# Anything to make the world more like Star Trek



## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

In the late nineties, seeing dates in 2000 or 2001 didn't seem all that futuristic to me.  But, for some reason, seeing 2011 feels like we're about to enter the future.  So, our flying cars are missing as well as commercial flights to Luna One, the Mars Colony or one of our giant pinwheel space stations.  But smartphones are quickly turning into Star Trek tricorders and with more tablets being released over the next couple months, we will soon have our PADDs as well.

I'm sure our universal translators are coming.  Not so sure about the imminent Vulcan first contact (that might be a couple years off still).  Hopefully we won't need to have another World War before that happens. Chinese scientists recently teleported a pair of photons so transporters are a year or two away ...


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## A. Rosaria (Sep 12, 2010)

The Chinese with teleportation technology, we are all doomed.

If the desire was present we could be much more technological advanced. With the will and resources putting a base on the moon should be possible withing a decade and mars maybe two.

It seems government prefer to spend time and resources on warring instead of the advancement of humanity. One of my wishes was to go to Mars, it may not happen. 

I'm playing with the thought to go back to a university and start studying Physics. The world needs my crazy mind


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## Alle Meine Entchen (Dec 6, 2009)

in Europe they're doing a klingon opera and have sent out invites to the Klingon home planet


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## swolf (Jun 21, 2010)

Does this mean mini-skirts are on the way back?  If so, I look forward to the future with great anticipation.


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## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

swolf said:


> Does this mean mini-skirts are on the way back? If so, I look forward to the future with great anticipation.


Be careful what you wish for ...


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

Geoffrey, it's interesting that you say you hope we don't have another World War before all these innovations come to pass. Ironically, it's in wartime, that necessity truly becomes the mother of invention and the biggest leaps forward in technological advancements are made. It's amazing what people can come up with when their (and their family's) life depends on it.


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## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

Linjeakel said:


> Geoffrey, it's interesting that you say you hope we don't have another World War before all these innovations come to pass. Ironically, it's in wartime, that necessity truly becomes the mother of invention and the biggest leaps forward in technological advancements are made. It's amazing what people can come up with when their (and their family's) life depends on it.


You are, of course, correct. I think many of the advances of the 20th century are direct outgrowths of WWI, WWII and the Cold War. And we may have to have another at some point. My inner pacifist just doesn't want it ...

I would like my house to run off of a central computer with a vocal interface with its own power generation capabilities, cleaning bots and teleporter pads for deliveries. Some of that's available today and some is still needs become more commercially viable first, but I think we're on the cusp of a new advancement in technological integration into our day to day lives.


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## A. Rosaria (Sep 12, 2010)

Geoffrey said:


> You are, of course, correct. I think many of the advances of the 20th century are direct outgrowths of WWI, WWII and the Cold War. And we may have to have another at some point. My inner pacifist just doesn't want it ...
> 
> I would like my house to run off of a central computer with a vocal interface with its own power generation capabilities, cleaning bots and teleporter pads for deliveries. Some of that's available today and some is still needs become more commercially viable first, but I think we're on the cusp of a new advancement in technological integration into our day to day lives.


The house may become sentient and try to kill you.


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## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

Scalper said:


> The house may become sentient and try to kill you.


I think I've seen that movie.


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## Addie (Jun 10, 2009)

I'd love to see a food replicator and some of that cool medical equipment as well. I've been wishing for Star Trek type life since a friend forced me to watch an episode of ENT back in the early 90s.


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## A. Rosaria (Sep 12, 2010)

I've to say I felt the star trek life is what freedom reducing. They have everything and they are taken care off but all is know about them, there location, their records, everything. No real privacy, your almost expected to follow the norm.

Though I would love to have the food replicator...I'll quickly be in a shape, round.


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## Addie (Jun 10, 2009)

I've never thought about that. 
My biggest issue was how they had eliminated money. Seriously? How does that successfully work? How does it not slow down innovation? What if I want a flying Mercedes? Can I just go into the dealership and say, "I want that one!" And they give it to me? Or if the latest computer or replicator or whatever comes out, I can just go in the store and take it? And how does one qualify to get a home and where?

I wish they would have explained it better or not brought it up at all. Instead, they just occasionally said, "Oh, money? We don't use that anymore."


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

AddieLove said:


> I've never thought about that.
> My biggest issue was how they had eliminated money. Seriously? How does that successfully work? How does it not slow down innovation? What if I want a flying Mercedes? Can I just go into the dealership and say, "I want that one!" And they give it to me? Or if the latest computer or replicator or whatever comes out, I can just go in the store and take it? And how does one qualify to get a home and where?
> 
> I wish they would have explained it better or not brought it up at all. Instead, they just occasionally said, "Oh, money? We don't use that anymore."


They did occasionally refer to things like 'credits' and I wondered if by 'no money' they just meant no actual physical money - notes and coins - but that everything was done on a digital level, like we do to some extent nowadays with credit cards and online banking.


