Discoprise won't have TOS "cardboard sets"

[CorporalClegg]

I don't get what's supposed to be anachronistic about flip communicators or viewscreens?

Because it breaks the illusion of future-tech being of the future when it's stuff we have now. (Or have had for 20+ years.)

One is a commincation device that can work alone, without a commincation tower network, into space!!!

How it works doesn't really matter since said illusion is visual. This is especially true when "how" it works plays loose with physics. None the less, this is really just a matter of perfecting the functionality which I would say is more accurately described as "tomorrow-tech" as opposed to future-tech.

As far as the viewscreens go, they are really "current-tech," so, by extrapolative extension, they don't really belong in the future. Instead, the Disco people decided to implement what has become the most ubiquitously recognized form of "future" comms. Maybe not the most original thing, but it was easy. And they gave it their own artistic twist.

And as long as people will have computers (they will for a long time), a "viewscreen" will always be the best way to access information.

Not true.

Hell, a real life starship bridge in 300 years will probably have a good, old paper printer on it. In this regard TOS is probably still more on the money than every new iteration of Trek since then - they had one!

You're probably right. But, again, part of the "anachronisticity" is creating an illusion of the future and not at all meant to be literal.

The tapes are actually a good example. Truth be told, it's very likely they would have their place aboard a starship. Physical storage has huge advantages in certain environments -- like the highly sensitive mission-critical data of an intergalactic armada.

Source Digital -- or the evolution of it -- seems like the most likely way to go. But SD cards are small and can get lost easily, so increase their size to that of a credit card so they fit in pockets snugly. Also, color-coding them in bright primary pastels would make them easy to pick out (the one you need) in an emergency.

But again, this is more about the illusion of the future and, by most people's current-day standards, the practice of putting disks in a computer is seemingly old-fashioned and not forward-thinking. That said, with a little creative-ingenuity, I think something heavily stylized like the communicators could work.

 

[Rahul]

I don't get what's supposed to be anachronistic about flip communicators or viewscreens?

Because it breaks the illusion of future-tech being of the future when it's stuff we have now. (Or have had for 20+ years.)

You are going to be SO confused when the future actually happens and we will still be using wheels. And books. And plant corn on fields.

And as long as people will have computers (they will for a long time), a "viewscreen" will always be the best way to access information.

Not true.

Actually, yes. The majority of human information is and is going to be either text- or graphic based. In each case, a computer "viewscreen" is the optimal way to access and interact with that information. 3D Face-timing is nothing more than a gimmick.

You're probably right. But, again, part of the "anachronisticity" is creating an illusion of the future and not at all meant to be literal.

How it works doesn't really matter since said illusion is visual. This is especially true when "how" it works plays loose with physics. None the less, this is really just a matter of perfecting the functionality which I would say is more accurately described as "tomorrow-tech" as opposed to future-tech.

As far as the viewscreens go, they are really "current-tech," so, by extrapolative extension, they don't really belong in the future. Instead, the Disco people decided to implement what has become the most ubiquitously recognized form of "future" comms. Maybe not the most original thing, but it was easy. And they gave it their own artistic twist.

It becomes a problem when the imagined "futurized" versions are less usefull than what we use now. That's not how technology works, and it's going to date the show more by cementing it's 2010's production time than, say, the miniskirts cement TOS as a 60's show.

The tapes are actually a good example. Truth be told, it's very likely they would have their place aboard a starship. Physical storage has huge advantages in certain environments -- like the highly sensitive mission-critical data of an intergalactic armada.

Source Digital -- or the evolution of it -- seems like the most likely way to go. But SD cards are small and can get lost easily, so increase their size to that of a credit card so they fit in pockets snugly. Also, color-coding them in bright primary pastels would make them easy to pick out (the one you need) in an emergency.

But again, this is more about the illusion of the future and, by most people's current-day standards, the practice of putting disks in a computer is seemingly old-fashioned and not forward-thinking. That said, with a little creative-ingenuity, I think something heavily stylized like the communicators could work.

The problem with the datatapes was NOT the physical data storage! That will be around as long as computers!
The only anachronism was that Spock had to use multiple datatapes on which Kirk speaking was saved.

