Side effects of long term exposure to Trek tech

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

What side effects do you imagine Trek tech might have on individuals in the long term? There are all these commercials about military members and their families having noise/asbestos/chemical exposure.

So I wonder what you might see in someone who:

* transports a lot - cumulative pattern errors
* eats replicated food - contamination from toxic replication by-products
* warps - maybe the Threshold salamander effect happens slower to people who travel at regular warp, a little at a time instead of the radical instant change in VOY

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

The UFP seems like it wouldn't have these issues since they care about a persons long term well being.

Other societies, like Klingons, Ferengi, Cardassian.

They might not care so much about long term health issues.

Look at how much time they gave Nog after he lost his leg and got a new cyborg replacement leg.

He spent a significant amount of time mentally recovering.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

As much as people may care, it's possible to be doing something without any idea of how it's affecting people. The whole "warp is ruining/polluting space" thing wasn't realized until someone revealed/discovered it.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

As much as people may care, it's possible to be doing something without any idea of how it's affecting people. The whole "warp is ruining/polluting space" thing wasn't realized until someone revealed/discovered it.

And then they developed new Warp Engines that didn't "Pollute/Ruin Space" anymore and that was the end of that argument.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Yes, but just because you can do it better now doesn't mean the damage you inflicted goes away. If damage to frequently utilized space lanes leads to other ships that use them having rougher ride/accidents, for instance. Space pot holes. Or organisms that live in space can't feed/live as they once did because their habitat is destroyed.

 

[XCV330]

Replication is supposed to be pretty accurate, and with no harmful additives or contaminants replicated, it might be much safer than crawfish etouffe at Sisko's. With the amount of people involved in the sciences that you know are there but you never see, there probably IS A lot of work done on being careful about contamination. The novel Drastic Measures does deal with a problem with food production leading to the Kodos incident on Tarsus IV, but that was not really a Federation World (novel deal with that a great deal, also)

I would imagine the early days of Starfleet might have been a lot more dangerous in that regard though. In an RPG that I was in that dealt with the immediate post-Phoenix flight era, we had it where engineers often went blind after a few years near the warp cores due to a kind of Cherenkov radiation that humans did not know how to yet resolve and which Vulcans weren't really helpful with. Humanity was so desperate to get out, explore, and colonize it was a risk that some were willing to take.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

Yes, but just because you can do it better now doesn't mean the damage you inflicted goes away. If damage to frequently utilized space lanes leads to other ships that use them having rougher ride/accidents, for instance. Space pot holes. Or organisms that live in space can't feed/live as they once did because their habitat is destroyed.

Then we will find new ways to Fix / Fill the space pot holes.

I'm sure UFP is hip on ensuring Space Organisms continue to live as normal w/o causing habitat damage to the best of their abilities, within reason.

Things like the Crystalline Entity maybe an exception since they devastate planets of Organic Life.

Similar to how the US has a Wild Hog/Boar issue in the US Southern areas, where they've become a environmental disaster that they're basically shoot on sight to help curtail their massive over-population.

 

[Forbin]

Cumulative transporter errors sounds interesting. In a comic book setting, I imagine it could create a super-powered evil mutant. But in reality ("reality"), I imagine it would cause something like cancer.

 

[blssdwlf]

What side effects do you imagine Trek tech might have on individuals in the long term?

MCCOY: There's a nasty little bug evolved in the last few years, Jim. Our aseptic, sterilized civilizations produced it. Synthococcus Novae. It's deadly. We can immunize against it, but haven't learned to lick all the problems yet.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Forgot about that one. Sounds like something similar to MRSA.

 

[Deks]

Yes, but just because you can do it better now doesn't mean the damage you inflicted goes away. If damage to frequently utilized space lanes leads to other ships that use them having rougher ride/accidents, for instance. Space pot holes. Or organisms that live in space can't feed/live as they once did because their habitat is destroyed.

Cumulative damage in the body can usually be repaired and is technically detected.

If regular transporters caused it, it would have been long detected by now (its the subspace transporters that do this, but you can still use it several times before suffering any permanent damage) .... but instead, Humans live on average 150 odd years in Trek (but oddly enough nothing in terms of biological immortality despite the fact they have the means to make it happen).

Warp drive causing issues was fixed.

Since UFP is a type of society where money doesn't exist... technology isn't made with cost efficiency in mind, but with technical efficiency in mind.
As such, any technology made for long term use would certainly undergo a ton of testing and inspections to make sure its not harming anyone.

Its other species who don't necessarily pay that much attention to the health and safety of their own people.
The Klingons would probably fail regular health and safety inspections as is.
Romulans and Cardassians... they'd probably be similar to Starfleet in this regard... maybe Caradassians more than the Romulans (the Tal Shiar probably wouldn't care about the regular military, but would otherwise care about the wellbeing of their own operatives).

The Malon on the other hand... now there's an example of a species that doesn't care.
The entire introductionary episode of the Malon in Season 5 of VOY went through the details on how a Federation ship recycles EVERYTHING (waste energy and theta radiation which is re-used inside the ship - so technically speaking, a typical UFP vessel or technology would really not emit any waste as all of it would be recaptured and used).

So, yeah... I'd say when it comes to UFP technology it seems rather safe... you can use it however much you like and won't be affected (unless you work in a dangerous area such as engineering and could be exposed to dangerous/but still accidental radiation or breaches that will land you in sickbay during attacks [even then it doesn't occur that much], but otherwise, not during regular operations).

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Yeah, I guess it would happen more often in other societies, or experimental stations. Or perhaps it's something that happened in the past, but has current repercussions. So the grandchild of someone who worked at a dangerous facility is now more likely to suffer from some awful syndrome than the general population, due to biomagnification/genetic decay.

 

[Verteron]

PTSD from all the weird stuff that happens on exploration ships each week.

Just imagine the nightmares after having Nagilum peer through your window for a couple days, being told he's going to randomly kill half the crew, hearing the Captain announce he's going to kill the whole crew with the autodestruct, counting down your final minutes, then it all gets resolved just like that.

 

[matthunter]

PTSD from all the weird stuff that happens on exploration ships each week.

Just imagine the nightmares after having Nagilum peer through your window for a couple days.

This is where Troi comes in, but we never really get to see it unless Barclay is involved.

 

[Henoch]

Accumulated Transporter Psychosis may be responsible for older Starship Captains, Commodores, and Admirals going crazy.

 

[shyborg]

Non-lethal weaponry. Could be being stunned or hit by other weapons affect biological processes. Maybe physical processes are impaired or stopped. Maybe the nervous system increases andrelanine to fight off the stun

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

What about stun/transporter addiction? Low levels of energy might prove stimulating for some.

 

[Tango]

Holodeck addiction.

 

[Deks]

PTSD from all the weird stuff that happens on exploration ships each week.

Just imagine the nightmares after having Nagilum peer through your window for a couple days, being told he's going to randomly kill half the crew, hearing the Captain announce he's going to kill the whole crew with the autodestruct, counting down your final minutes, then it all gets resolved just like that.

That's why SF usually has councillors aboard. But this aspect was never fully developed. For example, next few episodes could have had some background shots of Troi doing therapy sessions with the crew to help them if they encountered a traumatic experience.

 

[F. King Daniel]

All the mad/bad Admirals? Cumulative affects of long-term exposure to warp fields and transporters.