Discovery in the 32nd Century

[Deks]

Well, we could always speculate that the Burn deprived the 32nd century of those technologies.

We do know most of the technology Federation uses is subspace based.
If temporal technology is also subspace based (which it was inferred it was in Voyager at least), then we're likely dealing with destruction of subspace or someone messing with it in a way that inhibits use of subspace technology that will need to be repaired.

SF also uses sensors which are subspace based. How would Burnham be able to scan for lifesigns on a planet if subspace was either destroyed or damaged enough to prevent use of subspace sensor technology?
This begs the question whether the quantum dating scanners are subspace based (probably not because in NX-01, tricorders were fairly limited in range and capability).
So, I'd say that it would be possible to verify Disco's origins regardless.

 

[The Wormhole]

Admittedly, we don't know exactly what 'The Burn' is/was,

Exactly, we know next to nothing about "The Burn" though it is implied in the trailer and interviews with Kurtzman that it caused an interstellar union that had been going strong for the better part of a millennium to collapse overnight and thrust the galaxy into complete anarchy. With that in mind, it's not so far fetched to think information from nine hundred years prior would be fragmentary and incomplete. Add into the fact that with the CBSAA Star Trek shows Starfleet has a penchant for erasing the existence of entire starships from the official record, like they did with Disco and the ship Rios served on in Picard.

Hell, for that matter, perhaps by the 32nd century Starfleet has such a reputation for scrubbing the official record clean that it really is no surprise to find an old Starfleet ship there's no records of. Perhaps it's even expected. "What, this ship is from the mid-23rd century? There's no records of a USS Discovery NCC-1031." "Pfft, welcome to whatever we now call the day that used to be Tuesday."

And that's before we factor in that just a century earlier the Federation was involved in a Temporal Cold War which likely left an impact on data records as well.

 

[Noname Given]

However, when the Federation was founded, data redundancy would be ridiculously huge.
You wouldn't be storing this info on 1 planet (such as Earth)... data would be stored in databases across the Federation...
A single starship can easily contain the ENTIRE Federation database... that's practically all collective knowledge of ALL UFP species in a single computer core onboard 1 ship.

^^^
O'RLY?
http://www.chakoteya.net/StarTrek/73.htm

Captain's log, stardate 5725.3. The Enterprise is en route to Memory Alpha. It is a planetoid set up by the Federation solely as a central library containing the total cultural history and scientific knowledge of all planetary Federation members. With us is specialist Lieutenant Mira Romaine. She is on board to supervise the transfer of newly designed equipment directly from the Enterprise to Memory Alpha.

[After Entity attacks Memory Alpha Facility]

KIRK: Damage report, Spock.

SPOCK: A disaster for the galaxy, Captain. The central brain is damaged. The memory core is burned out. The loss to the galaxy may be irretrievable.

My point? Even today there's data loss as methods of digital archiving become antiquated and there are situations where the data isn't copied over to a more current method BEFORE the ability to read/retrieve that data by the previous method is no longer is available.

Depending on what "The Burn" did to technology in general; who knows what data and records are still available in a usable/retrievable format?

 

[Deks]

^^^
O'RLY?
http://www.chakoteya.net/StarTrek/73.htm


My point? Even today there's data loss as methods of digital archiving become antiquated and there are situations where the data isn't copied over to a more current method BEFORE the ability to read/retrieve that data by the previous method is no longer is available.

Depending on what "The Burn" did to technology in general; who knows what data and records are still available in a usable/retrievable format?

Storing all the data from all Federation members on just 1 location (aka 1 planet - Memory Alpha) is quite literally the very definition of 'you just DON'T DO THAT'.

Also, we're talking about the 32nd century... and the fact that 'the burn' was relatively recent.
You really think that Memory Alpha would be the ONLY repository of all Federation knowledge 930 years into the future?
I don't think so.

 

[Noname Given]

Storing all the data from all Federation members on just 1 location (aka 1 planet - Memory Alpha) is quite literally the very definition of 'you just DON'T DO THAT'.

Also, we're talking about the 32nd century... and the fact that 'the burn' was relatively recent.
You really think that Memory Alpha would be the ONLY repository of all Federation knowledge 930 years into the future?
I don't think so.

