What's it really look like and what's it really do?

[DaveyNY]

Look up the Design Team for TMP (1979) & TWOK (1982)... She created just about all the symbols and control graphics for that movie.
(She is a Graphic's/Set Designer)

See this link...

http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Lee_Cole

 

[sojourner]

No wounder Counselor Troi holds a rank of Lieutenant Commander on the ship; the single most useless person on the entire bridge still manages to outrank Worf

And she manages to crash the ship the one time we see her given command.

She wasn't in command, she was just sitting at a station that was offline.

I don't get it? Was that a joke?

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

Be fair - Worf's main job on the Enterprise is to illustrate how powerful this week's adversary is by having them kick the crap out of the Klingon - androids, aliens, supposed children...

As Michael Dorn has said at conventions:

Picard: Welcome aboard the Enterprise. Would you like to kick my security chief's ass now or later?

 

[Loneknight]

I think that if technological development continues uninterupted (hold for laughs) then how humans interact with technology will look a lot different by the 23rd century. More than likely, it will be some kind of mind interface technology.

I totally agree with this. Within the past 50 years we've seen advancements in regards to how we 'input' a command. Tactile 'buttons' are being replaced with touchscreens...heck, even in some applications voice command is starting to take over...
...it's not too far-fetched to think that by the 22nd-23rd Century, if we haven't bombed the bejesus of out each other yet, we'll be using our minds to play Minesweeper.

Regarding the re-configurable LCARS interfaces, it does sort of make sense: current applications like Photoshop, Flash, Lightwave, etc., give users the option to setup the interface how they like it. Maybe this is what Sternbach & Okuda had in mind when they suggested this for the TNG panels.

 

[PorthosShadow]

I think that if technological development continues uninterupted (hold for laughs) then how humans interact with technology will look a lot different by the 23rd century. More than likely, it will be some kind of mind interface technology.

I totally agree with this. Within the past 50 years we've seen advancements in regards to how we 'input' a command. Tactile 'buttons' are being replaced with touchscreens...heck, even in some applications voice command is starting to take over...
...it's not too far-fetched to think that by the 22nd-23rd Century, if we haven't bombed the bejesus of out each other yet, we'll be using our minds to play Minesweeper.

Regarding the re-configurable LCARS interfaces, it does sort of make sense: current applications like Photoshop, Flash, Lightwave, etc., give users the option to setup the interface how they like it. Maybe this is what Sternbach & Okuda had in mind when they suggested this for the TNG panels.

It just occured to me that in the DS9 episode "Starship Down" when Worf takes command from engineering he complains thats the controls have been reconfigured implying that either on all starships or starfleet facilities LCARs interfaces are universal. However, I prefer to think that they can be easily reconfigured or at the very least they are still using Macros in the 24th century

Anyway, I think it's interesting to speculate on what technology will look like a hundred years from now. I really do believe that some kind of mind interface is the next big leap since it's already in it's infancy in the early 21st century.

 

[Loneknight]

...I think it's interesting to speculate on what technology will look like a hundred years from now. I really do believe that some kind of mind interface is the next big leap since it's already in it's infancy in the early 21st century.

I think it was an episode of Voyager that sparked this idea (and it wasn't until recently that I came back to it): it was the one where the Relativity was using 7 of 9 and Janeway to stop some time-traveling Una-bomber, or something (saw it a long time ago, can't you tell? ).

Anywho, there was a shot of someone sitting at a console of this 'timeship', inputting commands with their hands, and it got me thinking: will we even need our hands at that point?

There was something I recall several years back...I don't remember who said it (either Roddenberry, Berman, or someone else), but they were referring to the progression of modern-day technology and how it was getting increasingly difficult to keep Trek ahead of its time. Looking back on the new Trek movie, it's interesting to see how much was kept 'tactile'.

 

[PorthosShadow]

...I think it's interesting to speculate on what technology will look like a hundred years from now. I really do believe that some kind of mind interface is the next big leap since it's already in it's infancy in the early 21st century.

I think it was an episode of Voyager that sparked this idea (and it wasn't until recently that I came back to it): it was the one where the Relativity was using 7 of 9 and Janeway to stop some time-traveling Una-bomber, or something (saw it a long time ago, can't you tell? ).

Anywho, there was a shot of someone sitting at a console of this 'timeship', inputting commands with their hands, and it got me thinking: will we even need our hands at that point?

There was something I recall several years back...I don't remember who said it (either Roddenberry, Berman, or someone else), but they were referring to the progression of modern-day technology and how it was getting increasingly difficult to keep Trek ahead of its time. Looking back on the new Trek movie, it's interesting to see how much was kept 'tactile'.

The co-founder of Super String Theory Dr. Michio Kaku speculates in his book "visions" that with advancements in robotics, artificial intelligence and virtual reality it's unlikely that there will be starships manned by large crews as seen in Star Trek. Sadley I think this is more likely given the reality of finite resources but it's possible there will be renaissance of sorts where humanity will put aside a large amount of that technology and simply "do it" them selves.

