Geordi didn't need flashlights, did he?

[USS Kongo]

I'm not trying to be snarky, or anything. This was something that occured to me recently. I recall the Away Team would often use these really bright flashlights every now and then, but I can't remember if Geordi ever used one.

But because the VISOR he wore allowed him to "see" regardless of the lighting (and he was blind, after all), Geordi never really needed to use a flashlight on really dark Away Team missions, right?

Sean

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Depends if you take that "view" we saw in Heart Of Glory (?) as the norm.

That almost infrared vision certainly wouldn't need visible light to help.

Now if the VISOR didn't actually see in the IR spectrum, a flashlight would help illuminate things.

 

[Trekker4747]

The VISOR scanned the entire EM spectrum from radio waves all the way up to x-rays, this includes visible light.

In a dark room the "visible light" portion of that wouldn't be anymore visible to him than it would to anyone else. Yeah, he'd see a lot of shit but he wouldn't see the visible light portion of it but may be able to still make things out from infra-red formations and things of that sort but he'd still need light to see the visible spectrum (to us) portions.

Hmmm. I wonder. Was the VISOR Active or Passive?

 

[SchwEnt]

We saw a couple times what Geordi saw with his VISOR.
More than flashlights, I wanna know how the hell he did his job aboard ship.

Take a look at the wavy blobs and stuff that comes with Geordi-vision. How could he possibly read a computer screen like that? I don't see how he could understand text on screen or operate a PADD or tricorder.

Like he said, he gets all the EM info at once.
But man, how could he filter out all the spectrum so that only letters on a screen could be read? It'd be like trying to hear a whisper over a jet engine.

 

[Trekker4747]

The Tricorder had a tactile interface (read: buttons.)

Also note that Geordi often used a special PADD that also had a tactile interface. As for reading computer screens that's fairly possible too he's probably just found a way to do it.

It always made me wonder why the VISOR had to scan the entire damn EM spectrum?! My police scanner was tuned to not pick up frequencies used by cordless phones. You're telling me Geordi's VISOR couldn't be tuned to only pick up the visible light portion of the EMS?

 

[Vanyel]

Didn't Geordi say he had learned to ignore what he didn't want to see. It would be like how a person with normal hearing can listen to someone in a noisy room. I know when I used to go to bars I could filter out the music and background noise so I could hear the guy I was talking to. It may have taken him a long to time to learn how to filter out what he wanted to see and to train himself to switch from seeing one (or a set of) wave lengths, but I don't see it as impossible. A visual example I can think of is my contact lenses. I use bifocal lenses and have no problem from switching from near and distance vision, and I know some people tried them but could only see up close or distance and could not switch between the two.

 

[JoeFromEarth]

We saw a couple times what Geordi saw with his VISOR.
More than flashlights, I wanna know how the hell he did his job aboard ship.

Take a look at the wavy blobs and stuff that comes with Geordi-vision. How could he possibly read a computer screen like that? I don't see how he could understand text on screen or operate a PADD or tricorder.

Like he said, he gets all the EM info at once.
But man, how could he filter out all the spectrum so that only letters on a screen could be read? It'd be like trying to hear a whisper over a jet engine.

The problem with what we saw as "Geordi-vision" is it was everything he saw condensed down into the visible light spectrum. It's impossible for us to know what x-rays, gamma rays, etc looks like. We can only shift them down to the visible light spectrum and get an approximation. Since Geordi saw all this information uncompressed, it was probably not as garbled to him.

The Tricorder had a tactile interface (read: buttons.)

Also note that Geordi often used a special PADD that also had a tactile interface. As for reading computer screens that's fairly possible too he's probably just found a way to do it.

It always made me wonder why the VISOR had to scan the entire damn EM spectrum?! My police scanner was tuned to not pick up frequencies used by cordless phones. You're telling me Geordi's VISOR couldn't be tuned to only pick up the visible light portion of the EMS?

Since the VISOR was probably somewhat experimental (we didn't see a lot of them around) it those who designed it initial concern was probably interfacing it with the brain. Picking up certain frequencies was probably secondary. Maybe when he got older and that was an option, he decided not to since he was so used to it? Which of course, doesn't answer the question why he couldn't shift only to visible light in order to enjoy the occasional sunset.

 

[Timo]

There are many types of radiation that wouldn't be naturally emitted in circumstances X, so the VISOR couldn't see them unless LaForge carried an artificial radiation source for them.

Visual light would be absent in a dark room. VISOR wouldn't see any visual light in a dark room, then. But introduce a flashlight, and suddenly LaForge sees visual light.