It was simply an issue of data storage capacity that's an anachronism. Suggesting we won't have physical harddrives in the future is madness!

 

[jaime]

You are going to be SO confused when the future actually happens and we will still be using wheels. And books. And plant corn on fields.



Actually, yes. The majority of human information is and is going to be either text- or graphic based. In each case, a computer "viewscreen" is the optimal way to access and interact with that information. 3D Face-timing is nothing more than a gimmick.



It becomes a problem when the imagined "futurized" versions are less usefull than what we use now. That's not how technology works, and it's going to date the show more by cementing it's 2010's production time than, say, the miniskirts cement TOS as a 60's show.




The problem with the datatapes was NOT the physical data storage! That will be around as long as computers!
The only anachronism was that Spock had to use multiple datatapes on which Kirk speaking was saved.

It was simply an issue of data storage capacity that's an anachronism. Suggesting we won't have physical harddrives in the future is madness!

Now if those tapes were recording full resolution 3D holographs, perhaps with biometric information also in real time...and there’s no reason to suppose it isn’t...then, there’s no problem. XD
Same way one crewman per tape on bio data makes sense from a security perspective too. As does the size. Portability is great for storage, not so great for security. Just think, you could now successfully steal say a seasons worth of TV show, and smuggle it elsewhere stuck on a micro SD card under a postage stamp. Put that info on an NFC readable storage, and seal the thing in an acrylic cube, perhaps with a 3D QR code etched into it by laser, for cataloguing and verification purposes, with a logical limit to which data can be stored per cube (one episode say) and suddenly thieves would need a sack to steal the data (assuming its encrypted and locked and can only be read by authorised machines, and therefore can’t simply be copied to a micro SD card.) making it much harder. And much more similar to Treks Data tapes. Those Perspex lumps? All of that is just physical encryption. If your reader doesn’t recognise the patterns in the lumps, it can’t read it. And think about a CPU. Now imagine the complex patterns you can put in something the size of a matchbox with such etching. That is something very very difficult to forge, and explains the value of something like the unreplicatable material of latinum. Maybe a material than is unscannable, or impossible to use a transporter beam on too.
Funnily enough Trek covers this, with In The Pale Moonlight, and those cardassian data rods, to an extent.

Problem solved, with just a speck of lateral thinking.

 

[Groppler Zorn]

It becomes a problem when the imagined "futurized" versions are less usefull than what we use now. That's not how technology works, and it's going to date the show more by cementing it's 2010's production time than, say, the miniskirts cement TOS as a 60's show.

I suppose the issue for me is with “less useful”. If they’re less useful to us now, then that’s a poor imagining of the future.

But... there’s no reason they can’t be less useful than now in the context of the show if there’s a creative reason for it. Like on BSG with the analog stuff and no networks.

 

[Mr Awe]

Actually, yes. The majority of human information is and is going to be either text- or graphic based. In each case, a computer "viewscreen" is the optimal way to access and interact with that information. 3D Face-timing is nothing more than a gimmick.

You're thinking too traditionally. Nah, implants will take over at some point.

The problem with the datatapes was NOT the physical data storage! That will be around as long as computers!
The only anachronism was that Spock had to use multiple datatapes on which Kirk speaking was saved.

It won't be *tapes* either. And, yeah, we'll have physical storage, but they won't be hard drives as we think of them now.

 

[Tuskin38]

How it works doesn't really matter since said illusion is visual. This is especially true when "how" it works plays loose with physics. None the less, this is really just a matter of perfecting the functionality which I would say is more accurately described as "tomorrow-tech" as opposed to future-tech.

I really don't agree. The flip part of the communicator isn't part of the device, it's essentially a dust cover and screen protector.

Some times the antennae depending on the source.

 

[Rahul]

You're thinking too traditionally. Nah, implants will take over at some point.

Google glasses for the crew in Season 2 confirmed!!

Now to be serious again, I wouldn't be too sure about that. There have been a LOT of wrong predictions, and humans don't really like to alter themselves with technology if it isn't necessary. Athletes are not going to amputate their legs because they are faster with prosthesis. And personally, I don't want to have microships in my brain, even though I work with technology every day.

