Did Kirk have an office?
- Thread starter allstar77
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Maybe Scotty was buying him these things!
Yes, but those 6 switches have a combination of 64 different on/off positions (2 raised to the 6th power = 64, all 6 switches off as the first combination and all 6 switches on as the 64th combination). So even if one of the six switches is an enable switch to execute the command indicated by the 5 remaining switches, that still leaves 32 different combinations for the 5 remaining switches (2 raised to the 5th power = 32), primitive by today's standards I suppose. But, as you say, they also had voice commands and disks as well for input.
Maybe, the monitor screen also was a touch screen for entering commands into the computer as well.
Navigator, NCC-2120 USS Entente
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If ST IV had been serious, Scotty could have connected his tricorder to an ATM machine and created a phony bank account loaded with phony money. Then he could buy all the plexiglass he wanted without trading transparent aluminum for it.
Perhaps Scotty knew Mac machine code (Opcodes and Operands) and just programmed the Mac by putting these Opcodes and Operands in RAM Memory and then executed said program. I know it is a bit of a stretch, but wouldn't 23rd Century humans be a little more smarter and skilled than 20th Century humans? Plus Scotty had the reputation of being a miracle worker. I think that was the intent of that scene, even though it seems a little far fetched. Cadet Kirk was able to reprogram the Kobayashi Maru simulator, so he was talented, but I doubt Kirk was a Computer Science Major.
That being said maybe if McCoy had said something to Scotty along the lines "Well Scotty it looks like all that time you spent learning how to program ancient computers finally pays off." to make that Transparent Aluminum scene in ST4 a little more believable.
Navigator NCC-2120 USS Entente
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Zap,
Do you think that would have been a wireless connection between the tricorder and the ATM machine? It still seems like stealing though, I don't think the producers would have approved of it, so we are back to square one.
Navigator, NCC-2120 USS Entente
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Timo,
I stand corrected. It has been awhile since I saw ST4 and so I forgot that they stole neutrons from an aircraft carrier, the USS Enterprise, right? I only took 2 physics courses in college decades ago, so I admit I do not know if stealing neutrons would affect other peoples lives or not or change the future or not. Whereas using counterfeit money to buy material from a company would have some affect on the economy and the future right? Any physicists with a minor in economics or anyone with double major of physics and economics out there to weigh in on the subject?
Navigator, NCC-2120 USS Entente
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Well, sort of. It was a supercarrier and the heroes called it the Enterprise and the gangway leading to the ship read "Enterprise CVN-65", yes. But it didn't look like the real Enterprise, CVN-65 - it looked like the ship that was actually used for the filming, the non-nuclear Ranger, CV-61. Which is funny, because we know that in the 22nd, 23rd and 24th century, people in the Trek universe will believe that CVN-65 looks like the real-world CVN-65, and have the artwork to prove it.
I guess the ship underwent a refit at some point, and is memorized in history in one guise while seen in ST4 in another. All that differentiates CN-61 and CVN-65 externally is the "island", the superstructure looming above the flight deck, and CVN-65 has a distinct shape because there's an antiquated radar system there that has this boxy antenna structure. In the Trek reality, it's quite possible that the Navy decided to invest in removing that relic and installing a more modern, hence more conventional island shape there; in our reality, the Navy has simply retired the ship as is.
As far as current scientific knowledge goes, it's complete nonsense anyway. If you can trap neutrons in your fancy pocket doodad, they won't be any different from the neutrons you get from the nearest rock or bush or seagull - you don't need a nuclear reactor to get them. But even in the Trek version of physics, clearly the heroes are only pocketing neutrons that are already flying out of the reactor (and hence perhaps decreasing the cancer rate among the crew but not affecting much else)...
Probably less than stealing or renting that helicopter.
On topic: Given how callously our heroes treat property in the general case, I don't think they would make a big fuss about offices or cabins or the like. Kirk might have an office, he might requisition one as needed, he might simply tell another officer to take a hike; in terms of technology, his office would probably be carried in his pocket, in one of those memory cards, and he could use any of the interchangeable cabins for actually doing the "paperwork".
Timo Saloniemi
If that were true, it would have been impossible for the navy to detect a power drain, so no, they're taking energy from inside the reactor, but it's not neutrons anyway, as per dialog it's photons.
Now, you should know better than to say "all"! One dead giveaway for Ranger is that she alone of the Forrestals kept her big 5-inch gun sponsons forward (minus the guns of course).
Forrestals' islands were more midship, they shifted aft in later designs. Enterprise's starboard elevators were spaced fairly evenly, while Forrestals had two closer together aft, and Kittys two closer forward. Enterprise had narrower-tapered flight deck forward, and a generally longer "stretched" look overall, though of course you couldn't see that in the movie. Still, there have been more egregious substitutions (Pearl Harbor).
Okay, so we don't want Scotty to rob a bank. [I think the tricorder would need to simulate a WiFi connection or some such, and Scotty could plausibly have 23rd century encryption-beating software.]
And we don't want to change history (not to mention steal from the real inventor) by giving out the formula for transparent aluminum.
Another solution, I think quite ethical, would have been to find some precious-metal fittings or other valuables in the Klingon ship and sell them to finance the onboard whale tank.
In "City on the Edge of Forever" Spock implied that modern computers use blocks of platinum. The Klingon backup computer could be cannibalized for its bling without disabling the ship.
In "Catspaw" Kirk said the Enterprise could manufacture precious stones. Maybe the Bird of Prey can do that, too.
And we don't want to change history (not to mention steal from the real inventor) by giving out the formula for transparent aluminum.
Another solution, I think quite ethical, would have been to find some precious-metal fittings or other valuables in the Klingon ship and sell them to finance the onboard whale tank.
In "City on the Edge of Forever" Spock implied that modern computers use blocks of platinum. The Klingon backup computer could be cannibalized for its bling without disabling the ship.
In "Catspaw" Kirk said the Enterprise could manufacture precious stones. Maybe the Bird of Prey can do that, too.
Why would the historical impact of goods be lesser than the impact of made-up wealth or (true or false) knowledge? Counterfeit money would be untraceable, while Klingon metal might make a chemist somewhere discover unexpected things about outer space - and either sort of payment would make somebody richer than he or she ought to be in any case.
Timo Saloniemi
Timo Saloniemi
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