Programmable Matter

[Kamen Rider Blade]

We know what the DISCOVERY writers will probably use Programmable Matter as.

It's basically a magic solution to make any item they want.

But let's think realistically based on the science that we know.

What would be the real world limitations of Programmable Matter and how Big or Small would each piece of Programmable Matter be?

How would it function and what can it do or not do?

 

[fireproof78]

What's the power source?

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

What's the power source?

That's for us to figure out.

 

[fireproof78]

That's for us to figure out.

Possibly subspace draw, in order to ensure enough power for larger shapes.

 

[Go-Captain]

Replicators already covered everything we’ve seen of programmable matter, except for the tether which would have been covered in the past by some sort of higher power more focused tractor beam. If anything, DIS programmable matter doesn’t go far enough.

In the book Superluminal they have grist which is programmable matter, but it is also computing material (you can just have buckets of the stuff running simulations or what ever), it is versatile enough to create solar system spanning structure which can flex and stretch to impossible degrees to follow planets as they orbit, it can be a glass substitute used on bottles but which is unbreakable, and it can be eaten as food.

So far, DIS programmable matter has only made one ship critical device, has been used for some repairs to a station’s systems, has bonded the Discovery’s nacelles to the hull as a backup, presumably created Burnham’s emergency vacuum helmet, created a tactile data output (which could have been done holographically), and a tether.

I still cannot tell if the phasers are programmable matter or self replication, because the transformation isn’t distinct enough but looks a little like shuttle replication in Prodigy. It does not look like the helmet creation nor dusty effect of the tether or web like emergency nacelle attachment.

We’re talking about a setting which had sentient nanites 700 years prior as a common enough tech a boy genius got his hands on them for personal experiments. And those sentient nanites were given a planet, and presumably recognition as people. It’s also a setting where Borg nanoprobes act like replicators, reconfiguring materials they are injected into, as seen in Enterprise.

Programmable matter’s limitations are rather surprising given what older technologies could do. All we’ve really seen is an ability for the material to configure itself into shapes with non-mechanical functions, but not necessarily anything a replicator couldn’t. We haven’t seen it used as a computing medium, unless the killer wall at the end of season 3 is just that. We haven’t had a comment about it changing material properties (hard, soft, more or less dense, more or less conductive, magnetic, etc), which is a hallmark of programmable matter. It just seems to be reconfigurable, and possible self propelled given it can swarm.

 

[Ghel]

If programmable matter is simply nanotechnology, it could presumably be very scalable and, hypothetically anyway, make pretty much anything short of edible material especially considering it's about 1000 years beyond even TOS technology levels.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

If programmable matter is simply nanotechnology,

What if it's only MicroTechnology and not NanoTechnology?

As in the Individual Bits of Programmable are of the 1 mm -> 1 MicroMeter scale range?

Not within the NanoMeter range?

The inner workings of each Bit is on the Nano-Meter scale.

 

[Ghel]

What if it's only MicroTechnology and not NanoTechnology?

As in the Individual Bits of Programmable are of the 1 mm -> 1 MicroMeter scale range?

Not within the NanoMeter range?

The inner workings of each Bit is on the Nano-Meter scale.

I guess it could be micro; however, nanotech is newer and more flexible. Given 1000 plus years of development, it would probably be just as cheap and easily programmable. That said, my understanding of both technologies are minimal so what each could do with another 1000 years of development is complete guesswork. Either would probably look and seem like magic to anyone living today.

 

[Ronald Held]

AFAIK, replicators take lots of power to run. PM gets it's energy from where? Ambient EM seems too low an energy density.

 

[Paul Weaver]

PM gets it's energy from where?

Zero point energy?

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

Here's the real world Wikipedia article on Programmable Matter for those who are interested.

Claytronics is an emerging field of engineering concerning reconfigurable nanoscale robots ('claytronic atoms', or catoms) designed to form much larger scale machines or mechanisms. The catoms will be sub-millimeter computers that will eventually have the ability to move around, communicate with other computers, change color, and electrostatically connect to other catoms to form different shapes.

CAtoms is probably the tech you guys are interested in.

 

[Deks]

Zero point energy?

No canonical evidence SF is using that as a power source.
The only notion we have is the Ds9 technical manual which says Quantum Torpedoes use it, but the technical manuals aren't canon.

 

[Paul Weaver]

There’s no evidence it isn’t. There’s evidence it gets energy from somewhere though.

