Registered: 02/03/06
Posts: 6799
Loc: Gateway to Columbia Gorge
As we trekkies lament the death of Leonard Nimoy, a professor of meteorology at the University of Washington was inspired to compare Star Trek's technology used by Mr. Spock to what we actually have in 2015.
Of course, you remember the scene in one of the Star Trek movies where Kirk is climbing a sheer cliff (El Cap? I'm an easterner and non-climber), Spock surprises him wearing some jet-shoe things, then catches him when he falls. I'm still waiting for the stuff from the next scene, around the campfire - some sort of pad that doesn't need a sleeping bag, no tent, no bulky pack. I want their gear.
Of course, I'm still waiting for my flying car from the 50's...
Interesting. We have surpassed quite a bit of Star Trek tech with some exceptions. That "warp" thing escapes us still. We can't get weather briefings on any planet, anywhere, at the touch of a button. An Iphone as combined the power of a communicator and tricorder with the right apps. LOL I have a Enterprise manual around here somewhere and all the schematics show discrete electronics including transistors. Micro surface mount circuitry wasn't even a though back then.
Let's see: doors that open when you walk up to them, medical scanners that let a doctor diagnose you without cutting you open, little devices you can wear/carry that let someone pinpoint your location, computers you can talk to (who have vaguely Trek-ish names like Siri), the ability to talk to someone while you watch them on a screen (Facetime) - and let us not forget the miracle of polyester clothing!
Yeah, it's the Flying Cars all over again. Of course, if we could beam, then getting from one end of the AT to the other wouldn't be a challenge any more...
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