Today we boldly go where no man has gone before to tell you that Star Trek technology predicted today's devices. Don't believe me? Well, go ask Cortana or Siri to search for Star Trek and think about the fact that a computer just obeyed your voice command.
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| A picture of Transparent Aluminum |
Here comes your crash course in Star Trek plot, in case you clicked this and never watched the old or new Star Trek movies and TV shows. Captain James Kirk is the captain of the starship Enterprise in the mid 22nd to late 24th century, where the plot then features Captain Picard. Their mission is to explore space. The introduction says it all. Read the narrated introduction below and you pretty much have the gist of the show and movies, give or take smaller plot points. It started with very little budget, and now we still love it, only now it has a budget that makes the costumes look less like the cast all went to goodwill.
The Technology
The characters on the show communicated with flip phone communicators, talked to their computers to command them to compute, used portable memory discs, used wireless headsets, used Ultrasound technology, walked through automatic doors, communicated with facetime-like systems to other ships, consulted their GPS, and used biometrics to track health. That isn't even all they did that we can do today. I forgot to add tablet computers, tractor beams, transparent aluminum, and bionic eyes for the blind. Oh, and did I mention tricorders, badge communicators, hyposprays, replicators, cloaking devices, Google glass, universal real-time translators, and diagnostic beds?
This could be explained by the inspired scientists that loved this show and took it as an invitation to make these devices. Sometimes, though, we didn't even realize we could replicate an older dream, like when transparent aluminum happened. This TV show started in the 1960s, around 1966. We walk around with cell phones and touch screens today and think nothing of it, but in 1960 we were far from touch screens.
Real Gadgets
Some of the ones you might not know, the less obvious ones that don't have homes in our pockets, will now be explained. Captain Picard could order his earl grey tea hot with a food replicator. While it may not be up to tea, we can print other food.
Another thing that may be a little foreign, but only a bit, is that alien languages were translated in real-time, without a human translator. This is why all the audience ever heard was English, despite several races of aliens being on the show. There is an app for this now.
Tricorders scan for geological, biological, or meteorological anomalies. These do exist today, and one was built at McMaster University in Ontario.
In this vein of thinking, I also introduce you to the holodeck, also known as virtual reality in one room. Project Holodeck created a fictional world through VR goggles.
Tractor beams, which are invisible and pull a ship, are actually in progress and may be used in a NASA mission if successful. NASA has also suggested that warp drive is possible.
This one may "stun" (yeah, bad pun, I know) you, but there is a gun similar to a phaser that has existed since the Iraq War. It is called a dazzler and it sends electromagnetic radiation in pulses to stop anyone in their tracks.
Unfortunately, you can't beam out and into work, and for good reason. They have only tried anything close to it with small cells, which copy to the other place but kill the original cells. Safely beaming is not an option, not yet.
Do you hate needles? We have a solution for you! Hypospray, which sprays medication into the skin. It is jet-injection and is less painful than needles.
Transparent aluminum requires some explanation. It is lighter than armor and stronger than bullet-proof glass. It is known as ALON. The Airforce is testing it for windows and canopies. It is the first picture you see in this blog, in case you wanted a visual of it.
There is a VISOR that allows one of the characters, Geordi, to see, though he is blind. VISOR stands for "visual instrument and sensory organ replacement". It is possible to get close to this in medical times today. Similar things do exist. You could not pass a driving test, but you could avoid the use of a seeing-eye dog. They are called bionic eyes.
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| Geordi and his VISOR |
So, if you truly want a Spock funeral, you could have one. Torpedo-coffins, like the one Spock was torpedoed from, have been invented. You may not be able to buy one yet, but it is real.
Today teleconferences (no, not Zoom) are possible. You can legitimately have the illusion of being in the room with all your coworkers while all being separate in your own spaces. (Given the world right now, this is kind of useful for those who opt-out of in-person meetings, but I'd imagine it might be just as exhausting as Zoom calls are.)
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