Things Star Trek got right, things it got wrong, & things yet to be.

[msbhaven]

I have a blog I'm trying to get rolling and I was thinking about posting a new entry with this idea as the topic. Since it's a relatively new thing for me that not a lot of people read yet or comment on I thought I would post here to get some ideas for discussion of the topic. So here are a couple of my thoughts on what Star Trek got right, what they got wrong, and what remains to be seen.

Things they got right:

Automatic doors.
This is what got me thinking about this as I was walking out of Target yesterday. When I was a very small child in the 70s automatic doors were quite rare and they all worked on a pressure plate principle. In the 60s when Star Trek first came on the scene they were almost unheard of outside of elevators. While they aren't quite as common as what you see in Star Trek they HAVE become so ubiquitous as to be just another part of the landscape that most of us don't give a thought to.

Things they got wrong:

The future history of space flight.
By the early 20th century we were supposed to be sending out deep space sleeper ships with crews frozen by cryonics. Didn't happen. Not only are we not even close to that we haven't even gone back to the moon at this point. I think this was a symptom of the optimism of space exploration in the 60s. Everybody thought the sky was no longer the limit and that we would be on Mars and beyond at this point. That's not even close to reality unfortunately though.

Thinks that might come to pass:
Medical scanning devices that fit in the palm of your hand. A lot of the scanning tech we see in a medical tricorder exist today, but in most cases it fills a whole room. It's easy to see science solving that problem within the next hundred years. The overwhelming tech trend of the the last 50 years has been smaller and less expensive with more power. An MRI or CAT scan device that fits in the palm of your hand and is available for a couple of thousand seems like something that would be within reach in our lifetime.

So share your thoughts and let me know what you think ST got right, got wrong, and might come to pass in our life time.

Ashlee

[fred41]

remember the injection gun that McKoy uses instead of a needle...they have something like that ...a friend of mine was a diabetic and he used something like that. It used pressure to shoot the medication through the skin instead of a needle.

[BellaBellucci]

remember the injection gun that McKoy uses instead of a needle...they have something like that ...a friend of mine was a diabetic and he used something like that. It used pressure to shoot the medication through the skin instead of a needle.

I don't know what it's called in real life, but on the show it's called a 'hypo-spray.'

Great topic! How about the TNG episode called Darmok? The alien that fought alongside Picard showed his a slideshow of his family pictures on a handheld device that looks suspiciously like every smartphone I've ever seen.

~BB~

[Merkurie]

Remember the disks they used to store information for the computer -- got that
Tricorder -- basically got that
Giant flat panel displays -- so got that
Communicators -- so 1990s
Women in command of things -- check
Russians serving on spaceships with Americans -- check

[msbhaven]

I don't know what it's called in real life, but on the show it's called a 'hypo-spray.'

Great topic! How about the TNG episode called Darmok? The alien that fought alongside Picard showed his a slideshow of his family pictures on a handheld device that looks suspiciously like every smartphone I've ever seen.

~BB~

An excellent example. Mobile communication was one thing Star Trek really nailed!!! The first communicators looked like the early flip phones, and had about the same capabilities. The TNG communicators could be considered equivalent to blue tooth technology, and the Ipod/Smart Phone looking device is a good catch too.

[seamonkey]

In the Star Trek canon, we should be about to fight World War III with nuclear weapons right about now. Could still happen!

Though cell phones emulate communicators, they are reliant on a network of cell towers that provide power to amplify and convey the signals, which the Trek communicators do not (they are self-powered).

In the original series, data was transferred by "tapes" on little square cards, though the later series upgraded these to be more in keeping with evolving computer technology. The later series also featured touch screen interfaces rather than the buttons and switches of the original series, another match to what we have now in iphones and ipads, etc.

It's important to know that Roddenberry was a liberal idealist, and some call the Star Trek world a socialist utopia. As I am also of such political persuasion, that is one part of the appeal of all the Star Trek series for me. No money, almost everything is free, people work toward self-betterment and for that of others, no internal wars, one big group hug singing Kumbaya.

Plus Uhuru in that hot mini skirt uniform! She gave me a lot of boners!

[msbhaven]

In the Star Trek canon, we should be about to fight World War III with nuclear weapons right about now. Could still happen!

Though cell phones emulate communicators, they are reliant on a network of cell towers that provide power to amplify and convey the signals, which the Trek communicators do not (they are self-powered).

In the original series, data was transferred by "tapes" on little square cards, though the later series upgraded these to be more in keeping with evolving computer technology. The later series also featured touch screen interfaces rather than the buttons and switches of the original series, another match to what we have now in iphones and ipads, etc.

