Before & After

[R. Star]

Yet they can convert a watch into, by Janeway's own words, a pair of boots, a meal or a hypospray? Why is that possible but not an eyeball or VISOR. Seems you'd want your tactical officer to be able to see when he's picking what he's shooting at instead of hoping he feels the changes to the sensors.

well they're not directly converting a watch into boots. The watch would go back into bulk matter storage.

a pair of boots seems like it would be much simpler to create than a functional eye ball

A watch with dozens of intricately small and complicated mechanical gears? A meal would seem incredibly complex on the molecular level as well. Not to mention a hypospray, which would have to be dang exact to have the desired effect in treatment. Why are those doable and an eyeball isn't?

Oh I know, this is Voyager and the plot requires it. Don't ask why.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I doubt a food replicator can make an eyeball. The equipment to do that, or to properly install a VISOR or or cyborg eyes was destroyed with sickbay.

 

[R. Star]

But watches, boots and hyposprays can? Again, why are those acceptable but the eye isn't?

 

[KaraBear]

I doubt a food replicator can make an eyeball. The equipment to do that, or to properly install a VISOR or or cyborg eyes was destroyed with sickbay.

this!

 

[KaraBear]

But watches, boots and hyposprays can? Again, why are those acceptable but the eye isn't?

because an eye ball needs to process light into images and then relay those to the optical nerve which goes to the brain. It will constantly be working and performing tasks, it is "alive" in a sense. A pair of boots or a plate of pasta is much more simple

and as king daniel said, it's likely that a food replicator and a medical replicator are different. Just as a regular tricorder and medical tricorder are two different things. All of the medical equipment necessary to make the eyes was then destroyed with sickbay and the majority of deck 5

 

[R. Star]

And the hypospray isn't coming out of the medical replicator then?

 

[KaraBear]

And the hypospray isn't coming out of the medical replicator then?

I think that might depend on if you're just replicating the casing or the actual medicine. And again I would argue that a medicine is far less complex than a functioning organic eyeball

 

[KaraBear]

It is also possible that they COULD make the eyes but Tuvok refused them, since he was still more or less able to function well using the tactile interface on the console. He could have refused them for the same reason Janeway refused the watch, it's something that might be used to save someone's life later on

 

[Melakon]

But watches, boots and hyposprays can? Again, why are those acceptable but the eye isn't?

The replicators make foodstuffs from inorganic material. I don't know if it was ever used to create living organisms, or individual body parts.

 

[R. Star]

That seems thin ground to me. If you had argued Janeway just didn't know what she was talking about in her irrational state of mind, that'd have more credit. Food isn't organic? What the heck are you eating? And medicine would easily have to be as complicated on the molecular level as an eye given it's purpose is to modify the physical health of a person. I don't buy one being possible, but the other not.

And Tuvok refusing them? I mean do disrespect to the blind, but how exactly is a "tactile interface" going to operate sensors, scanners, phasers, shields, damage control and targetting as efficiently or even close as a visual interface? Just something as simple as a book is easily three times as bulky in braille as it is in print and that's no where near as complicated as an interactive computer display with multiple functions, features and live data. Not to mention a physical surface that can readily adjust itself would seem slightly power consuming. If there's not someone else who can do the job, then fixing one of those vaunted medical replicators or modifying another to do the job... which would seem to be high priority even without Tuvok's injury given how many wounded they had. Seems only.. logical.

 

[Guy Gardener]

But watches, boots and hyposprays can? Again, why are those acceptable but the eye isn't?

The replicators make foodstuffs from inorganic material. I don't know if it was ever used to create living organisms, or individual body parts.

Those bandaides Picard was wearing in Best of Both Worlds was called "synthiflesh".

The one armed man from Kira's terrorist group claimed that he didn't want to get a new arm, and later Nog went through some weird mental problems trying to accept his new leg.

Kidneys from a pill.

McCoy couldn't make Spock new eyes after the jellyfish episode, and they had a blind girl who had a dress that used Daredevil like echo location to fake sight.