 

[Deks]

There’s no evidence it isn’t. There’s evidence it gets energy from somewhere though.

In this case, the distinctive absence of Zero Point energy being mentioned on-screen suggests its likely NOT being used and we can't assume otherwise.

Quantum Torpedoes needs to be powered yes, but that's not an indication ZPE is used... it could easily still be M/AM based like photon torpedoes, but with different properties which provide it with the effects they produce.

If SF was using Zero Point energy to a degree in the 24th century... don't you think they would have developed a larger power source in the proceeding centuries capable of powering their ships without dilithium and antimatter?
And we know Discovery conveniently said nothing else 'worked'.

At any rate, I hypothesized that Trek energy generation technology is radically enhanced through use of subspace technology...this is how the ENT-D warp core could generate 12.7 exawatts (per second was supposed to be said by Data according to the scriptwriters) even if baseline M/AM reactions would technically produce far lower amounts of energy - its the only thing that (on a hypothetical level, and, at least to me) makes sense given what we've seen of how UFP technology behaves.

 

[Paul Weaver]

this is how the ENT-D warp core could generate 12.7 exawatts per second

where was that mentioned?

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

where was that mentioned?

-> 12.75 EW: In 2369, the generation of 12.75 Billion GigaWatts (12.75x10^12 MW) of energy was harnessed (over an unspecified time period) in the warp core aboard a Galaxy-class starship. (ST:TNG.S6.E06).
NOTE: The script was supposed to have “DATA” state 12.75 Billion GigaWatts per second, but was cut-off for time.

 

[Paul Weaver]

GigaWatts per second

That's a unit of rate of change of power generation, not the generation itself

 

[Deks]

That's a unit of rate of change of power generation, not the generation itself

Except for how Data stated it:
AMANDA: It's hard to imagine how much energy is being harnessed in there.
DATA: Imagination is not necessary. The scale is readily quantifiable. We are presently generating twelve point seven five billion gigawatts per
(an alarm goes off)

The dialogue implies that IS generation itself over a period of unspecified time (but the script writers said it was intended that Data would have said 'per second').

So, the dialogue implies its how much energy the ENT-D Warp core generates during normal operations every 'second'... and that translates to 12.7 Exawatts per second.

And if its not... what would be its exact power generation the way you would define it?

 

[Paul Weaver]

12.75 billion gigawatts per nacelle? 12.75 billion gigawatts per antimatter stream? 12.75 billion gigawatts per cochrane?

If Data was saying "We generate 12.75 ExaJoules per second per second" as you are suggesting, he's talking bollocks, or the definition of "Watt" has changed between now and the 24th century, in which case we can't infer anything from that statement.

However as the question was how much energy (measured in Joules) is being harnessed in the warp core, not how much power (Energy per unit of time, measured in Joules/Second, or Watts) is being generated, we can infer Data could be saying something like "Watts per Hertz"

"We are presently generating twelve point seven five billion gigawatts per Terrahertz" would match the dialog and provide how much energy is in the dilithium chamber at the current time (12 milli-joules), even without bringing in subspace physics and units like cochranes.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

12.75 billion gigawatts per nacelle? 12.75 billion gigawatts per antimatter stream? 12.75 billion gigawatts per cochrane?

If Data was saying "We generate 12.75 ExaJoules per second per second" as you are suggesting, he's talking bollocks, or the definition of "Watt" has changed between now and the 24th century, in which case we can't infer anything from that statement.

AMANDA: It's hard to imagine how much energy is being harnessed in there.
DATA: Imagination is not necessary. The scale is readily quantifiable. We are presently generating twelve point seven five billion gigawatts per
(an alarm goes off)

The dialogue implies that IS generation itself over a period of unspecified time (but the script writers said it was intended that Data would have said 'per second').

I think Data was talking about the M/A-M reactor system is generating 12.75 EW per second, (But the Alarm cut him off).

There's no mention of how much energy the Warp Nacelles consume at what speed, that's not stated anywhere.

There's no mention of Power output per Nacelle, and Nacelle generally don't create power, they consume it.
It's the M/A-M reactor system that makes power and the Nacelles consumes the power when in use at FTL/Warp Speeds anyways.

No mention of conversion from ___ grams of Anti-Matter Collided to Energy ouput.

There's no mention if 12.75 EW per second is the Minimum/Maximum/Average power output of the Enterprise-D's reactor.

The only data I can gleam from that statement is that at that moment, the Enterprise-D's M/A-M reactor could generate that much power in one second.