Whatever happened to the Genesis technology?
- Thread starter Gingerbread Demon
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^Even retired Starfleet officers may still have pull within certain circles. And as Marcus had risen to the rank of admiral by 2258, it's likely he joined Starfleet in the primary universe, as well--although his involvement with Section 31 wouldn't necessarily have happened.
--Sran
--Sran
But by the Section 31 argument we can also be sure information on the Genesis tech does still exist - in the Section 31 archive.
Banning the whole thing and erasing it from history would be paranoia comparable to the ban on genetic enhancement, which is canon but a bit silly really.
Anyway, regardless of whether the Marcus-developed tech survived, I imagine others were also working on terraforming techniques. By TNG-era there may in fact be something comparable to the Genesis device in common use, but without the accompanying problems.
We see a terraforming project on a supposedly lifeless world in the early part of TNG. If they had Genesis, they don't have needed the slow process they were using and would never have discovered a new lifeform there that thinks of humans as "ugly bags of mostly water".
But technically that is what humans are..
It was a Area 51 project.
Would the Federation simply abandon a project with such promise because of a single failure? The life filled cave inside the planetoid didn't explode so that result isn't a given.
Technically we're ugly?
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No, it's a Hanger 13 project.
Did Tuvok not state on some episode that GENESIS would've, indeed, worked had it been used as intended? It only presented a problem because of the way Khan employed it. And that protomatter wasn't the wrong approach, after all ...
But what was the problem with the way Khan deployed it? Because he didn't use it on a planet? Because there was living matter and bits of starship mixed in? Do they actually know what specifically caused the problem? If they apparently never tried it again, Tuvok was making an estimation.
Even if it had been deployed properly, Saaviks reaction to the protomatter suggests it still wouldn't have been looked at eagerly. Even if it didn't make the planet blow up, it might have caused its own problems that we just never got the chance to see.
Even if it had been deployed properly, Saaviks reaction to the protomatter suggests it still wouldn't have been looked at eagerly. Even if it didn't make the planet blow up, it might have caused its own problems that we just never got the chance to see.
I don't recall the specifics, at this time, but you're right about the ends not justifying the means in other scientist's eyes, with regard to the use of Protomatter. And Harve Bennett was a television producer, not a scientist, so GENESIS was never going to be described in any theoretical terms that would hold water, no matter how detailed his screenplay(s) got. And scientific advisers are only useful in terms of how their personal knowledge serves the plot. So, you get things like "protomatter" thrown in to contain the idea, because nobody else in-universe is ever going to get the device. I'm actually surprised it ever got a passing mention again, but that's television for you.
I recall in the ST3 novelization that Saavik and David, prior to starting their survey of the Genesis planet, revist the Genesis cave and discover that it's all screwed up as well, implying that the entire Genesis process was hampered by the use of protomatter. Not sure if that was an idea from an earlier version of the script, or if the adaption author added that detail.
My confusion about VOY and Genesis was the fact that there was an episode where Voyager encountered a nebula of protomatter (!). This coupled with the fact that I was vaguely aware of Tim Russ' involvement in the Genesis Wave audiobook. However, I did find the source of my mis-information, and wouldn't you just know it? It's TNG related. I looked up protomatter once and the part that stuck with me is bolded, here, in this exerpt:
^^^^ Ah so Genesis would indeed work if it was used as intended. On lifeless planets or Moons. So again why did the Federation dump it like a hot potato?
^It may have had something to do with the fact that the Klingons were threatening war because of Kirk's actions, or because the sequence of events surrounding Reliant's search for a test-site resulted in the escape of a madman from exile, the deaths of three Starfleet captains, the theft of two Federation starships, the destruction of three starships, and the death of a Klingon crew. Had the Federation tried to use the device again after TWOK/TSFS, the Klingons would never have stood for it.
--Sran
--Sran
Because it was a hot potato as soon as the Klingons found out about it. As David, Spock, and McCoy mentioned, it could be perverted into a terrible weapon. The Klingons saw it mostly as just that. A Weapon. A weapon that can destroy any planet and remake it in the Federation's image. It could also destroy a nebula and make a planet and had the explosive output to threaten a starship. Truly a weapon of mass destruction.
That is why the Federation dumped it like a hot potato. It was one.
On top of that the design team of it was all murdered aside from Carol Marcus, who may not have the knowledge to make a new one without her team. Or at least not easily. By the end of the crisis, Genesis had cost the Federation three starships and a research team, a newly formed planet, A delay in the completion of Excelsior, the Federation's reputation, and relations with the Klingon Empire. Their net gain was a captured Klingon Bird of Prey, several dozen dead augments and Klingon enemies, and a side effect of saving Earth from a probe sent to find out why all the whales were missing. Aide from the side effect of Kirk and company being the right place at the right time to save Earth, the gains were far outweighed by the lose of three starships and the research team. A saving grace would be the the crew of Reliant lived (mostly) and the most of the crew on Enterprise lived. Grissom was not so lucky.
That is why the Federation dumped it like a hot potato. It was one.
On top of that the design team of it was all murdered aside from Carol Marcus, who may not have the knowledge to make a new one without her team. Or at least not easily. By the end of the crisis, Genesis had cost the Federation three starships and a research team, a newly formed planet, A delay in the completion of Excelsior, the Federation's reputation, and relations with the Klingon Empire. Their net gain was a captured Klingon Bird of Prey, several dozen dead augments and Klingon enemies, and a side effect of saving Earth from a probe sent to find out why all the whales were missing. Aide from the side effect of Kirk and company being the right place at the right time to save Earth, the gains were far outweighed by the lose of three starships and the research team. A saving grace would be the the crew of Reliant lived (mostly) and the most of the crew on Enterprise lived. Grissom was not so lucky.
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