46 years ago today, the television series Star Trek was broadcast for the first time. The NASA website reviews the achievements and scientific misses in the series
In the USA, a poster was sold with the inscription "Everything I need to know about life I learned from the series 'Star Trek'."
We all know that we must search space for new life forms and new cultures and always keep the Pfizer in "shock" mode, as well as always obey the "prime order": The natural development of an alien culture should never be interfered with.
Was Star Trek a science fiction series or did it have a lot of meaningless science fiction bits? Will humans be able to do all the wonderful things we saw in the original series and the sequels of the series or is it all a high-tech fantasy that cannot be realized in reality? Will the real world get to know the worlds of infinite power in the hands of humans to travel the galaxy in a huge and spacious ship to meet exotic aliens as equals against equals?
As for the science in the Star Trek series Gene Roddenberry and the writers of the series started with the science we know and stretched it to fit a framework of amazing innovations that support the plot and entertaining stories.
Roddenberry knew basic astronomy. He knew that spaceships cannot fly faster than the speed of light and it would take decades to reach the stars, which would be boring in an hour-long series broadcast once a week. Thus he invented the space jump or space-driven leap by disrupting the space-time continuum that Einstein proved existed. Through the space jump the ship can reach distant stars within hours or days, and the story can fit into a human adventure and not stretch out beyond the lifespan.
Roddenberry tried to keep the stars realistic, but imagined humans with the ability to reach them. Roddenberry and the other writers added magic such as the ability to move from place to place in the blink of an eye using the transporter as well as medical miracles and the holodeck, but they did so in the form of equipment - powerful tools that would be developed by engineers in the future. They also upgraded the vision of what was possible, which is one of the reasons why the series was so popular.
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The writers were not scientists, so they sometimes got details wrong, for example in the episode where Dr. Cruiser and Mr. Laforge had to vent the parts of the ship they were in to put out a fire. The doctor recommended holding their breath in order to survive as much as possible in the vacuum until the air returned. But as any A diver knows, the lungs will burst and anyone under pressure will be killed instantly. The lungs cannot withstand high pressure, so humans can only survive in a vacuum if they are not holding their breath.
Although the impossible events and scientific errors were many, but Shakespeare's plays will not undergo such criticism either.
Exact science rarely lends itself to a TV adventure series. By and large, the episodes of the series are intelligently written and more close to science than any other science fiction series seen on the screen.
Star Trek attracted and excited a series of viewers regarding the development of science and engineering, and it was the only one that presented scientists and engineers in a positive way and made them role models.
Many of the systems mentioned in the series such as the Wolf 359 do not exist in reality. The writers just made them up. There were also visual effects of double stars and solar flares that were astronomically correct and also taught the viewers. The best things were the ones that accompanied the series throughout many episodes
the radios
Mobile phones are everywhere today, much more sophisticated than the voice communication systems in the series and transmit not only voice but also images and videos
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the ship's computer
The computer respectfully meets the requirements of artificial intelligence. Autopilot and navigation systems exist today - and these were the main features of the computer in the Star Trek series.
Also recognizing voice commands - a fairly common feature already reminds us of what is done in the episodes of the series. The holograms that can be produced today with the help of a computer are also not bad. It is interesting that the Internet was not foreseen by the members of the writing staff, who used large and isolated computers as was customary at the time.
Power generation using matter and antimatter
This is one of the best scientific features of the series. Mixing matter and antimatter is the most efficient way to generate power that can be used in a ship. The method of use described in the series is also reasonable. The antimatter (frozen antihydrogen) is held in a magnetic field and is not allowed to touch normal matter or an explosion occurs. This is real physics, but let's not talk about the dilithium crystals, it's imaginary.
Antimatter is produced by scientists in microscopic quantities and these are studied by physicists, but it is still impossible to produce large quantities that would be useful for fuel or power generation.
thrust engines
Today there are rocket engines based on thrust. The technology is still immature. They will be much better than chemical fueled missiles, and this is within the capability of future engineers.
Androids
Android is like a deputy to Java when it will be possible to insert an artificial intelligence system into a computer the size of a person, which will be aware of its surroundings and socially involved. Major advances in computer science are still needed, but it is not impossible.
For information on the NASA website
Exclusive to the science site: A park inspired by Star Trek will be established in Aqaba
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All the questions you asked appear in the series and can be answered:
Why only one Android:
Lieutenant Data the android in the series was created by Dr. Song, who was involved in research for many years, and Data was his climax.. The doctor disappeared and the android was found by chance..