It's important to know that Roddenberry was a liberal idealist, and some call the Star Trek world a socialist utopia. As I am also of such political persuasion, that is one part of the appeal of all the Star Trek series for me. No money, almost everything is free, people work toward self-betterment and for that of others, no internal wars, one big group hug singing Kumbaya.

Plus Uhuru in that hot mini skirt uniform! She gave me a lot of boners!

In Star Trek cannon we should have already gone through the Eugenics Wars AND World War III. Thank God genetically engineered supermen have not tried to enslave humanity and the bombs haven't been dropped yet.

Actually cell phones rely on cell towers for signals NOT power. Their power is either self contained or is drawn from an AC or DC adapter. Communicators don't use a cell tower network it's true but you can get satellite phones that do not require a cell network as well. Obviously they aren't THAT common but then you better believe the US Military has plenty of them and that's really what we are being shown in Star Trek for the most part, a military organization (protest of peaceful exploration on a weekly basis not withstanding). A communicator does have a somewhat limited range, and requires either another communicator near by or a larger transmitting receiving station to operate. Many models of cell or satellite phone DO have direct unit to unit local communication ability (just like the old walkie talkies). The only real difference I can see in the Star Trek communicators is that they might have a longer range and more ability to punch through atmospheric disturbances or jamming (of course the things failed on an almost weekly basis as a convenient plot device).

The real breakthrough in the Star Trek Universe is subspace communication. We aren't even close to anything remotely like that.

Yes that's the problem with trying to model future tech. The future keeps look different, then what we imagined it would.

I'm not going to discuss the political intent, ideals or beliefs behind Star Trek in this thread. That kind of thing always devolves back in to a commentary on present day politics, AND that ALWAYS seems to devolve in to a naming calling shouting match. I try to avoid political discussions at all cost these days.

Ashlee

[PomonaCA]

I think if liberalism didn't dominate the political landscape during the 1960's and for a good part of the 70's and didn't exist today as a recessive part of the American psyche, we would be on Mars by now. But everyone is so fucking worried about insulting a species or God forbid another country that we're sitting around like a bunch of women trying to be liked by everyone.

[seamonkey]

I'm not going to discuss the political intent, ideals or beliefs behind Star Trek in this thread. That kind of thing always devolves back in to a commentary on present day politics, AND that ALWAYS seems to devolve in to a naming calling shouting match. I try to avoid political discussions at all cost these days.

Yes, I see what you mean about devolving already. I'm sorry I mentioned it.

When you think about science fiction and Star Trek in particular, it's almost like the future predicts the present, or what's just ahead.

Here's a question: why does the warp drive give out every time someone gets so much as a hangnail?

Yes, yes, it's just a literary device to create tension, but I always wondered about that.

And one more: why do the characters in the 24th Century all have 20th Century hobbies? I know, another literary device to give viewers things to relate to the characters so they don't seem too "alien."

Here's something to consider: what will English (or any language) actually sound like in 400 years? If you think about what it was like 400 years ago (16th and 17th centuries, Shakespeare's time), you can sort of extrapolate into the future. I'm guessing it would be mostly understandable to us today, though it would take a lot of concentration, and there would be many slang and vernacular additions, corruptions, and other changes made in the centuries in between.

[alpha2117]

Yes, I see what you mean about devolving already. I'm sorry I mentioned it.

When you think about science fiction and Star Trek in particular, it's almost like the future predicts the present, or what's just ahead.

Here's a question: why does the warp drive give out every time someone gets so much as a hangnail?

Yes, yes, it's just a literary device to create tension, but I always wondered about that.

And one more: why do the characters in the 24th Century all have 20th Century hobbies? I know, another literary device to give viewers things to relate to the characters so they don't seem too "alien."

Here's something to consider: what will English (or any language) actually sound like in 400 years? If you think about what it was like 400 years ago (16th and 17th centuries, Shakespeare's time), you can sort of extrapolate into the future. I'm guessing it would be mostly understandable to us today, though it would take a lot of concentration, and there would be many slang and vernacular additions, corruptions, and other changes made in the centuries in between.

Actually Blade Runner probably got that right in a way. The streetspeak is a mix of languages. If you watch Hindi movies you regularly pick up English words spread through common conversation. In all likelyhood english will remnain the language of commerce worldwide so it will become the Human language but Hindi and other Asian dialects from places like China will start to slip in as India and China become economic powerhouses over the next 100 years. English is full of German, French and Spanish words now and in all likelyhood will have more slang plus Asiatic terms spiced through it over the next few hundred.