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## Addie (Jun 10, 2009)

Linjeakel said:


> They did occasionally refer to things like 'credits' and I wondered if by 'no money' they just meant no actual physical money - notes and coins - but that everything was done on a digital level, like we do to some extent nowadays with credit cards and online banking.


Oh! And perhaps by saying, "We don't have money," they were actually saying, "We don't have money _for you_ because it's all Federation system based"? Now see, that would make sense to me. Thank you, Linjeakel. Now, no one contradict her so I don't get sad again.


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## Brenda Carroll (May 21, 2009)

Scalper said:


> It seems government prefer to spend time and resources on warring instead of the advancement of humanity. One of my wishes was to go to Mars, it may not happen.
> 
> I'm playing with the thought to go back to a university and start studying Physics. The world needs my crazy mind


Money will go the way of all things obsolete, I'm afraid, but debit cards are a definite plus though they can be traced too easily. At Scalper: please do go and become a physicist. We need more of them with fresh ideas. 
Alas, 2012 looms on the Horizon and who knows what Nostradamus and the Mayans and all those other doom and gloom prophets saw in store for us...


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## stormhawk (Apr 29, 2009)

What's the first thing I thought of on seeing the thread title? 

Not the transporter, or the starships, or first contact, or even tribbles. 

Whooshy doors. 

That's what I want, whooshy doors.

And a computer that sounds like Majel Barrett.


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## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

Brendan Carroll said:


> Alas, 2012 looms on the Horizon and who knows what Nostradamus and the Mayans and all those other doom and gloom prophets saw in store for us...


As long as its not as bad as that cheesy movie


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## Brenda Carroll (May 21, 2009)

Geoffrey said:


> As long as its not as bad as that cheesy movie


Yeah, I forgot about that. I think I could do better and just die right away and not drive an RV through all that. Just too much trouble.


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## LCEvans (Mar 29, 2009)

Warp drive. If we just had warp drive, we could travel all over the galaxy and go live on other planets if things got too bad on this one. 

Linda


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## J.M Pierce (May 13, 2010)

stormhawk said:


> What's the first thing I thought of on seeing the thread title?
> 
> Not the transporter, or the starships, or first contact, or even tribbles.
> 
> ...


My wife had a Guinea Pig that looked like a tribble once.


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

stormhawk said:


> What's the first thing I thought of on seeing the thread title?
> 
> Not the transporter, or the starships, or first contact, or even tribbles.
> 
> ...


Whooshy doors and a computer that sounds like Majel Barrett would be awesome, but I could defintely do with the transporter, especially when I'm late for work .....


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## RJ Keller (Mar 9, 2009)

I was thinking about the whole "no money" thing. If you have, for example, food replicators, holograms, and other technology that take care of your daily needs, then the need for money as we know it would be greatly diminished. There would be a need, of course, to purchase those big items (in addition to housing, non-transporter transportation, etc).

Regarding the opening post, I'd love a Jean Luc Picard of my very own.


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## Maria Romana (Jun 7, 2010)

Much as I love Star Trek, in all its incarnations, I was always bothered by that whole "we've eliminated all poverty and starvation and the need for money" thing. I mean, what kind of society were they implying we had become--a George Orwellian 1984, where "Big Brother" provides all? The freedom from want comes with chains a mile long...



rjkeller said:


> Regarding the opening post, I'd love a Jean Luc Picard of my very own.


Oh, yeah, no doubt about it--Picard was a total hottie. I never got why Riker got all the chicks; he was such a cheesy sleaze-ball...

--Maria


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## Addie (Jun 10, 2009)

rjkeller said:


> Regarding the opening post, I'd love a Jean Luc Picard of my very own.


Same here.


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## stormhawk (Apr 29, 2009)

rjkeller said:


> I'd love a Jean Luc Picard of my very own.


I'm old school. I'd like a Mr. Chekov.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

To tie all of this back to the Kindle: if you'd like a couple book suggestions to give you a look at some speculations on life after technology reaches some critical point where most common human labor becomes superfluous, you might try some of Iain Banks's "The Culture" novels, such as Look to Windward, or Charles Stross's "Singularity" books, such as Singularity Sky.


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## Cliff Ball (Apr 10, 2010)

Forget Star Trek, I'm still waiting for my hoverboard and time traveling DeLorean!


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## traceya (Apr 26, 2010)

Not to get all hippie about it but the one thing I'd really like to see from Star Trek is the level of personal respect they have.  Seems to me watching the show that personal conflicts are just dealt with better on a one on one level - no flying dishes, no slamming doors just conversations and accepted differences of opinion.... Ahhh I can only dream.

Like Geoffrey I'm a bit of a pacifist, unless of course you drive too slow in the fast lane at which point I revert to Neanderthal grunting and a few choice words my mama told me a lady should NEVER use but hey... it's not Star Trek yet


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

We could all . . . make a start by . . . talking with odd pauses in . . . unexpected spots.


