Tea. Earl Grey. Poopy.

[PicardSpeedo]

In looking over the functionality of shipboard replicators on Memory Alpha and other sites, it appears that the devices function more like a transporter than a fabricator, basically transporting matter from a storage location to a food slot, rearranging the atomic structure of the matter en route to create an approximation of whatever the user has ordered. From what I can see, the raw matter is drawn from multiple sources, and is held in matter storage tanks aboard ship until needed. Those tanks are connected to the waste extraction system.

Does this mean that the tea which Picard is sipping today may have been the aftermath of Riker's five-alarm chilli-cheese burrito with Cardassian hot sauce yesterday?

 

[Gov Kodos]

Maybe, but the things are worthless. After a half dozen repetitions the thing should recognize your regular order without having to explain it in detail.

 

[Deckerd]

If the atoms are reorganised then it doesn't matter where the matter came from.

 

[Gov Kodos]

In fact, nature already does this.

 

[T'Girl]

Maybe, but the things are worthless. After a half dozen repetitions the thing should recognize your regular order without having to explain it in detail.

This, when did we even hear Picard order - tea - earl grey - cold?

At some point should not the computer program figure out that when Picard orders tea he's going to want it "hot?"

 

[PicardSpeedo]

Maybe, but the things are worthless. After a half dozen repetitions the thing should recognize your regular order without having to explain it in detail.

This, when did we even hear Picard order - tea - earl grey - cold?

At some point should not the computer program figure out that when Picard orders tea he's going to want it "hot?"

Meh, I will always find replicators underwhelming until the day I can order such things as "phaser, firing wildly," or "hooker, STD-free."

 

[AgentCoop]

I always figured Picard just ordered that way out of habit.

And yes, it's my understanding that all "waste" on the ship gets recycled and at least some of it winds up as replicator matter. But as has already been pointed out, once the atoms get rearranged, what difference does it make?

 

[The Wormhole]

Does this mean that the tea which Picard is sipping today may have been the aftermath of Riker's five-alarm chilli-cheese burrito with Cardassian hot sauce yesterday?

It would explain why everyone always complains about replicated food not tasting right compared to real food.

 

[PicardSpeedo]

Does this mean that the tea which Picard is sipping today may have been the aftermath of Riker's five-alarm chilli-cheese burrito with Cardassian hot sauce yesterday?

It would explain why everyone always complains about replicated food not tasting right compared to real food.

This reminds me of a certain scene from Austin Powers which involved a cup of unpalatable coffee...

 

[USS Triumphant]

As several others have stated, reconfigured atoms don't carry what they were before with them in any way that would be meaningful to flavor or nutritional content. I hope you DO realize that most if not all of what YOU eat used to be poop or decomposing animal corpses?

I think the reason people complain about the replicator food is that - even though it is perfectly capable of doing so - they DON'T *replicate* the foods that people want in most cases, but instead provide modified versions that meet guidelines designed by Starfleet Medical or the Federation Food and Drug Administration to keep everyone lean and healthy. That "hot fudge cake" Deanna just ordered contains air-puffed cake made with atomically modified single-sided sugar molecules that have a tenth of the calories but *most* of the taste, etc.

 

[PicardSpeedo]

Yeah, I understand what you're saying, and while a turd atom might be just as tasty as a chocolate atom after a quick run through the transporter buffers, I think there's probably still a bit of a mental hurdle to overcome when you know that there's more than a remote chance that the Bolian soufflé you're eating was Worf 's diarrhea a few hours ago.

Real world fact: the astronauts aboard the International Space Station drink water that is almost immediately recycled from urine. The system is so small that when you flush the toilet, the water is ready for drinking a few moments later. Imagine overcoming THAT mental hurdle.

 

[Kemaiku]

Every drop of water you've every drank has been urinated from potentially thousands of lifeforms on this planet before you, with only a mineral filter to remove the heavier, more unhealthy portions from it in more modern times.

Matter taken apart into separate atoms now exist as only that, atoms. Separated into pure elements and reconsistuted entirely from scratch into something new.

Assuming of course the matter isn't drawn from the large deuterium tanks we see in the MSD's, the TNG technical manual stating that the replicators pull their mass from the tank unless depleted, beaming raw mass from refuse second.

Also assuming all raw refuse isn't burned or chemically reduced and compressed into inert bricks anyway.

 

[Sector 7]

Yeah, I understand what you're saying, and while a turd atom might be just as tasty as a chocolate atom after a quick run through the transporter buffers, I think there's probably still a bit of a mental hurdle to overcome when you know that there's more than a remote chance that the Bolian soufflé you're eating was Worf 's diarrhea a few hours ago.

Real world fact: the astronauts aboard the International Space Station drink water that is almost immediately recycled from urine. The system is so small that when you flush the toilet, the water is ready for drinking a few moments later. Imagine overcoming THAT mental hurdle.

That mental hurdle is what separates average humans from astronauts/space-faring people.

 

[Nebusj]

I think the reason people complain about the replicator food is that - even though it is perfectly capable of doing so - they DON'T *replicate* the foods that people want in most cases, but instead provide modified versions that meet guidelines designed by Starfleet Medical or the Federation Food and Drug Administration to keep everyone lean and healthy.

I think people complain about replicator food because, being in very many ways like human beings, they like to insist their abilities to discern things like taste and texture are superior to the average person's, and while that stuff might be fine for hoi polloi, they know they're condescending to accept it as food.

See also: any audiophile explaining her audio system.

 

[Amaris]

I think the reason people complain about the replicator food is that - even though it is perfectly capable of doing so - they DON'T *replicate* the foods that people want in most cases, but instead provide modified versions that meet guidelines designed by Starfleet Medical or the Federation Food and Drug Administration to keep everyone lean and healthy.

I think people complain about replicator food because, being in very many ways like human beings, they like to insist their abilities to discern things like taste and texture are superior to the average person's, and while that stuff might be fine for hoi polloi, they know they're condescending to accept it as food.

See also: any audiophile explaining her audio system.

My audio cables are made out of a substrate derived from bald eagle tears.