Paper in Star Trek

[uniderth]

It has been noted by some that paper was used in the Pilot of Star Trek. I think it is interesting that we are currently developing electronic paper.

http://www.engadget.com/2014/03/27/sony-13-inch-digital-paper-e-ink/

Star trek was certainly ahead of its time when it depicted paper used on a futuristic spaceship.

I also liked Firefly's depiction of electronic paper. It was a nice touch.

 

[Timo]

We have no idea what was used in the pilots of both TOS and TNG, except that it was flat, flexible, and capable of being written on. Might have been seaweed or cheddar, to be "recycled" right after the message was transferred. Might have been 20th century paper.

With replicator access, it would be difficult to invent economic, practical or ethical reasons against the use of any material so far used as a writing surface. Electronic paper sounds pretty unlikely, though: the whole point of printing messages on a physical sheet in TNG "Encounter at Farpoint" was to make the transfer of information maximally "dumb" and therefore less likely to be hacked by the powerful enemy (a wasted effort, as the heroes hadn't yet realized the enemy was actually omnipotent!).

Interestingly, while we saw paper, we never saw pens. Why bother to go "dumb" with the paper when the actual message still supposedly exists in hackable electronic form in the printers that paint the letters?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Albertese]

We know that conventional paper and fountain pens do exist in the 24th Century as Jake uses them to write his novel in "The Muse." The alien insisted he write on tangible media, like a painter using brush and canvas. But it does seem to be a really uncommon practice. We also learn that Jake's spelling is terrible, probably a consequence of a society growing up with automated spell-checkers as the norm.

(I bet my son, recently turned 6 and learning to read, will likely also grow up with terrible handwriting and poor spelling thanks to the advance of technology.)

--Alex

 

[Tosk]

And the Female Changeling uses a pen to sign the peace treaty. Ziyal seems to work on paper too, with brushes.

 

[mos6507]

The paper used in The Cage was basically the equivalent of a punched-card or teletype output. I'd hardly consider that ahead of its time. More of an anachronism.

 

[Timo]

Well, paper of all types would be. And electric paper most of all. Why should "live" writing appear on an object that is so inconveniently large and flexes annoyingly?

Yes, the eye can scan several lines of text rapidly, and benefits from going back and forth on it, so it's advantageous to give it access to more than one line at a time. But even if this means that fairly conventional "paper size" should be used (it's still in use in physical books in the 24th century - or were all of the books we see antiquities, including How to Advance Your Career Through Marriage?), thin and flexible sounds silly. Comfortable to hold and rigid (at least while the reading is going on) ought to be superior, and they already have PADDs.

(Do those fold down when not in use? They could.)

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Green Shirt]

It has been noted by some that paper was used in the Pilot of Star Trek.

Deleted lines from the script -

Crewman: "The message faded at that point, sir." (hands report to Pike).

Pike: (runs his fingers across the report) "This isn't paper, its some kind of metal." (hands it back to crewman).

Crewman: "No, sir. Its paper."

 

[uniderth]

It has been noted by some that paper was used in the Pilot of Star Trek.

Deleted lines from the script -

Crewman: "The message faded at that point, sir." (hands report to Pike).

Pike: (runs his fingers across the report) "This isn't paper, its some kind of metal." (hands it back to crewman).

Crewman: "No, sir. Its paper."

Pike: I distinctly ordered seaweed or cheddar!

 

[WarpFactorZ]

Paper has existed as a writing medium for thousands of years. It vanishes over the next couple hundred... why?

 

[Ithekro]

Vanish is not the correct word. Become uncommon due to computers being easy to use and write directly on makes paper redundant for everyday use on a starship.

Now there are exceptions. Robin Lefler has paper cards with her rule on them.

Some people still like books with paper.

There is bound to be someone who still has use of post-it notes.

And there are some people who like to wade up paper when they are frustrated with their writing in the 24th century.

Also there is still arts that require paper. Including calligraphy.