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## RJ Keller (Mar 9, 2009)

stormhawk said:


> I'm old school. I'd like a Mr. Chekov.


"Excuse me! We are looking for nuclear wessels."


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## traceya (Apr 26, 2010)

NogDog said:


> We could all . . . make a start by . . . talking with odd pauses in . . . unexpected spots.


LMAO - do you know my mother had the hugest crush on Shatner? I could never figure it out


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## N. Gemini Sasson (Jul 5, 2010)

About tribbles - what I don't get is all that technology and they couldn't come up with tribble birth control


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## Scheherazade (Apr 11, 2009)

cliffball said:


> Forget Star Trek, I'm still waiting for my hoverboard and time traveling DeLorean!


Well it's not a hoverboard but...

http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-08/nike-patents-mcfly-self-lacing-shoes-future


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

stormhawk said:


> And a computer that sounds like Majel Barrett.


I just want Majel Barrett!


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Geoffrey said:


> I'm sure our universal translators are coming. Not so sure about the imminent Vulcan first contact (that might be a couple years off still). Hopefully we won't need to have another World War before that happens.


Actually, according to the show "Enterprise", first contact with the Vulcans has already happened. It was in Pennsylvania in the 1950s! (seriously!) The episode is actually on Youtube here:






As part of my work, I once took a course in laboratory analysis of radioactive stuff. They tried throwing us a curve on one of the labs by having us identify an unknown that emitted positrons. When I finally figured it out, I remembered that positrons are a form of antimatter, and I sat down and grinned and said "Wow! I'm in Star Trek!"


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## terryr (Apr 24, 2010)

My last job, we had the closest gadget to Star Trek I've ever actually used/seen in use.  A 3D printer or rapid prototype machine. The engineers would send 3D CAD drawings to it, and in front of your eyes (remember that scene in Fifth Element where the machine rebuilds Leeloo from a single cell?) well, in front of your eyes, all the parts for the machines are replicated and full scale models built, some parts even could be tested. 

In plastic, true, but I'm sure the other stuff will be next.

Only problem was it didn't happen as quickly as in Star Trek.


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## LCEvans (Mar 29, 2009)

Definitely Picard over Riker. Also, Archer over Riker. And yet I named my laptop Riker. Sometimes I don't understand myself. 

Linda


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## D. Nathan Hilliard (Jun 5, 2010)

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the holodeck yet...although in the real world I wouldn't want to be the guy who has to clean it up after each time it's used.


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## JL Bryan (Aug 10, 2010)

Of course we need the Prime Directive, so that Captain Kirk can stomp all over it.


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## Alle Meine Entchen (Dec 6, 2009)

http://intertuberecords.cheezburger.com/2010/09/11/viral-music-videos-the-party-dont-spock-until-i-vulcan/
just a little something to dance to while we're thinking star trek


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## Maria Romana (Jun 7, 2010)

D. Nathan Hilliard said:


> I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the holodeck yet...although in the real world I wouldn't want to be the guy who has to clean it up after each time it's used.


 

Oh yeah, things got awfully mesy there sometimes. But as I recall, doesn't the Enterprise "clean itself"? I think Riker tells one of his many alien babes that in some episode. Though he'd say anything to...uh, well, this is a family board.


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## Tracy Falbe (Jul 4, 2010)

What I'd like to see happen from the Star Trek vision is our society progressing so we don't need money and everyone gets to do what he or she finds fulfilling. 

As for the Chinese developing transporter technology, when it happens, could they please send me some food. Ever since moving away from California last year, I've been suffering from an inhumane lack of decent Chinese food.


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## Alle Meine Entchen (Dec 6, 2009)

meromana said:


> Oh yeah, things got awfully mesy there sometimes. But as I recall, *doesn't the Enterprise "clean itself*"? I think Riker tells one of his many alien babes that in some episode. Though he'd say anything to...uh, well, this is a family board.


I vote for that one to be perfected next!


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## Valmore Daniels (Jul 12, 2010)

Great thread.

However, the one reason I don't want the world to be like Star Trek is, every couple of years, the Earth is in jeopardy of being decimated by errant probes from the 70's, insane princes who live 200 years, meglomaniac aliens, a distinct lack of whales, and irate fake gods, not to mention interplanetary civil war.

Seems like a lot of chaos in the future ...

... on second thought, it's a small price to pay for the ability to dial up an instant cup of Earl Grey.


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## traceya (Apr 26, 2010)

Valmore Daniels said:


> Great thread.
> 
> However, the one reason I don't want the world to be like Star Trek is, every couple of years, the Earth is in jeopardy of being decimated by errant probes from the 70's, insane princes who live 200 years, meglomaniac aliens, a distinct lack of whales, and irate fake gods, not to mention interplanetary civil war.
> 
> ...


And don't forget the Holodeck - that thing's like Nintendo on steroids


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