Geordi's Visor

[Mojochi]

Yet why would Data's best friend agree to being surgically weakened when Data himself, the greatest menace to Starfleet after Jean-Locutus Picard, has never volunteered to lobotomy?

Everybody in the main cast has been compromised in his or her turn. Starfleet's only hope is finding ways to cope with the fact that its personnel will be co-opted, and those ways shouldn't include firing or mutilating said personnel.

We don't know that he was lessened, and it may not have been requested or required. He might have just felt guilty about it. All I'm saying is that it's rather suggestive that he has them shortly after the loss of the D. It suggests a bit of story, given his visor was used against them in that situation, & he knew he could prevent it

From our literal insight into the new device in ST:INS, as contrasted to our literal insight into the VISOR. The contacts just have the zoom, plus some easily comprehensible HUD-style data; if the audience can comprehend it, then it must be less extensive and complex than what the VISOR had to offer.

but what I'm saying is that may only be 1 setting that he frequents the most. There's nothing said about him not having the same capabilities as he had with the visor. In the absence of evidence against it, I choose to assume he has the coolest eyes I can imagine, which includes multitudes of different settings "Predator 2" style lol

Which of course is false, because only when the contacts come off does LaForge admit to seeing a sunset like humans do.

I'll admit that is odd, since we see his eyes work with the normal vision/zoom thing, which does look normal to me at least. So, I have to assume it still doesn't deliver the "Human" experience as well as real eyes

 

[Timo]

We don't know that he was lessened, and it may not have been requested or required. He might have just felt guilty about it. All I'm saying is that it's rather suggestive that he has them shortly after the loss of the D. It suggests a bit of story, given his visor was used against them in that situation, & he knew he could prevent it.

That's at least a possibility, yes. But a rather excessive bit of self-flagellation. Why not get a better VISOR, with better safeguards? Why are the contacts a lesser security risk?

Soran hacked an interface between LaForge's eye-equivalents and his brain. Where is that interface in the contacts setup? Has LaForge finally gotten his nerves regenerated? And if so, why didn't he get his eyes fixed, too, this being the less demanding of the two operations as per Pulaski?

but what I'm saying is that may only be 1 setting that he frequents the most.

And that's my argument as well. LaForge wants to be Superman. If he nevertheless "frequents" human-with-zoom-in-false-colors vision, then this is the upper limit of his most recent Superman powers. And somebody banged him in the face with rather a lot of kryptonite.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Mojochi]

That's at least a possibility, yes. But a rather excessive bit of self-flagellation. Why not get a better VISOR, with better safeguards? Why are the contacts a lesser security risk?

That's a fair point. I tend to think he might also have been remembering all the times of having his prosthesis fall off. An integrated component is really the better way to go. So when the increased security measures became an issue, it was a good time to reevaluate everything about it.

Soran hacked an interface between LaForge's eye-equivalents and his brain. Where is that interface in the contacts setup? Has LaForge finally gotten his nerves regenerated? And if so, why didn't he get his eyes fixed, too, this being the less demanding of the two operations as per Pulaski?

Is that what Soran did? I always thought he just hijacked Geordi's device & added some kind of video transmitter. I seem to recall the Duras girls seeing the transponder code in a standard photoscopic visual feed, as opposed to Geodi's visor-vision. It was the Romulans in the Mind's Eye that accessed his neural implants directly & what was weird about that was that we saw what he was seeing, but it too didn't look like his season 1 visor-vision, but normal photoscopic vision

Is it possible that the visor already had added a photoscopic type vision before he got implants, & thereby maybe the implants changed nothing about how he could see, just how he had it installed... internally vs external prothesis

And that's my argument as well. LaForge wants to be Superman. If he nevertheless "frequents" human-with-zoom-in-false-colors vision, then this is the upper limit of his most recent Superman powers. And somebody banged him in the face with rather a lot of kryptonite.

Timo Saloniemi

I'm not following you. I just see it as him incorporating new functions to his already existing tech. I never recall anyone on Star Trek having to downgrade in tech, or choose to do so for whatever reason, though that might make for a compelling story of sacrifice, if he had sacrificed some of his superior attributes, but I don't really see why that must be what happened. It's entirely possible that he can just switch back to his heat/infrared/ultraviolet vision settings whenever he wants

 

[Timo]

I tend to think he might also have been remembering all the times of having his prosthesis fall off.

Then again, his contacts fall off in ST:INS, or at least he removes them. At least locating the fallen VISOR would be easier going for a blind man than locating a fallen contact.

Is that what Soran did? I always thought he just hijacked Geordi's device & added some kind of video transmitter.

A camera, rather than a way to steal the imagery of the VISOR itself? Might be. But then he could have added it into Riker's beard, too. Or Worf's sash.

