Replicators... what can't they do?

[exalted one]

Replicators are basically just one-way transporters, aren't they?

Replicators can replicate anything that can be transported by transporter beam. A substance that disrupts the transport process would very likely disrupt the replication process as well, such substance thus being, in fact, unreplicable.

And, by this logic, latinum should be unbeamable as well.

 

[Timo]

But it isn't, apparently. Sure, we see Quark physically hauling his box of bricks around every now and then, but we also see Ferengi beaming up and down with abandon, and soon thereafter handling latinum they apparently brought with them. And Lwaxana Troi's latinum jewelry seems to travel just fine.

Probably a standard transporter is more easily disrupted than the special-purpose, "landline" version used in the replicators anyway.

A replicator might be turned into a simple transporter with enough ingenuity (the Klingon agents did this in "Visionary"), but it might take far more ingenuity to rig a transporter into a replicator. And different sets of limitations no doubt apply to the devices in the general case.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Replicators have always seemed to have trouble getting things perfectly, while transporters, presumably, gets things exactly right (no one would want to use them if you aren't rematerialized exactly the way you were before you left). My guess is that, while replicated Latinum looks fine to the naked eye, a detailed scan might detect that it was replicated (and, thus, be valueless).

 

[Shawnster]

I don't recall anything alive being replicated like living creatures.

Organic doesn't mean alive. Food is organic but no longer alive. We've seen food replicated with no problem.

Of course, it could be faux-organic. Perhaps a detailed scan would reveal it's replicated beef and not real beef.

(Or replicated cotton, etc...)

 

[c0rnedfr0g]

On TNG, didn't we sometimes see those Klingon worm food thingies on the E-D?

I can't remember if anyone stated onscreen if they were replicated or grown onboard or brought there alive or what.

 

[Timo]

Some Klingon visitors have complained that the food aboard the E-D was dead. However, when Riker ate the gagh in preparation for his exchange student week in "A Matter of Honor", it seemed to be live enough, and was probably replicated.

On that "organic" thing, strictly speaking "organic" is something based on carbon chains. Say, a plastic bag. Or most components of a modern flat TV screen. So when the Breen are said to have organic ships, it may mean that they fly in plastic ones.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Hofner]

One extreme example of things that apparently couldn't be obtained from the replicator is the DS9 ep "Empok Nor". O'Brien seemed to have quite a long list of things they needed to get from the abandoned Cardassian station.. Enough so that he divided it into three categories ranging from 'must have' to 'would be nice'.

Apparently each and every one of those items can't be replicated. I know, it's because (insert long, convoluted Rube Goldberg explanation).

But I guess a blanket reasoning is they can't replicate some alien technology, Cardassian in this case. Which means every item on O'Brien's list is beyond Federation ability to analyze and reproduce.

Robert

Edit: Now that I think about it, it's been a while since I've seen "Empok Nor". Maybe O'Brien gave a reason why he couldn't replicate the parts he needed and I forgot. If so, I'm sure someone will quickly point it out.

 

[Shawnster]

Some Klingon visitors have complained that the food aboard the E-D was dead. However, when Riker ate the gagh in preparation for his exchange student week in "A Matter of Honor", it seemed to be live enough, and was probably replicated.

On that "organic" thing, strictly speaking "organic" is something based on carbon chains. Say, a plastic bag. Or most components of a modern flat TV screen. So when the Breen are said to have organic ships, it may mean that they fly in plastic ones.

Timo Saloniemi

Nope. The Gagh was dead when Riker was eating it at the beginning. There is a later scene on the Klingon BOP where the Klingon officer tells a surprised Riker "Gagh is best when served live." Riker then proceeds to eat the Gagh.

 

[Timo]

Apparently each and every one of those items can't be replicated.

Or then replicating them is too expensive as compared with this practical alternative.

One might think that the things O'Brien and Nog should primarily have brought back would have been those components that are too big to be effectively replicated. But they couldn't really do that with a puny runabout, now could they?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[BolianAuthor]

Replicators... what can't they do?

Make me a woman who won't say no.

 

[c0rnedfr0g]

was the gagh alive that neelix served on Voyager in "prophecy" ??

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

Replicators... what can't they do?

Make me believe vegemite is edible.

 

[Python Trek]

Aren't there a couple of episodes in which certain vaccines cannot be replicated?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

One extreme example of things that apparently couldn't be obtained from the replicator is the DS9 ep "Empok Nor". O'Brien seemed to have quite a long list of things they needed to get from the abandoned Cardassian station.. Enough so that he divided it into three categories ranging from 'must have' to 'would be nice'.

Apparently each and every one of those items can't be replicated. I know, it's because (insert long, convoluted Rube Goldberg explanation).

Well, I'm sure that a replicator would have to have the 'pattern' for a thing, before being able to replicate that thing. If the replicator doesn't know what [insert names of Cardassian machine parts] are, it can't replicate them, so the crew had to go to Empok Nor to get the real things.

 

[Timo]

The replicator supposedly can reproduce complicated machinery it doesn't "understand", as in "Rivals". So patterns wouldn't be completely necessary.

However, how much good would it do O'Brien if the replicator gave him an exact replica of a broken Cardassian frammistat?

And the patterns for most spares would probably be gone, since the final-night spree of destruction when the Cardassians abandoned the station would probably have involved computer memory purges. The departing former owners didn't break everything, as they probably were 100% sure they would be returning the next week, but they wanted to inconvenience the new owners to the max; erasing the spares records would be a good trick to pull.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Anticitizen]

They can't create more replicators...

Except for DS9's self-replicating minefield.

 

[Timo]

Or the exocomps of "Quality of Life", I'd imagine. They seemed to have no problem replicating complex machinery that could then be used for creating even more complex machinery.

Theoretically, there should be nothing a replicator couldn't do. In practice, food replicators probably aren't geared up to do very demanding jobs, and industrial replicators are expensive and may work relatively slowly. Also, as mentioned, not everybody has access to every possible pattern, and some patterns may not exist at all yet. And replication isn't the answer to all possible problems, as it requires power and supposedly also raw materials (although it seems that any power will do, and porridge is just fine as raw material for positronic brains).

Timo Saloniemi