Do they still make things?

[Crewman47]

Now I was initially going to forget making this post and assume that they do but I thought I'd bring it up just to get others views. Anyway I was in the Kitchen yesterday doing the dishes and I noticed my pot and how well crafted it was and how much effort that must've been used to make it (not sure how exactly it's made though) and I thought do they still make the small things that we use today like pots and pans, utensils and other such items on 24th century Earth or are they replicated?

We know that they still like to cook real food on cookers and stoves but is there still someone out there that makes the materials necessary for cooking food.

Any thoughts?

 

[LitmusDragon]

This is a good point. Would replicators completely replace the manufacturing process?

There were several indications that complex machine parts were created at least in part by replicator. If something complex like that were done by replicator, I imagine it would be a no-brainer to make something like silverware in the same fashion.

On the other hand, maybe replicator use was more common in starfleet than it was among the general population.

 

[Nebusj]

This is a good point. Would replicators completely replace the manufacturing process?

I'd expect so. I mean, mass production has pretty much eliminated the hand-making of pots and pans, except for a couple hobbyists doing these things for amusement and tiny economic niches providing souvenirs or designer pieces.

A form of mass production that's even faster than the process we already have, and which requires vastly fewer human-hours of labor, is going to be irresistible. I suppose if the operating costs are too big that might slow it down -- the energy costs it takes to put in some raw materials and then take out the new-finished pans are the obvious problems -- but that's clearly not a significant problem in the Trek Universe.

 

[MarianLH]

Somebody has to create an original design before replicators can reproduce it, though.

Marian

 

[Aaron McGuire]

Who makes replicators?

Aaron McGuire

 

[Sector 7]

This is a good point. Would replicators completely replace the manufacturing process?

On the other hand, maybe replicator use was more common in starfleet than it was among the general population.

In some TOS episodes we saw the hard life of pioneers... putting a pan outside so the sand & wind would clean it, the harshness of Tasha Yar's homeworld, the poverty of Bajoran refugees, or even Picard's brother refusing to have a replicator in their home on Earth. Clearly Starfleet had many advantages which some did not.
Based on this I would think that some necessities would still be hand-crafted.
Some of Picard's soliloquies stated that society had evolved to the point where individuals could now pursue their self-betterment, study and presumably craftsmanship.

 

[Sector 7]

Who makes replicators?

Aaron McGuire

Borgs, of course!

 

[Michael]

Who makes replicators?

Aaron McGuire

Borgs, of course!

"Borgs"? Who are "Borgs"?

 

[Aaron McGuire]

Who makes replicators?

Aaron McGuire

Borgs, of course!

"Borgs"? Who are "Borgs"?

Bjorn Borg's decendents.

Aaron McGuire

 

[Guy Gardener]

And here I thought this was going to be a "The Wire" inspired thread, because really not making things, and even not cooking, that way lies Tallos IV.

 

[alicelouise]

I would say the wealthy of the Star Trek verse have hand crafted items. In the Federation it seems personal replicators are widely available. O places such as Cardassia and the Romulan Star Empire access would probably be controlled by the respective governments.

In the Federation having a hand crafted item or piece of clothing, like the 24th and 1/2 century equivalents of Manolo Blahniks, would be status symbols payable in Latinum. The average Fed shlub would get their stuff at the Replimat or with their home models. It would have to be that way. All the Star Trek characters have awful civilian clothes.

 

[Sean Aaron]

places such as Cardassia and the Romulan Star Empire access would probably be controlled by the respective governments.

Possibly what you can replicate would be controlled, but I think that creating a society with the means to readily satisfy material needs would make it easier for a totalitarian state to control.

If you woke up tomorrow and your standard of living was unchanged, but otherwise you were living under a police state would you really mind -- oh, wait...

 

[Tyberius]

I think that they do still make things.

The energy required for the alchemy of the replicator is much greater than the energy required to join and manipulate existing elements in different shapes. If you are on a large rock and have plenty of ore available, you would use the ore at hand. If you are on a starship with no raw material except interstellar gas, anti-matter and dilithium you would use your harnessed little sun for the transformative process.

Now, the replicator may be able to take the raw ore and shape it into parts. That functionality may be part of some more robust designs. The replicator would list components required for delivery of the requested object (1 cup of iron, 2 cups of silica, 1.5 cups of carbon or 250,000,000,000 kWh of electricity*)

*I'm no physicist, figures for illustrative purposes only.

 

[alicelouise]

Sad to say, if people have their bread and circuses, or even a nasty bowl of porridge a day, they'll put up with a Kim Jong Mentally Ill

 

[Aragorn]

At some point, the replicators will be able to make their own replicators, and holodecks will start thinking for themselves... and then they'll rebel!

And they have a plan.