Perhaps this is why Starfleet frowns on jewelry, but our heroes miss the point and think it's just for disciplinary purposes and doesn't apply to heroes.

I seem to recall the Duras girls seeing the transponder code in a standard photoscopic visual feed, as opposed to Geordi's visor-vision.

That feed is in there somewhere, among all the other stuff (since the VISOR sees everything, supposedly not omitting the visual wavelengths) - I just thought Soran's superior technomagery brought it out with ease, while LaForge himself in "Heart of Glory" had never thought about such a narrowing of his vision and thus wasn't as prepared and skilled as Soran.

It's entirely possible that he can just switch back to his heat/infrared/ultraviolet vision settings whenever he wants

But why would he want to do something like that? If his contacts can give him the LSD vision we saw in "Heart of Glory", why would he fail to use that mode all of the time? It's what he wants, prefers and cannot live without. Otherwise he'd have taken either Crusher or Pulaski up on their offers to downgrade his eyes. Or RiQer, even.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Mojochi]

Then again, his contacts fall off in ST:INS, or at least he removes them. At least locating the fallen VISOR would be easier going for a blind man than locating a fallen contact.

I always thought that maybe Crusher had to do handywork to remove them in that movie. I can't really think they are only contacts. They look to me like little mechanized gizmos, integrated right into his ocular organ, as if they took his neural implants from his temples, and relocated them right into his eyeballs, and made miniature visors for each eye socket. That's all supposition on my part though

A camera, rather than a way to steal the imagery of the VISOR itself? Might be. But then he could have added it into Riker's beard, too. Or Worf's sash.

but they didn't have access to Worf or Riker though, and any device might get noticed more there...maybe. Plus, it might've been the plan to hack his visor, but since Soran was far more concerned with his own plot, he realized the easiest thing to do was just outfit the visor with a surveillance device, & that would be enough to get the sisters off his back. It's possible anyhow.

But why would he want to do something like that? If his contacts can give him the LSD vision we saw in "Heart of Glory", why would he fail to use that mode all of the time? It's what he wants, prefers and cannot live without. Otherwise he'd have taken either Crusher or Pulaski up on their offers to downgrade his eyes. Or RiQer, even.

Well, while it's awesome superpowery stuff, it's not very natural is it. Maybe he just started liking seeing things more traditionally, once he got a taste for it (even if it still isn't as sweet as real eyesight) and why wouldn't he choose to enjoy it, if he could still benefit from all the other perks too?
I envision a project with Data where they linked his visor to Data's Soong eyes, & Geordi could've been like "Whoa... This is kind of neat too. Ima work on adding it to my bag of tricks" lol

 

[Six of Twelve]

I always thought the entire idea of his visor was a bad one, because surely by the 24th century, they'd have had a less makeshift solution for his blindness They could have replaced whatever part of him that caused the blindness, either by getting the right parts from a donor or cloning the right parts. I did like how they had it for him in First Contact, however.

 

[Mojochi]

I always thought the entire idea of his visor was a bad one, because surely by the 24th century, they'd have had a less makeshift solution for his blindness They could have replaced whatever part of him that caused the blindness, either by getting the right parts from a donor or cloning the right parts. I did like how they had it for him in First Contact, however.

Well Kirk still had to wear old fashioned glasses, because he's allergic to the cure for his vision problem. We don't know Geordi's entire medical history. There's possibly some reason he's not eligible for transplant. Heck, there's even some thought that they have a hard time with some transplants. Picard by all rights could get a heart transplant, but doesn't. Bev strongly discouraged Worf from getting a spine transplant, & the procedure was so experimental, he nearly didn't survive it

 

[mos6507]

Once technology becomes too advanced it's no longer possible to relate because they have no more challenges to deal with in life. I felt that way about Malloy losing his leg only to have it "regrown" in that Orville episode. While we may be heading in that direction, that's not the current reality that we face. So there's now ay to have Geordi represent someone who overcame a physical limitation if they no longer exist in the future.

I mean, the way things are headed, if we really do get warp drive I suspect ships will be fully autonomous ala The Ultimate Computer. So the whole idea of needing a crew to operate as a team on a starship, all manning individual components like helm, nav, etc... is probably not the most accurate future-prediction. But thematically, it is essential to do this anyway.

 

[Six of Twelve]

The don't actually need a crew, but humans want to explore the galaxy themselves and meet alien species in person, and not sit back on Earth vicariously waiting for automated ships and probes to do it all for them. That's reason enough to have a crew.

 

[Mojochi]

I'm going to go out on a limb & say that Star Trek doesn't generally depict the most accurate prediction of our future at all

 

[Makarov]

Maybe partway through the series they could have altered the visor so that his eyes were visible. Just make it a side of the head thing instead of full on visor.