AI, deep learning computer or Pre-TOS basic ship's computer?

[jefferiestubes8]

How will the current trend of technology affect DSC pre-TOS timeline? Specifically
artificial intelligence, "Machine learning", "deep neural networks". [A deep neural network (DNN) is an artificial neural network] AKA "deep structured learning","hierarchical learning" or "deep machine learning".
Will DSC have any of this as a topic or part of a story since it is the current state of the art tech going on that people are just starting to understand such as Cortana, Siri, Google Now [is Google's voice-activated personal assistant -- similar to Apple's Siri or Microsoft's Cortana.] These are personal assistants but there are others. This article breaks them all down.


Before DSC was announced 4 years ago I created a thread in Future of Trek about
artificial intelligence/computer, android, robots

 

[F. King Daniel]

Whatever they can wrap an interesting story around. I for one won't mind if they work forward from 2016 computer technology instead of backward from 1966' version of the 23rd century.

 

[Tenacity]

I'm still hoping for a Rommie.

 

[Awesome Possum]

I think Star Trek should always be the future based on the day it's being produced. Not a future based on technology 50 years ago. Most of the computers we use to access this website are more impressive than the ones on the original Enterprise.

 

[F. King Daniel]

My phone has more variable functionality with its touchscreen interface than Next Gen's tricorder. In fact, a tricorder made today would probably look indistinguishable from a phone or tablet, but with more abilities under the hood - and what's the visual interest in that?

 

[Yorick]

Yes, it always seems as if TOS technology has dated. But I wonder if that is actually the case, and whether this could be addressed in a couple of lines of dialogue. Take your tricorder/smartphone example. It sure seems Spockian scanning for my bus's location as I wait at the stop, or checking the radar to see when the rain might let up enough to cycle in to work. But my phone depends on feeds from servers supported by a global network of towers and satellites. Not so the tricorder. It packs all of that in the box! Works even when the Enterprise has been hurled away from the landing party into another part of the galaxy. See That Which Survives. Even the humble communicator holds up. Would Starfleet install Angry Birds capability on military equipment? And again the dependence on towers. Star Trek at its best comes from the writers. I'm hopeful they're up to the task of cleverly, entertainingly and satisfyingly explaining the apparent anomalies!

 

[Blamo]

I can't see it affecting it at all. Beyond the lack of UI and primitive displays/appearance, the ship's computer actually seemed to be rather advanced.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

If DSC did manage to re-create Majel Barrett's voice from existing samples of it (as I heard they were wanting to do), I'd be all for that.

Just as long as it's Majel as she sounded during TNG and later, not the artificial sounding voice she used on TOS (and definitely lose the clunky typewriter-like noise that always preceded it).

 

[Awesome Possum]

The major difference was that we use "the cloud" and the Enterprise kept all their data on the ship itself. Of course, some alien with enough power could edit the databank and the crew would never know. If it were written today, they would have noticed that "Totally Not An Alien" made a recent edit to the crew's wiki page and a new crewmember suddenly showed up.

They could compromise by having local storage on the ship with frequent updates from Starfleet, a sort of subspace internet linking all the ships, bases, colonies and planets. Elon Musk already wants to develop a method to have the internet on the Moon and Mars when we finally send colonists there.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

If using Majel's voice doesn't work out, they should actually use Siri herself. And much hilarity ensues.

 

[Awesome Possum]

Siri on my phone already calls me Captain.

 

[BillJ]

Depends? Prime, it needs to be in the ballpark of what came before. Reboot, then anything goes.

 

[Awesome Possum]

Depends? Prime, it needs to be in the ballpark of what came before. Reboot, then anything goes.

That's the main reason I prefer the reboot universe. It at least could be our future and not the future of the 1960s, a magical time where the beehive hairdo would last for centuries and throughout the galaxy.

 

[rahullak]

The AI could be rudimentary, in keeping with pre-TOS (but post 2016). But the interfaces, look and feel needs to be post-2016 and not borrowed from TOS. That could balance it out.

 

[zar]

I can't see it affecting it at all. Beyond the lack of UI and primitive displays/appearance, the ship's computer actually seemed to be rather advanced.

Exactly.

Most of the computers we use to access this website are more impressive than the ones on the original Enterprise.

Based on what? Aside from aesthetics and an affinity for printouts, I really don't see how TOS technology is dated at all. Its capabilities are still way beyond ours. Particularly in the "personal assistant" department, which is advanced far beyond the likes of Siri. Star Trek has always used non-existent terms such as "duotronic" for processing and "quads" for storage purposely to avoid direct comparison to real technology.

 

[Ronald Held]

Another thought might be that spacecraft on long voyages need the most reliable hardware and software . That might be much older tech than that of Earth at that time.

 

[Eronai]

There was that mention of the Discovery having "robots" among the crew - I was assuming that they would fill the role of the computer?

I think if they were to have a voiced computer they would have to project forward from today's technology, anything more TOS-era sounding would be a joke to the masses by todays standards.

 

[Anduril]

How will the current trend of technology affect DSC pre-TOS timeline?

Who cares? I just want interesting characters that I can be happy about when they succeed and sad about when they fail. The technology should work in service of the story and not the focus of the story.

 

[Jedi_Master]

I would prefer not to have an android or AI character. I feel most of those stories have already been told.

 

[Awesome Possum]

They're going to have to update the technology. Using pre-TOS tech is going to be laughable to anyone but the few fans who obsess over the timeline as if it were real history.