I think you missed this part of my post:

My point? Even today there's data loss as methods of digital archiving become antiquated and there are situations where the data isn't copied over to a more current method BEFORE the ability to read/retrieve that data by the previous method is no longer is available.

As for how 'relatively recent' "The Burn" was to 3188 - we just don't know yet, nor do we know the nature of the incident.

 

[fireproof78]

Storing all the data from all Federation members on just 1 location (aka 1 planet - Memory Alpha) is quite literally the very definition of 'you just DON'T DO THAT'.

Also, we're talking about the 32nd century... and the fact that 'the burn' was relatively recent.
You really think that Memory Alpha would be the ONLY repository of all Federation knowledge 930 years into the future?
I don't think so.

Based upon past Treks? Yes.

 

[Deks]

Based upon past Treks? Yes.

Memory Alpha was what... a century in existence by the 23rd century (and that's being generous)?
We had little or no indications that all knowledge ever gathered by the Federation (or its member species) would remain on that 1 planet in Memory Alpha in the 24th century (let alone almost 1000 years into the future).

 

[fireproof78]

Memory Alpha was what... a century in existence by the 23rd century (and that's being generous)?
We had little or no indications that all knowledge ever gathered by the Federation (or its member species) would remain on that 1 planet in Memory Alpha in the 24th century (let alone almost 1000 years into the future).

And? Starfleet and data management have a terrible history together.

I'm usually pretty forgiving of Trek but this is one place my leniency is worn out.

 

[The Wormhole]

Yeah, those crates filled with computer pads don't exactly scream "efficient data management" to me.

 

[Tuskin38]

So according to the NYCC Panel, they specifically chose the late 32nd century because it's beyond everything that Star Trek talked about/showed in the previous series. One of the EP's even mentioned that the Temporal Cold War arc of Enterprise talked about the far future.

 

[Bollie74]

My thought was that Starfleet redacted everything so that Discovery was lost when it disappeared into the mirror universe. And as far as data and history, you redact a data core say on Earth, and it uploads to memory alpha and then across the Federation. If you aren't specifically looking for that piece of data, would the change be caught? You could even blame its lose on failed technologies like the spore drive. By the way, that was intended as theory, not fact.

As for the families of the crew, you have nice people in black suits explain the cover story and secrecy (and the penalty for loose lips). I like the folklore idea someone came up with, its kind of like the book, Strangers from the Sky....

In 3188, they are going to d/l the Discovery's logs, find the discrepancies and then realize it doesn't matter because the timeline didn't change from their perspective - all of the crew on Discovery are dead in their timeline and did not contribute to history beyond Discovery going missing. Plus, bonus, they have a groovy starship with a spore drive solving the issue of the Omega particle explosion destroying subspace (sorry, I have a whole head cannon about this from whichever smart person on here floated that idea weeks ago). I even have a spin off fan fiction thing I will never write about a crew trying to survive in deep space after the burn....

 

[F. King Daniel]

If only Memory Alpha kicked it in TOS episode 2, we'd have ample excuse for the ENT/TOS continuity issues

 

[Timo]

My thought was that Starfleet redacted everything so that Discovery was lost when it disappeared into the mirror universe.

...Not exactly, she was listed lost in an explosion when she sailed to the future. And there would appear to be two levels of subterfuge there: the eyewitnesses lied to their superiors and claimed they witnessed the explosion, and the superiors (who no doubt were aware they were being lied to) then apparently reported a "natural" loss of the ship, but probably further lied about the circumstances, hiding the existence of the related battle altogether.

Since the ship and her operations appeared to be top secret to begin with, and further went rogue towards the end, there probably wouldn't be too many records to be edited. If a nondescript flying laboratory goes kaboom in a random mishap, there isn't much to cover up, now is there? (The memory wipe angle for those who chose not to go to the future with the ship is relatively painlessly covered in the Trek context.)

It's quite possible that the Discovery never existed in the first place, though. If she was built or converted in wartime for the purpose of finding the Wunderwaffe that would defeat the Klingons, archives from the get-go might list the expended duranium as having been dumped somewhere for not meeting construction standards, and the involved personnel as early casualties in the war. Nothing about the secrecy would need to be retroactive, then.

Timo Saloniemi