so..in reality?

[RobertScorpio]

I was watching an episode of STAR TREK. They were in the briefing room and Spock had something on the table that looked like a PC or something like that. It got me thinking? We don't really know, I guess, the capabilities of the ENTERPRISE's computer on TOS...but based on where they thought we would be in the 1960s, how much further ahead, or heck closer to us, would you put the ship's computer's ability?

Rob
Scorpio

 

[Fel]

200 years

 

[Icy_Penguigo]

the Enterprise's computer was so powerful it boasted almost AN ENTIRE GIGABYTE of memory!

(Hey back in the sixties, that would have been incomprehensible! )

 

[Forbin]

What kills me is when they put a question to it and the computer says it will take something like 4 hours to correlate the information and produce an answer.

Google's a bit faster than that now.

 

[JNG]

The voice interface is certainly superior to what we have now. There's little hard data on the processing power and so forth of duotronic computers, but to me, their overall capabilities still seem comfortably (centuries) beyond what we have got. The only thing that seems rather silly is that whirring-clacking sound when the computer was working, which was of course deliberately weird or cute or something, since I don't believe anyone back then thought the Enterprise's computers were actually mechanical either.

 

[Christopher]

The only thing that seems rather silly is that whirring-clacking sound when the computer was working, which was of course deliberately weird or cute or something, since I don't believe anyone back then thought the Enterprise's computers were actually mechanical either.

Don't be so sure. "The Cage" showed the computer producing a paper printout of its findings. And the data storage devices were repeatedly referred to as "tapes."

And even if it was dramatic license, it wasn't to be "weird" or "cute," but to be accessible to an audience that had certain preconceptions and expectations about what constituted a machine. Just as modern Trek shows unrealistically depict visible phaser beams in space and show ships implausibly close together, not to be weird or cute, but to present the scene in a way that conveys meaning to an audience with certain assumptions or expectations.

Besides, it's not as if modern computers are totally silent. You can hear your computer's hard drive making noise when the computer is opening or saving a file or performing some other memory-intensive task. It's quiet, but it's there. There are moving mechanical parts inside 2008 computers. So it's not unreasonable that people in the 1960s would've believed that computers centuries in the future would have mechanical relays of some sort.

 

[GodThingFormerly]

And the data storage devices were repeatedly referred to as "tapes."

A small point, but tape libraries are still the preferred medium for large-scale data archiving.

TGT

 

[Ziz]

There's little hard data on the processing power and so forth of duotronic computers, but to me, their overall capabilities still seem comfortably (centuries) beyond what we have got.

Matter of perspective.

Star Trek: Duotronic
Intel: Core 2 Duo

Coincidence?

 

[RobertScorpio]

There's little hard data on the processing power and so forth of duotronic computers, but to me, their overall capabilities still seem comfortably (centuries) beyond what we have got.

Matter of perspective.

Star Trek: Duotronic
Intel: Core 2 Duo

Coincidence?

Would be if the president of Intel was some egotistical black dude with delusions of grandure! To bad OBAMA didn't work for Intel in the recent years, he would have fit the bill!!!

Ro

 

[Sector 7]

There's little hard data on the processing power and so forth of duotronic computers, but to me, their overall capabilities still seem comfortably (centuries) beyond what we have got.

Matter of perspective.

Star Trek: Duotronic
Intel: Core 2 Duo

Coincidence?

Would be if the president of Intel was some egotistical black dude with delusions of grandure! To bad OBAMA didn't work for Intel in the recent years, he would have fit the bill!!!

Ro

Yeah, it should've been McCain running it, then he'd have "THAT ONE" sweepin the flo fo massah. Would that make you feel better? And our computers would have wheels and cogs instead of microprocessors.
Sometimes you are funny, but not when you start with the racist, dumbass remarks.

 

[T J]

Matter of perspective.

Star Trek: Duotronic
Intel: Core 2 Duo

Coincidence?

Would be if the president of Intel was some egotistical black dude with delusions of grandure! To bad OBAMA didn't work for Intel in the recent years, he would have fit the bill!!!

Ro

Yeah, it should've been McCain running it, then he'd have "THAT ONE" sweepin the flo fo massah. Would that make you feel better? And our computers would have wheels and cogs instead of microprocessors.
Sometimes you are funny, but not when you start with the racist, dumbass remarks.

How is a black dude who thinks he's better that he is working for a major computer company racist? Sounds like he'd be doing pretty well...

Just saying!

 

[Ziz]

::: punches RobertScorpio in the face for derailing his own damn thread and turning it into a political argument. :::

 

[T J]

Ok! Ok!

Just to be helpful lemme see if I can rerail this...

When Spock goes to his pc and asked for a search it's probably not like searching Google... more like Google interconnected through out hundreds of planets... it could take time to sift thru that much data. Not sure how that addresses the clanking sounds...

 

[Sector 7]

Would be if the president of Intel was some egotistical black dude with delusions of grandure! To bad OBAMA didn't work for Intel in the recent years, he would have fit the bill!!!