In Isaac Asimov's robot series and in some of the later Foundation novels there are two groups of humans. One are the spacers and the others the settlers. The spacers used robots to settle their 50 worlds and then take of them so they could pursue other pleasures in life. Later on when the settlers from earth decided to move out into space they rejected the use of robots and instead colonized other worlds (mostly) on their own.

I think it's possible there might be a rejection of automation in favor of human ingenuity and spirit. At least that's my hope for the future and not that we should reject any tool that can help us but at the same time there are things human beings need to do for them selves. Anyway, I think thats what Star Trek is about, not the technology but the characters (Voyager is another all together) who use the technology.

Thats why more androids or robots aren't present in Star Trek, not because its hard but because human beings by the 22nd century onward have this need to do things them selves instead of letting technology run their lives. Granted, this could be an over simplification but I think it's a neat idea, that paradise will be acheived based on hard work from human hands and not ones made of steel or unobtainum.

 

[sojourner]

^I'm sure similar arguments were made when the steam shovel was developed.

Advancement of technology is the advancement of tools. Humanity will use any tools it develops to best handle the job at hand.

I would guess the reason most sci/fi shows like Trek don't use "mind control" interfaces is that it would be visually boring. You would have a bunch of crew members just sitting at stations not moving.

 

[PorthosShadow]

^I'm sure similar arguments were made when the steam shovel was developed.

Advancement of technology is the advancement of tools. Humanity will use any tools it develops to best handle the job at hand.

I would guess the reason most sci/fi shows like Trek don't use "mind control" interfaces is that it would be visually boring. You would have a bunch of crew members just sitting at stations not moving.

Right, in Star Trek the reason for the lack of certain technolgy is more for dramatic purposes rather than scientific. However, I lean more towards the romantic side that humanity would rather be more hands on, as it were.

 

[CuttingEdge100]

I think Lee Cole's ideas were much better than the LCARS, they weren't perfect by any means, but at least the form followed function

 

[blssdwlf]

If panels overload and blow up with just a minor hit, I wouldn't want to be mind-connected to anything on a federation starship

 

[CuttingEdge100]

blssdwlf,

LMAO!

 

[Kaziarl]

Advancement of technology is the advancement of tools. Humanity will use any tools it develops to best handle the job at hand.

True, and people will often choose whats easier for them. But at the same time some things are just more rewarding of you do them yourself.

With todays technology and knowledge, I can go to the store and buy a can of spaghetti sauce and pour it on noodles. But to me its more rewarding and definitely much more tasty if I buy all the separate ingredients and make it myself.

Granted thats no where near the same level as controlling a starship or other technology of that sophistication, but I think the core idea still applies.

 

[sojourner]

^Not when applied to menial tasks. Yes, people enjoy working creatively with their hands. How many people out there want to be garbage pickers?

How many accountants prefer to do math by hand as opposed to calculaters/spreadsheets?

Yes, a chef will always prefer to create meals of quality by hand, but the guy washing dishes in back is going to want the most efficient tools possible.

 

[Crazy Eddie]

^Not when applied to menial tasks. Yes, people enjoy working creatively with their hands. How many people out there want to be garbage pickers?

How many accountants prefer to do math by hand as opposed to calculaters/spreadsheets?

Yes, a chef will always prefer to create meals of quality by hand, but the guy washing dishes in back is going to want the most efficient tools possible.

There's a pretty big jump between "menial tasks" and the type of gainful/invested work of, say, a chef or an artist or even an author. Especially when it applies to the technology of managing a starship in space.

As it stands, most of the "menial" tasks on board a modern space craft are already automated. Computers can and do handle 99% of the navigation and spacecraft operations. The only purpose of a human officer even on real space craft is to supervise the computers and add a bit of human decision for the situations when those computers screw up (they rarely do, but when they do it can be devastating).

Beyond that, the only tasks left to astronauts are physical labor and maintenance. Your level one diagnostic might identify an anomaly in subprocessor 41D, and it might have an excellent idea of how to adjust ship's systems and protocols to adapt to the problem. But it only takes fifteen minutes to have an engineer crawl into subprocessor 41D and pull a dead mouse out of the wiring and bring everything back up to full capacity.

 

[sojourner]

^Which leads into the difference between "menial" and "trivial" jobs. A trivial job like removing a dead mouse would require more work to come up with a high tech solution as opposed to doing it yourself. Now, if you had to do it every day at the same location, it becomes menial and worth finding a better way to do it.

 

[Crazy Eddie]

Indeed; machines have always been very good at doing simple minded repetitive tasks that require repeating the same motions a million times a day. Even on starships, those are the jobs that will be done by machines. But since you can't be sure your circuit anomaly is a dead mouse or some kind of metal-eating bacteria that turns circuits into pink goo, basic inspection and maintenance still becomes the purview of trained engineers who can adapt to problems and find solutions on the fly.

As for weapons and navigation: most of the computerized tasks probably handle the details of making something happen while the decision on what to do comes down to the bridge officers. This is best illustrated in DS9 "For the Uniform" where the crew of the Defiant have to try and manage the ship WITHOUT computers and half their ship's functions are manual.