 

[Timo]

Paper has existed as a writing medium for thousands of years. It vanishes over the next couple hundred... why?

For the same reasons paper has vanished so many times already?

We have had paper in the current sense for about a hundred years. Before that, paper made of pulp was a much different and inferior product that will all be gone in a few more centuries due to its poor quality. Before that, it was a slightly better product, but a bit too expensive to see widespread use, and that one vanished because the cheaper stuff totally replaced it. Before that, paper wasn't made of pulp, but a succession of other materials that all are gone today. Claiming that the history of paper goes back thousands of years is a bit like saying that the history of baseball caps does. Sure, people wore things on their heads before, but the connection is flimsy at best and the specificity implied is certainly false.

The concept of drawing letters on a flat surface by hand (or by a hand-analogous machine such as a laser printer), and enjoying the fact of them remaining there until the material itself fails, might go on for a few centuries still. But I seriously doubt it will. It is only today that we have obtained an alternative to it - but now that we have it, this calligraphy-scribbling stuff is already beginning to look pretty awkward and unattractive.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[uniderth]

To be fair, the random access of a book still had advantages over the linear access of a pdf.

 

[scotpens]

. . . We have had paper in the current sense for about a hundred years.

Paper as we know it today was invented by the Chinese in the 2nd century B.C., and cheap paper made from wood pulp has been around since the mid-19th century.

 

[T'Girl]

In an episode of Stargate, a computer had taken over a society (fresh idea), and it was changing digital historical records as needed.

Danial Jackson discovered the truth when he when through old legal documents, because the societies lawyers insisted on using paper contracts.

 

[GSchnitzer]

We have no idea what was used in the pilots of both TOS and TNG, except that it was flat, flexible, and capable of being written on. Might have been seaweed or cheddar, to be "recycled" right after the message was transferred. Might have been 20th century paper.

With replicator access, it would be difficult to invent economic, practical or ethical reasons against the use of any material so far used as a writing surface. Electronic paper sounds pretty unlikely, though: the whole point of printing messages on a physical sheet in TNG "Encounter at Farpoint" was to make the transfer of information maximally "dumb" and therefore less likely to be hacked by the powerful enemy (a wasted effort, as the heroes hadn't yet realized the enemy was actually omnipotent!).

Interestingly, while we saw paper, we never saw pens. Why bother to go "dumb" with the paper when the actual message still supposedly exists in hackable electronic form in the printers that paint the letters?

Timo Saloniemi

We saw a pen (well, what would appear to be a pen) in "The Cage:"

There's also underlining present in the report on Dr. Dehner. It refers to her recent assignment to the Aldeberon [sic] Colony. Presumably that was more recent than thirteen years ago.

So, if pens and paper have fallen into disuse in the Star Trek universe, it would seem to be a fairly recent development.

 

[Green Shirt]

^ And isn't that a blue marker on the "book" in front of the transporter chief? It looks like a Sharpie (which came out in 1964, interestingly enough).

 

[GSchnitzer]

^ And isn't that a blue marker on the "book" in front of the transporter chief? It looks like a Sharpie.

Maybe. I think that's just the cap of the pen that's in use. Hard to say.

I think it needs its own thread so we can debate it for ten pages.

 

[Green Shirt]

I think it needs its own thread so we can debate it for ten pages.

We can do better than ten pages. Count me in!

Anyway, the marker cap appears to be a lighter blue than the pen. Plus, it seem larger in diameter.

 

[scotpens]

. . . There's also underlining present in the report on Dr. Dehner. It refers to her recent assignment to the Aldeberon [sic] Colony. Presumably that was more recent than thirteen years ago.

So, if pens and paper have fallen into disuse in the Star Trek universe, it would seem to be a fairly recent development.

Apparently they also still use mechanical typewriters with monospaced fonts -- and they still have trouble with spelling!

(To be fair, whoever typed that up got only one letter wrong in "Aldebaran.")

 

[uniderth]

Maybe Aldebaron is a different place than Aldebaran.