a stretch.
I take it you see no value in science populism. All of those things may have been thought of, but without something to get them into the right ear and mind, they still might not have been realized as real things. I'm not saying that Trek was the only vehicle that could do the job - just that in some cases it was the vehicle, and it deserves credit for that, at least.
Ask not whether it makes sense that Janeway would use her rations that way. Ask, instead, whether such rationing EVER made any sense, given their technology. (It didn't, IMO - it was bad writing.)
In their history, the 20th century was the height of human civilization before it was torn down by the big wars and built again. And on that note, it was also the era that led into the damn near destruction of all of humanity, period. So maybe it *does* make a little sense - as much as the number of current history buffs fascinated by the rise and fall of the Roman Empire?
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If I wrote some fanfiction where I wrote about some kind of cool futuristic technology, and only five people ever read it, then later the same futuristic technology came out in a television show watched by million people, and twenty years later it was invented in real life, would *I* be the one who got the credit for creating demand for that technology?
There's no reason why Janeway and others would prefer to do their reading on the computer rather than with a physical book. After all, she would be reading everything else on a computer screen and may find a book more relaxing. And consider that like everything else, books can be replicated. There's no reason to suppose that Janeway keeps every book she's read. Most of them are probably recycled into her next cup of coffee.
I agree that the thing with the padds was beyond ridiculous. Having someone with a stack of padds - representing all the "paperwork" they had to do - was supposed to make them look terribly busy. But why didn't they just email the reports?
All this said... I've done some of my writing with calligraphy pens and ink. It forces a person to really think about what you want to say, since it's such a pain to re-do any mistakes.
The book would have been recycled after the person was finished reading it. People would have used their replicator rations mostly for food (I'm guessing), but they could also have subjected themselves to a month of Neelix's cooking if they wanted to have something else, like a book or a new outfit for a holodeck program.
Besides, RHIP. Janeway probably got a few more replicator rations than the rest of the crew. Or maybe she won some in one of Tom's betting pools.
Sulu's favorite era (one of them, anyway) was the 18th century, since he was into The Three Musketeers. Another of his interests would have been the 19th/20th century handguns. That doesn't mean he was into these eras wholesale; he just liked certain things about them.
I realize that they couldn't quote just any book, without paying the author/publisher to use it on-air, but it's a real eye-roller that nobody on Star Trek reads anything other than novels between the 16th-19th centuries. What about the novels of the 22-24th centuries? They must have some besides those ridiculous Flotter holonovels that have about as much appeal as a Barney the Dinosaur video.
It may be like his version of a security blanket.
I have maybe half a dozen Shakespeare plays (separate paperbacks) in my book collection (and yes, I do read them for fun). I stopped collecting the paperbacks once I realized that the whole lot of them are free to read online.
You're thinking like someone born in the 20th century who grew up with print books. Janeway didn't grow up in the 20th century; she grew up in the 24th, when print books were a historical curiosity and didn't grow up accustomed to reading this way. As I said above, 24th century people who would use print books for ALL their recreational reading is like someone now doing ALL their writing with parchment and a quill pen, and I doubt you do calligraphy for ALL your writing, such as making a grocery list. That's a hobby, not an everyday thing. To make 24th century people believable, we have to try not to think like 20th century people when writing them.
Of course it does depend on the individual person. But another consideration is that Janeway, Kirk, Picard, and now the Discovery captain (Georgiou) have physical books in their quarters.
The answer to "why" is obvious: For centuries it's been a sign of status to have a personal library. Way back when, only wealthy people could afford to own books, and people who own books are presumed (or were presumed) to have read them and are therefore more intelligent than people who don't own books.
This is no longer true, of course. Some people display books just because they like how they look, not because they actually read them.
But the set designers and props people of these series tapped into the subconscious idea that books = a more intelligent, more cultured person. Since the captains are usually the heroes of these series, intelligence and culture are seen as good traits for them to have.
I do have a Kindle, btw, but the only stuff on it is stories and books I can't find anywhere else. I still prefer physical books, since I never need to worry about batteries or electricity for them. All I need is sunlight.
It's hard to show this using digital books, unless the captain hangs a PADD on the wall with their reading menu showing on the display in plain sight. They might also be family heirlooms, well-preserved.
Which then prompts the question (much like some of the priceless archeological artifacts people have brought along) - what the hell are those doing on a starship, given "risk is our business"?
Excellent point. The oldest book I own is a small prayer book, written in Swedish. Even though I don't read Swedish very well and am atheist, I kept this because it was a gift from my great-grandfather to my great-grandmother, before their marriage in the 1890s. It's still in great shape.
Which then prompts the question (much like some of the priceless archeological artifacts people have brought along) - what the hell are those doing on a starship, given "risk is our business"?
Or exact copies of said heirlooms rather than the original. Picard brings the originals along because he never gets around to renting a storage unit when he's near Earth. Too many important captain duties.
But if it's a copy, it's not the original heirloom, is it? It's just a fake.
And Picard can't rent a storage unit without admitting that the Federation uses money.
I don't think physical books will ever disappear. In the 24th century, its not even an issue of "Oh, the printing presses were all shut down by 2117." or "I have a physical book. It's 300 years old."
It's simply a matter of walking to the replicator and saying "computer, I need..."
Picard probably grew up with books that were hundreds of years old, though.
It's simply a matter of walking to the replicator and saying "computer, I need..."
Picard probably grew up with books that were hundreds of years old, though.
It's like having a photo of your family. Not your family, but it makes you think of them.
Okay, sign up to have one in his name for his personal use, money or no.
And if it's a fake, then why not just bring a digital copy? Which brings us back to the original issue here.
To feel the weight of it, touch the replicated texture, smell the paper pages. A sensory experience that triggers memories. To which the next question shall be "So why not have an interactive hologram of it instead?" To which I will
A digital copy of a statue?
P.S. Someone has vandalized your face. I thought you should know.
(Pssst. That's my cheap, fake goatee, for my Halloween costume. Note I'm ISS Triumphant right now.
)
Largely true.
Star Trek either did create the ideas that laid the groundwork for some technical wizards to whip up then sold by marketers, or innovated on the string'n'can theories that had existed in the past.
As for necessities, it also depends on what the necessity is. Indeed, some of the best examples for certain items already listed would have the coolest rebuttals that would have no possible response. But most people already know every last nuance, unless they don't. But everyone must already know all the details already, tech news sources go into some of them, as do mainstream general news sources.
That's easy. Presuming he didn't come back from a conference, maybe each dossier has so much genetic data descriptions that each person filled up an entire Padd. Now if they used Androidd, since most of the tablets have real multitasking (maybe Padd finally got it after v5), put out have twice as much RAM and far more storage space (and expandable storage), Bashir would have needed fare fewer units to hand out. Maybe even one...
But the Federation didn't want more advanced Vulcan technology. Similar threads
