General Trek Questions and Observations

It's an explanation, but not a satisfying one. Partly because we don't see the alien culture items either. Humans are not of a piece. There is no unified single Human culture. We make cultures nearly as fast as we make Humans.

As a result in my own work I make a point to create items of culture. Music, writers, plays, both Human and alien. Obviously I don't possess the talent to create all the music and writing these cultures would produces, (Even if I did there are only 24 hours in the day) but I can mention them.

 

Yup. No one creates in the centuries to come.

 

Givwn that we say a Dyson sphere on Trek, I'm surprised we didn't see a few Dyson rings. Before a civilization could build a full sphere, they'd probably want to build rings, which would have equivalent space to dozens of worlds instead of millions. Also, why wasn't the sphere built around a red dwarf star? It would require a much smaller sphere, and have a much longer lasting power source: yellow star lasts about 11 billion years, a red dwarf can theoretically go about 5 trillion.

(We say theoretically because no red dwarf has ever died of old age. The universe isn't old enough for a small one [0.1 solar mass] to have exhausted even one percent of its fuel).

 

I think 11 billion years is already far longer than most civilizations probably would endure in the first place. We as a species have existed for perhaps a million years, depending on where you draw the line (less than 0.1% of those 11 billion years), and written sources don't even go back for 1% of that 0.1% (i.e. less than 10.000 years). And, even if a species turns out to be that long-lived, who's to say what their needs would be after such a long time? They might have made progress beyond imagination in all that time, resembling the Q continuum, and have no more need for Dyson spheres. And, should they still really want that red dwarf Dyson they could build it after that time.

Though they of course could have constructed such a sphere with the thought in mind that even when they wouldn't be around anymore / wouldn't be needing it any more, it could be a nice asset for younger species who happened to find it (and then new younger species after them, etc).

 

All of the Trek shows had plenty of silly moments. Not just "Voyager".

 

And thankfully so.

I don't want my sci-fi to be endlessly serious week after week. Throw some goofy verbal or physical humor(or both) my way every once in a while.

 

There's good dumb and there's bad dumb, though. Things on TV can make you laugh without assassinating the characters or insulting your intelligence.

For instance, "A Night in Sickbay" could have still had the bat scene and the chainsaw scene (which were funny) without having Archer act like a sulky pre-teen (which was not).

And if there was any humor in Harry's long ensignhood, it seriously escaped me.

 

It is currently thought that red dwarf systems may not be conducive to good living conditions for planets (or Dyson rings or spheres) in their "habitable zones" as that zone is relatively close to those stars and those stars typically undergo frequent flaring activity that would be bad for Life As We Know It . But who knows, life could be more tenacious than we think.

 

The yellow star the Dyson sphere was built around was also highly unstable. You'd expect a civilization capable of building a dyson sphere (far beyond 24th century Federation abilities) to also be able to select good candidate stars. So either that star becoming so unstable was an unpredictable development, or that sphere was extremely old , built back in a time when the star was pretty stable and with the knowledge it would eventually become unstable, but in a time so far off it didn't matter to them.

 

I would suspect the latter. No star lasts forever.

 

How come Harry Kim has an uncle that's at least 160 years his senior?

KIM: It was around 2210. My uncle Jack was on a deep space mission to Beta Capricus. (from 11:59)

I'm guessing he really meant something like 'great-great-great-great-uncle', but still.

 

I vaguely remember that episode. I think it bored me.

 

"11:59" isn't the worst episode of VOY nor by a mile. But it's not very good.

 

Harrison Ruffin Tyler was born in 1928, and he had (half) uncles and even a (half) first cousin who served in the US Civil War which ended 63 years beforee he was born. His oldest uncle was born in 1816, 112 years before him.

Suppose that Harry's uncle was born when Harry's grandfather was 20, and had a younger brother born 50 years later, whe o became Harry's father aged 70. That would make the uncle 120 years older than Harrry.

Suppose Harry's uncle was born when Harry's grandfather was 20, and had a younger brother born 55 years later, who became Harry's father aged 75. That would make the uncle 130 years older than Harrry.

Suppose that Harry's uncle was born when Harry's grandfather was 20, and had a younger brother born 60 years later, who became Harry's father aged 80. That would make the uncle 140 years older than Harrry.

Suppose that Harry's uncle was born when Harry's grandfather was 20, and had a younger brother born 65 years later, who became Harry's father aged 85. That would make the uncle 150 years older than Harrry.

Suppose that Harry's uncle was born when Harry's grandfather was 20, and had a younger brother born 70 years later, who became Harry's father aged 90. That would make the uncle 160 years older than Harrry.

Suppose that Harry's uncle was born when Harry's grandfather was 20, and had a younger brother born 75 years later, who became Harry's father aged 95. That would make the uncle 170 years older than Harrry.

That would hardly be the mathematical extreme limit possible.

This lists shows that in extreme rare instances, boys can impregnate girls at ages young enough to still be 10 years old,or even younger, when the child is born after 9 months.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_youngest_birth_fathers

According to this list:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_fathers

The oldest father ever known was 101 years odler than their child.

Therefore it is theoretically possible that Harry's father had Harry's uncle 90 years before he had Harry's father, who in turn was 100 years old when he had Harry. That would be exrremely unlikely, but possible. Thus Harry's uncle could be 19 years older than Harry.

Suppose that Harry's grandfather's first wife died when he was 40. So the grandfather waited for 5 more years until his son, Harry's uncle Jack, was an adult,a nd then went into suspended animation for 10 years afat time. And after 5 decade long times in suspended animation Harry's grandfather decided he like the future world and stayed out of suspended animation. And after 5 years he fell in love with a woman, Harry's grandmother, and married her, and had Harry's father at least 100 years after he was born, but only about 50 years. And suppose that Harry's father's first wife died and Harry's grandfather died. And so Harry's father, aged 50, decided to copy his fther and go into supspended animation for 50 years. And then 10 years after comingout of spended animation, Hrry's father married again and had Harry age 110, 210 years after Harry's grandfather was born, 170 years after Harry's uncle became an adult.

Supose that Harry's uncle Jsck was not related by blood, Suppose Jack was born in 2190 and was only 20 years old in the space mission around 2210. Suppose that 50 years later in 2260, Jack married a 20 year-old woman (born about 2240) who was Harry's aunt by blood, and so Jack became Harry's uncle by marriage. Suppose that Jack's wife, Harry's aunt, eventually had a younger brother 50 years younger than her, born in 2290. Suppose that brother eventually had Harry when aged about 60, about 2350, 160 years ater Jack was born. That would probably make Harrry too young to be an ensign in Voyager.

Anyway, I have suggested three seperate ways for Harry's "Uncle Jack" to have gone on a space voyage about 150 years before Harry told the story.
, .

 

Did anyone else other than me find it hilarious how whenever a Klingon opera song played, Worf would start looking around in a very exaggerated way like a kid who hears the ice cream truck coming? And then of course he couldn't help but start singing along, as though it was some kind of Pavlovian response.

 

To be fair, that's what I do in real life when the Klingon theme starts playing.

 

Or just any of the initial notes of any Trek theme

 

I do this when I hear the Ballad of Davy Crockett. King of the wild frontier...

 

Please,my childhood.