Ro

Yeah, it should've been McCain running it, then he'd have "THAT ONE" sweepin the flo fo massah. Would that make you feel better? And our computers would have wheels and cogs instead of microprocessors.
Sometimes you are funny, but not when you start with the racist, dumbass remarks.

How is a black dude who thinks he's better that he is working for a major computer company racist? Sounds like he'd be doing pretty well...

Just saying!

I'll restrain myself until I hear from Robert himself. Otherwise it sounds racist and insulting.

 

[RobertScorpio]

::: punches RobertScorpio in the face for derailing his own damn thread and turning it into a political argument. :::

We have to lighten up..I actually the Mccain blurb was pretty funny too...So instead of punching me in the face, tickle my hairy armpits..at least we can both get something out of it..

Rob

 

[Sector 7]

EDIT: Sorry, Robert. I guess I overreacted to your humorous quip. I wouldn't advocate punching you even when I'm angry.

OT, I think it is really a "chicken or the egg" thing. Star Trek has inspired much of today's technology, which has caused an acceleration of technology, making Star Trek appear less advanced.
For example:
People liked the Star Trek communicators, so they made cell phones that looked like them. Now flip phones make the Star Trek communicators look less advanced. Even the flip phone is being replaced by iPhones and slider phones with full QWERTY keyboards.

The entire 1969 Apollo moon landing could have been accomplished on a pre-Pentium desktop computer. Technology is outpacing even the wildest dreams of our beloved 1960s Star Trek.

 

[RobertScorpio]

Yeah, it should've been McCain running it, then he'd have "THAT ONE" sweepin the flo fo massah. Would that make you feel better? And our computers would have wheels and cogs instead of microprocessors.
Sometimes you are funny, but not when you start with the racist, dumbass remarks.

How is a black dude who thinks he's better that he is working for a major computer company racist? Sounds like he'd be doing pretty well...

Just saying!

I'll restrain myself until I hear from Robert himself. Otherwise it sounds racist and insulting.

No racist intent...Some out there think Obama is this 'bigger than life' guy, so I played on that trying to connect him to Daystrom, who was also a 'bigger than life guy'. Didn't Daystrom create the Star Trek computers? I think he did.

I actually met Obama two years ago, right here where I work in San Diego (on a military base). He was pretty down to Earth and he actually knew about Star Trek. One of the buildings here 'doubled' as Hawaii for CRIMSON TIDE and he seemed to know that. And he said he really dug the part where Denzle was using the SCOTTY metaphor with the engineer. We all laughed about it with him...great moment...I even have a signed hat!!! So there!!

Rob

 

[RobertScorpio]

EDIT: Sorry, Robert. I guess I overreacted to your humorous quip. I wouldn't advocate punching you even when I'm angry.

OT, I think it is really a "chicken or the egg" thing. Star Trek has inspired much of today's technology, which has caused an acceleration of technology, making Star Trek appear less advanced.
For example:
People liked the Star Trek communicators, so they made cell phones that looked like them. Now flip phones make the Star Trek communicators look less advanced. Even the flip phone is being replaced by iPhones and slider phones with full QWERTY keyboards.

The entire 1969 Apollo moon landing could have been accomplished on a pre-Pentium desktop computer. Technology is outpacing even the wildest dreams of our beloved 1960s Star Trek.

i was just referring to Daystrom, who I think, created them for the enterprise. And how the two terms seemed the same, life imitating art..and would have been neat if Obama had started off in computers and had actually coined the term...believe me, no intent there. Just being funny. I apologize if anyone was offended.

Rob

 

[Sector 7]

I actually met Obama two years ago, right here where I work in San Diego (on a military base). He was pretty down to Earth and he actually knew about Star Trek. One of the buildings here 'doubled' as Hawaii for CRIMSON TIDE and he seemed to know that. And he said he really dug the part where Denzle was using the SCOTTY metaphor with the engineer. We all laughed about it with him...great moment...I even have a signed hat!!! So there!!

Rob

If Obama is elected, you can not only say, "I knew him when", but you will have a PRESIDENTIAL souvenir!

What did you do on base? I'm an old Coronado boy (yeah one of those guys).

 

[RobertScorpio]

I actually met Obama two years ago, right here where I work in San Diego (on a military base). He was pretty down to Earth and he actually knew about Star Trek. One of the buildings here 'doubled' as Hawaii for CRIMSON TIDE and he seemed to know that. And he said he really dug the part where Denzle was using the SCOTTY metaphor with the engineer. We all laughed about it with him...great moment...I even have a signed hat!!! So there!!

Rob

If Obama is elected, you can not only say, "I knew him when", but you will have a PRESIDENTIAL souvenir!

What did you do on base? I'm an old Coronado boy (yeah one of those guys).

And no..it won't end up on EBAY..LOL. I actually wear it occasionally on bowling league night. Brings out the ooooos..and ahhhhhhs.

Rob