Usually if technology progresses, it doesn't mean technology vanishes - like compter screens that will be around as long as we will have computers. It means completely new gadgets get added to what we have, and the items we do have get smaller and more practical to use (e.g. viewscreens not being tubes anymore). But rarely is usefull technology just disappearing!

 

[jaime]

Google glasses for the crew in Season 2 confirmed!!

Now to be serious again, I wouldn't be too sure about that. There have been a LOT of wrong predictions, and humans don't really like to alter themselves with technology if it isn't necessary. Athletes are not going to amputate their legs because they are faster with prosthesis. And personally, I don't want to have microships in my brain, even though I work with technology every day.

Usually if technology progresses, it doesn't mean technology vanishes - like compter screens that will be around as long as we will have computers. It means completely new gadgets get added to what we have, and the items we do have get smaller and more practical to use (e.g. viewscreens not being tubes anymore). But rarely is usefull technology just disappearing!

I changed satellite box recently. Ton of recordings on there. No way to get the ones we wanted off, and certainly not in time. Because all those USB and SATA ports essentially do nothing for the end user.

So I plugged in a nice mint condition VHS recorder I had, and taped over some old recordings of TNG (they were off the bbc so no advantage in keeping them...no adverts etc for cultural relevance, and it was the nineties rerun. I have the DVDs upstairs.) job done. 240 mins of impossible to replace recordings done. On tape.
I did try the old HDrive/DVD burner...but the laser is knackered, or something...so it craps out and resets after burning twenty minutes on a disc.

Score: Old Hefty Tech of the Eighties/Nineties 1, Modern PVR tech...nil. Because they overcomplicated it with anti-piracy measures etc basically. And it seems the interim tech just has too much to go wrong...whereas even my non-mint hard use VCR still works after twenty years plus.

I am also quite fond of the retcon for why they use VHS in Red Dwarf: Back To Earth.

Oh..and as to visual quality? The TV set up scales it enough to make the slight dip barely noticeable.

 

[UssGlenn]

How it works doesn't really matter since said illusion is visual.

Using this logic, typewriters are more advanced than a computer and printer. Not only is it all in one, but the print out is done in real time so it's faster than the computer.

It won't be *tapes* either.

It's T.A.P.E.s
Still working on what it actually stands for.

 

[CaptainMurdock]

Technical Access Packet Essays?

 

[Tuskin38]

DSC still uses the coloured data cartridges they used in TOS.

 

[XCV330]

A tape in transit can't be hacked. I like to think Romulan interventions, etc, had scared Starfleet off of easily compromised computer networks on their 5 year ships. It's bad enough having to sit through galactic energy being of the week taking over a console and locking controls. At least you can keep your tapes off the server.

AND if you write at the molecular level, you can store more data and perhaps save your data in the event of an EMP event, which is probably pretty common out there.
I like to think of the TOS tapes as highly updated versions of the TEFIFON tapes, capable of holding many petabyes of information

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[Tuskin38]

I like to think Romulan interventions, etc, had scared Starfleet off of easily compromised computer networks on their 5 year ships.

Well IIRC that is what one of the Enterprise Romulan War novels tried to say.

 

[CorporalClegg]

Using this logic, typewriters are more advanced than a computer and printer. Not only is it all in one, but the print out is done in real time so it's faster than the computer.

Your logic sucks.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Your logic sucks.- T'Plana-Hath, matron of Vulcan philosophy

FTFY

 

[Groppler Zorn]

FTFY

How do you feel?

(I’m sorry I fought the urge as long as I could)

 

[mos6507]

It was simply an issue of data storage capacity that's an anachronism. Suggesting we won't have physical harddrives in the future is madness!

We'll have physical media but I don't think we'll still rely on magnetic media, either on disc or tape form. That's something that was remedied when TNG introduced isolinear chips.

 

[Nerys Myk]

How do you feel?

(I’m sorry I fought the urge as long as I could)

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[CorporalClegg]

I wonder if Stamets's brother's band does that song.

 

[Agony_Boothb]

Well IIRC that is what one of the Enterprise Romulan War novels tried to say.

SHHHHH Christopher may hear you. Mentioning his novels conjures him.