Do the people actually move apart?
And if not why are they not smacking each other
S03 E13: Why does USS Discovery inside looks like Borg cube?
- Thread starter Caeruleus
- Start date
And if not why are they not smacking each other
Do the walls move at all? How do you not run in to a wall while running? Why does matter some times leave the holodeck and sometimes not? Why is the power source separate and incompatible? Why is there any option to turn safeties off and risk crew lives?
The questions are fine. But it also goes without saying that they would have answers. Holodeck is the ultimate consumer product, designed to actively please. It will do its absolute damnedest to meet and exceed user expectations, drawing from the basically limitless resources of a starship to accomplish that. So no technology known to the Federation will be too high or exotic to be involved and included.
Forcefield treadmills, compartmentalization, inertia manipulation, transporting, matter creation and decreation and modification... It will all be there when required. No doubt there's a bit of stasis tech and perhaps even time travel tech thrown in.
We achieve greater things in terms of our current technology with our current entertainment doodads, really. Heck, much of our current tech knowhow exists because of entertainment doodads: the world would never have gotten this far in miniaturizing integrated circuits for mere ICBM targeting, Monte Carlo simulations of fission powerplants, CT analysis or the like if it weren't for the truly strategic needs of video gaming and internet porn.
Timo Saloniemi
Forcefield treadmills, compartmentalization, inertia manipulation, transporting, matter creation and decreation and modification... It will all be there when required. No doubt there's a bit of stasis tech and perhaps even time travel tech thrown in.
We achieve greater things in terms of our current technology with our current entertainment doodads, really. Heck, much of our current tech knowhow exists because of entertainment doodads: the world would never have gotten this far in miniaturizing integrated circuits for mere ICBM targeting, Monte Carlo simulations of fission powerplants, CT analysis or the like if it weren't for the truly strategic needs of video gaming and internet porn.
Timo Saloniemi
I have no doubt that they would. But it stands out when watching an episode.
Oh, for sure. Kurtzman must pay for what he has done!
Wasn't Kurtzman part of the Supreme Court, along with Bob Orci and JJ Abrams?
Oh. You mean the real one.
if it’s necessary the people doesn’t really move and an holographic screen is put between them, giving the illusion of distance.
most times matter is just holographic and can’t be brought outside, however if the computer thinks it will be taken outside it will replicate the object.
ah, yes, that was nonsensical
with safeties on some laws of physics aren’t properly emulated, doing some experiments with them on would bring foul results.
But, we are not talking experiments. We're talking random combat simulations or kayaking or what not. It's a ridiculous feature to override unless there is a clear indication to do so (it usually isn't).
Starfleet trust the computer way too much.
You need a security clearance to override them.
Unless the holodeck malfunctions again, that is.
starfleet probably employs the worst programmers in history, I’m afraid.
By the way, I rewatched Court Martial yesterday and it’s funny how editing the bridge log messes up mr Spock’s chess program. Yes, it was the 60s and computers were hard to grasp, but it’s fun if you think about the in-universe implications.
Which is what bothers me. Why should a malfunction be able to disable a safety feature that easily? Oh, look, Satan's Robot can now kill you. Whoops, our bad...
The one that always stands out to me is the computer in VOY is constantly monitoring the crew's brain waves. I mean, OK, I can get life signs but brain waves?
Because it looks "cool". Absolutely doesn't make any sense, but looks cool
I believe in this context the correct spelling is "kewl".
No. Force fields. Some is replicated matter, some are EMH style "hard light". Voyager writers lazily wanting holodeck episodes without fans complaining that the ship is supposed to be desperately reserving resources (thus as far as I know it's only true of Intrepid class ships). Drama?
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Because starfleet’s programmers are extremely bad!
I don’t remember this, what was it for?
Yeah, it's very frustrating.
From Voyager's Cathexis:
EMH: I found something, and you're not going to like it. This is Mister Paris' memory engram for the last twenty four hours. As you can see, it has a very consistent and distinctive modulation, except at thirteen fifty hours. For one minute forty seven seconds, a different memory pattern appeared. Thirteen fifty hours is also the exact moment when Mister Paris presumably tampered with navigational control. It gets worse. In addition to that, there is another disruption at twelve oh two hours, the moment when he allegedly entered the new course at the helm. I also found there's an identical disruption in Lieutenant Torres's pattern at the moment she shut down warp power. I should point out that this is a neuroelectrical signature, what I believe to be another brain wave that was superimposed on their own.
R
RichT
Guest
Legitimate questions, mostly answered in the TNG Technical Manual.
Do the walls move at all?
No, they have 3D projection technology.
How do you not run in to a wall while running?
The floor has a forcefield treadmill. When the holodeck is active you can never get near the real physical walls. This is shown on-screen in "Encounter at Farpoint" and "Ship in a Bottle" by Data standing in one spot and throwing something physical at the holodeck wall to show where it's located. He can't physically approach the wall himself because of the treadmill effect.
Why does matter some times leave the holodeck and sometimes not?
Simple items can be replicated, rather than holographically duplicated. The fact that this is seemingly the case early in TNG whereas by late DS9/VOY everything seems to be a forcefield/hologram projection suggests that older computer hardware with more limited processing capability may lead to holodecks replicating minor items as a workaround, like a gaming PC using prerendered backgrounds instead of rendering them live. Brute force approach, trading surplus power for CPU cycles.
Why is the power source separate and incompatible?
Because the Voyager production team needed a plausible reason for the crew using the holodeck continually despite the ship rationing power
Since Voyager's holodeck systems seem different to those on the Enterprise-D – the grid walls are noticeably not the same and look more complex, and the EMH has a separate computer system from the primary computer cores – we can suppose that Voyager might be using an experimental update of regular holodeck tech. Like its moving nacelles that might or might not get around the "Force of Nature" issue, it's a class-specific technological idiosyncrasy that is resolved for subsequent ships.Why is there any option to turn safeties off and risk crew lives?
Why does the warp core ejection system always fail? Why does life support regularly go down despite having seven independent backups? Why can civilians wander freely into main engineering despite the absolute havoc pressing the wrong button could unleash? Why do bridge consoles always explode like nobody in the 24th century knows what a surge protector is, and where does all the rubble come from? Welcome to the wonderful world of Treknological plot contrivances. (Sensible answer – as shown in "The Icarus Factor" and "Descent", there are times when it might be deemed necessary to override them for investigative or cultural purposes. Also, what's lethal force for Troi isn't necessarily going to be lethal force for Worf or Data, so unless the holodeck is continually scanning with advanced medical sensors for levels of physical trauma of occupants, it's likely got a blanket "this is safe for 99% of users, this isn't" setting that can be easily disabled by command crew. After all, your car will start whether you're wearing your seatbelt or not).
The same way you don't run into a wall when you're running on a treadmill - the thing you're walking on moves to cancel your movement out.
Is this your first time watching Star Trek or something?
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