There was even an episode in the series where a scientist from the fleet (STAR FLEET) asked for Data to be handed over to him so that he could disassemble and learn how to build more androids like him.. The problem was that his research would have damaged Data and possibly forever.. This leads to your next question, is he considered human, and so His shipmates just managed to save him: they claimed that Data is considered a unique life form, and as a result he deserves human rights (or an intelligent being), and they were summoned to a trial to determine Data's status...
In the Voyager series, they went even one step further and combined the holodeck technology (the imaging chamber that was more than holograms but turning energy into matter) and artificial intelligence to create a photonic android, which functioned as the ship's doctor (after the real one died). The doctor develops his personality and reaches a stage where he writes a program for the holodeck which is a kind of video blog in which he expresses his anger at being treated as a slave and calls for freedom... At the end of the episode photon androids are shown working in the mine and one says to the other: You should see this holodeck program...
Yes, I'm a trekker too, I admit it (-:
The idea behind "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" is a parody of the "Encyclopedia Galactica", written by Asimov and Carl Sagan. It is true that an attempt was made there to define the hitchhikers as a supportive and resourceful community, but there is still a difference between those who come to the directory's offices and write it, and those who read it.
Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy predicted the Internet
As the guide himself that Arthur Dent carried with him.
and even wireless.
Android:
1)
It can be built even if the computer running it will be much larger than the Android body.
Only the part that communicates with the computer should be placed in the Android body.
The artificial intelligence system can be on the ship separately from the android.
2)
Why only one Android?
Why not a number of androids to do all the hard and dangerous jobs?
And by the way:
Is the android considered a person?
Will the moral standards of humanity allow a living, talking, thinking android to be treated as someone who can be sacrificed for the purpose of performing difficult and dangerous tasks?
It's so tragic to claim that Rodenberry invented the space jumps, as if it wasn't a familiar trick of MDB writers thirty years (at least) before.
It's quite fortunate that the authors of MDB did not foresee the full impact of the Internet. If they had predicted and convincingly predicted the attack that the music, film, press, retail, education industries, and a host of tyrants and governments all over the world would be subjected to, surely the representatives of all these entities would This would sit in every committee that defines standards for the Internet and peek behind the back of every anonymous developer before he turns into Tim Berners Lee in order to thwart Some kind of coup that will hurt their industry.
Despite this there are a number of interesting predictions, such as the forums and their influence in the book "Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card. It is also interesting to read the book "Hastelkarnot" by Roger Zilazny. Cyberpunk literature as a whole was very concerned with the impact of the computer revolution on human society.
No. Other articles were published on the subject.
The article was published before, wasn't it?
The food replicators are a more advanced version of XNUMXD printers, already today they are working on XNUMXD printing of living cells
Thanks. Indeed, I had the feeling that the terminology is not who knows what accurate, at least does not match those of the translators of the series books
I did not have time to check.
my father
The first paragraph is incorrect in terms of terminology.
Instead: "We all know that we must look for new life and civilizations in space and always keep the Pfizer in a charged state, as well as always answer to the primary laws",
It would be more accurate to write: "We all know that we must search in space for new life forms and new cultures
And to always keep the Pfizer in "shock" mode, as well as always to obey the "prime order": never interfere with the natural development of an alien culture.
Trucky is heavy, that's how it is...
Regarding writers who predicted the Internet - there are a lot of them. For example, google the string (without hyphens) - Eli Ashad predicted the Internet - and you will discover a wealth of material on the subject.
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Don't be short of faith.
Scientists of Jules Verne's time also thought that his ideas were impossible (a submarine, a trip to the moon,...) and Avi Blizovsky already listed several ideas that were realized and more.
The Internet is not only web pages, it is also social networks and forums.
I don't remember reading anything like that in the Madab, and this is what makes all the old Madab books unreliable these days.
To some extent Arthur C. Clark foresaw a small segment when he invented for the book and the film A Space Odyssey the newspaper that the hero of the story, Floyd, reads on his way to the moon. It is actually a screen on which headlines and pictures appear and by clicking on them you can read the entire article. But Clark didn't go all the way. When Floyd arrived on the moon to check out the mysterious monolith that was uncovered there, he entered the office and there he heard the familiar ticking of the typewriters.
Is there a science fiction writer who predicted the Internet?
In the next generation, there was also an imaging room, I don't remember what it was called
But today, through virtual reality, you can get a little closer to this direction