March 16, 2004

You can thank Star Trek for your cell phone. Can transporters and tricorders be too far off? The answer is yes, they can, but it's an interesting article anyway.
posted by Koko 20 years ago
  • This article grossly over-simplifies. I have to disagree that StarTrek was responsible for cell phones -- which have been around at least since the comic strip Dick Tracy, (including wee TV screens on wristwatches. In fact, many of the things we are seeing now were foreshadowed in Tom Swift, Jules Verne, etc.
  • I'd agree that the article oversimplifies. A mobile phone is a basically obvious advancement of a normal phone - they would have been invented as soon as technology allowed, and basically they were. (And a star trek communicator is barely any different from a two way radio, anyway, and they had those in the war, didn't they?) To appreciate how far ahead of its time "Star Trek" was, consider that in 1964... And yet, it was quite a long way behind Science Fiction novels in terms of ideas and the like. If Star Trek was ahead of its time, what about Arthur C Clarke? Or HG Wells and Jules Verne? But, I'd rather have this articles optimism than the sneering and pessimism a couple of years ago when we finally reached 2001. It seemed to be a favourite of newspapers and tv shows to pinpoint how rubbish 2001 was because its technological predictiosn hadn't come exactly true (even though, except for HAL, the technology shown in it is all available now, to a certain extent).
  • yep, beeswacky, probably. but although those strips / novels did anticipate the technology they didn't really live to see the tech catch up with them. star trek writers have had to work awfully damn hard to keep their future looking futuristic. i kinda like the quandry the new Enterprise series has put itself in; it needs to be technologically "behind" the original series, yet the special effects are so much better... and tom swift? wow. hadn't thought of ol' tom in a while. i don't recall reading any of the books, but i may have. mostly i remember the jokes about the writing style. ("no, you can't have any of my lobster" tom said shellfishly...) screw star trek technology. we need star WARS technology! where's my lightsaber? why can't we make a lightsaber?
  • This post would be interesting if I could currently have sex with a collection of virtual cocubines on the holodeck, until then, zzzzzz.
  • except for HAL, the technology shown in it is all available now, to a certain extent *backs out of room full of people in suspended animation, to a certain extent*
  • except for HAL, the technology shown in it is all available now, to a certain extent *backs out of room full of people in suspended animation, to a certain extent* Oh, fuck, yeah. I'd forgotten that. I think I'll shut up now.
  • We do have cryogenic freezing, we just don't have a way to wake you up yet. Which doesn't matter to you, as you're already frozen. Be a shock to wake up in 3023 with someone saying "We've honored our contract. Good luck." though
  • Free Bender Robot with Every CryoTreatment
  • as you're already frozen Another word for this is "dead".
  • Did anyone else notice the part about Star Trek being 40 years old this year? Oh, and nicely played, Wolof. Both times.
  • Star Trek isn't 40 until 2006. The first episode aired in September of 1966 - that's when the anniversaries are dated from. Not that I know that because I'm a huge trekkie who was there at Toronto City Hall celebrating the 30th anniversary ...(looks around shiftily) Just be glad history isn't really following Star Trek - because we were supposed to have World War III a few years ago.
  • And genetically engineerined super men. Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!