Would he want to, when he already sees for example IR as emitted or reflected by most objects in a dark room? Well, why not? Visual light adds to the information LaForge is getting. And bringing it to the room with a flashlight has only two drawbacks: it ties up one of LaForge's hands (unless he wears the VOY type wrist mount), and it reveals his position to possible enemies. But when we did see LaForge using a flashlight, there weren't enemies watching - and indeed it helped LaForge's friends that they could immediately see where LaForge was.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[JarodRussell]

I think it's so funny that Geordi can see any spectrum, but he just never saw visible light. How hard can it be?

 

[Timo]

Whoever claimed that he couldn't see the visual spectrum?

Twice in his life, he expressed the desire to see the world like "normal" humans do. Once, his wish was granted by Q, the other time, by the Ba'ku fountain of youth. But in neither case was it established that LaForge couldn't see the visual spectrum part of the world. He simply wanted not to see more than "mundanes" could.

The ability to shut down or lock out particular areas of the spectrum sounds like an intricate skill to me. Perhaps LaForge cannot readily do that, not any more than I can stop thinking about a pink rhino if told to. We've never heard of the VISOR having "settings" that the user could adjust...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[JarodRussell]

Whoever claimed that he couldn't see the visual spectrum?

Twice in his life, he expressed the desire to see the world like "normal" humans do. Once, his wish was granted by Q, the other time, by the Ba'ku fountain of youth. But in neither case was it established that LaForge couldn't see the visual spectrum part of the world. He simply wanted not to see more than "mundanes" could.

The ability to shut down or lock out particular areas of the spectrum sounds like an intricate skill to me. Perhaps LaForge cannot readily do that, not any more than I can stop thinking about a pink rhino if told to. We've never heard of the VISOR having "settings" that the user could adjust...

Timo Saloniemi

Why didn't the visor just filter out every other frequency before sending the information to the brain? That way he could have seen everything just like with normal eyes if he wanted to.

 

[The Librarian]

Whoever claimed that he couldn't see the visual spectrum?

Twice in his life, he expressed the desire to see the world like "normal" humans do. Once, his wish was granted by Q, the other time, by the Ba'ku fountain of youth. But in neither case was it established that LaForge couldn't see the visual spectrum part of the world. He simply wanted not to see more than "mundanes" could.

The ability to shut down or lock out particular areas of the spectrum sounds like an intricate skill to me. Perhaps LaForge cannot readily do that, not any more than I can stop thinking about a pink rhino if told to. We've never heard of the VISOR having "settings" that the user could adjust...

Timo Saloniemi

Why didn't the visor just filter out every other frequency before sending the information to the brain? That way he could have seen everything just like with normal eyes if he wanted to.

For that matter, why not just build the VISOR without an X-ray sensor? Or have that sensor have an on/off button on the VISOR.

 

[CoveTom]

This discussion raises an interesting question too. On the show, they're always talking about how valuable Geordi's unique abilities provided by the VISOR are and they frequently make use of them. But is Geordi's VISOR really more useful than a normal sighted person with a tricorder? Is there some reason his VISOR could register more or better detail than a tricorder could?

 

[Trekker4747]

This discussion raises an interesting question too. On the show, they're always talking about how valuable Geordi's unique abilities provided by the VISOR are and they frequently make use of them. But is Geordi's VISOR really more useful than a normal sighted person with a tricorder? Is there some reason his VISOR could register more or better detail than a tricorder could?

Sort of the difference between you listening to something or watching something happening and a machine doing the same thing and telling you what it thinks. There's a lot more a human can gleam from looking at and processing information, information he's been exposed to and learned to read over the course of a life time, than a computer telling you what it thinks based on programing.

 

[JarodRussell]

They are also asking Data how long it will take them to reach a destination although the Enterprise computer would be just as fast or even faster (remember, the Enterprise computer created a fully sentient holographic lifeform just based on the order "Create a character that is a match for Data" in a couple of seconds).

 

[Timo]

Building an adjustable filter to the VISOR would be a compication, another feature that the user would have to learn. My current mobile phone is almost useless already because it has an excess of features, making it almost impossible to use it for the only two things I need: phoning and SMS...

I don't really see LaForge unlearning decades of VISOR-watching habits without the divine intervention of Q or the waters of the fountain of youth. The off switch for X-ray vision might be installed if he really wanted one - and it might well be a tricorder-sized box he had to carry on his belt - but he wouldn't necessarily have the skill to use it, or the ability or patience to learn to use it.

We're not talking about a mobile phone here, after all (although those are a good example of the horrors to come). We're talking about the guy's own eyes. For many people, learning to use sunglasses is an overwhelming complication already... Let alone operating a new switch that Photoshops the input of your eyes.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[The_Baroness]

If we have night vision goggles now I'm pretty sure they have them in the 24th century, even if they are permanently fixed to Geordis face.

They should have made his visor work like the Predator mask. Flick a quick switch and switch to another part of the spectrum.

Then he could growl and snarl while he does it too, all mean like.

 

[Green Shirt]

Well, he was famous for acting like a deer looking into headlights whenever a hot woman was nearby.