# Ethical or social problems caused by Star Trek tech **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** star-trek-paramount\ **Created:** [April 10, 2021, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethical-or-social-problems-caused-by-star-trek-tech/939759 "2021-04-10T17:56:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2021, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethical-or-social-problems-caused-by-star-trek-tech/939759/61 "2021-04-20T18:48:27Z")
I don’t think they said there _was_ an “obesity problem” in the _Star Trek_ future. And, anyway, for one thing, it seems like if someone were unhealthy in that way, they would “fix” them via a pill or injection or psychological conditioning or something, not a crude operation like liposuction. For another thing, we see, for example, Troi requesting an _n_th serving of chocolate ice cream (and absolutely no low-fat substitutes or anything like that) and the AI _refusing to give it her._ It seems like you would have to overcome a lot of subtle and not-so-subtle pressure to make the actively countercultural choice to be fat, to be ugly, to be “unproductive” (which does not have to do with money), and so on. You would probably be largely ignored, in the hope you would eventually get tired of your antics, but, if you were deemed a threat, who knows? ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2021, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethical-or-social-problems-caused-by-star-trek-tech/939759/62 "2021-04-20T19:08:44Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > There’s an episode of _Deep Space Nine_ where O’Brien roasts 20th century people as being greedy and self centered. Has he SEEN an episode of Star Trek? His enlightned future isn’t. It’s just unenlightened in different ways. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2021, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethical-or-social-problems-caused-by-star-trek-tech/939759/63 "2021-04-21T00:23:45Z")
Does the second Amendment cover phasers? ---
**Author:** ![gonzoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2021, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethical-or-social-problems-caused-by-star-trek-tech/939759/64 "2021-04-21T02:01:23Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > I don’t think they said there _was_ an “obesity problem” in the _Star Trek_ future. And, anyway, for one thing, it seems like if someone were unhealthy in that way, they would “fix” them via a pill or injection or psychological conditioning or something, not a crude operation like liposuction. For another thing, we see, for example, Troi requesting an _n_ th serving of chocolate ice cream (and absolutely no low-fat substitutes or anything like that) and the AI _refusing to give it her._ Exactly, that’s what I’m saying. With the technology as presented and the post-scarcity society implied, there’s no reason not to eat all you want and never get fat. The replicator refusing Troi made no sense. If you have transporter technology that can remotely and safely scan living creatures down to the quantum level (which is what the old “Tech manuals” said they did), you can regulate exactly what parts of the food you eat actually make it into a person’s system. Once they hit optimal calories for the day, everything past that simply gets beamed out. That would be the ideal system. The “liposuction” idea would be cruder, yes. Letting the fat actually accrue and then beaming that out doesn’t seem as efficient, but it would be worlds away from what we call liposuction now. Like most surgery, it should be more akin to photoshop. Beam someone into the pattern buffer, edit out the fat/cancer/injury, whatever, beam them back out healthy, thin, and whole. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2021, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethical-or-social-problems-caused-by-star-trek-tech/939759/65 "2021-04-21T13:45:43Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > As far as I can tell from reading the Memory Alpha wiki, it served seafood dishes, which suggests that the 24th century hasn’t adopted vegetarianism or veganism. We’ve also seen various Starfleet personnel eating Klingon food, which is decidedly non-vegan. > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Also, I wonder if it’s a novelty to go to a restaurant like that where food is prepared the old-fashioned way, rather than via a replicator. I don’t know - someone is delivering the clams Sisko cleans when he and Jake are living with his Dad. And I don’t imagine the Parisian restaurant that Picard went to was serving replicator food. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2021, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethical-or-social-problems-caused-by-star-trek-tech/939759/66 "2021-04-21T14:44:53Z")
A thought occurred to me in the shower this morning. Since the Federation knows that the dust from Alfa 177 can cause the transporter to split (“The Enemy Within”) and duplicate entities, good and bad, why don’t they take someone like Garth of Izar there and run him through a transport cycle? It’s not like it could make him any worse, and it just might give them a version that is sane again. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2021, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethical-or-social-problems-caused-by-star-trek-tech/939759/67 "2021-04-21T17:18:44Z")
Why not just use Doc Adams’ brainwashing chair? Cut down on all those costs of running insane asylums! ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2021, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethical-or-social-problems-caused-by-star-trek-tech/939759/68 "2021-04-21T17:22:01Z")
Strangely enough, I have ethical problems with such a chair. Yet I have none about mucking about with a damaged transporter. I am large - I contain multitudes. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2021, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethical-or-social-problems-caused-by-star-trek-tech/939759/69 "2021-04-21T17:27:26Z")
… And a difference that _makes_ no difference _is_ no difference. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2021, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethical-or-social-problems-caused-by-star-trek-tech/939759/70 "2021-04-24T19:35:42Z")
> [@gonzoron](#): > > Exactly, that’s what I’m saying. With the technology as presented and the post-scarcity society implied, there’s no reason not to eat all you want and never get fat. People eat unhealthily for reasons. In a future without “food deserts” or other economic reasons, those reasons would be psychological, and Trek is big on curing psychological problems through counseling, not just treating the end result and calling it good. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2021, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethical-or-social-problems-caused-by-star-trek-tech/939759/71 "2021-04-25T18:23:48Z")
> [@gonzoron](#): > > The replicator refusing Troi made no sense. Then again she is an officer aboard a ship underway, so it may just be that even in the post-scardity TNG days, Starfleet regs say no, you may not just indulge yourself with no limits, and it’s programmed in. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2021, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethical-or-social-problems-caused-by-star-trek-tech/939759/72 "2021-04-25T18:30:46Z")
Basically parental controls on the food replicator. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2021, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethical-or-social-problems-caused-by-star-trek-tech/939759/73 "2021-04-25T18:52:53Z")
I think in the CBS All Access series Picard, the food replicator described the nutritional content of what was requested. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2021, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethical-or-social-problems-caused-by-star-trek-tech/939759/74 "2021-04-25T23:20:21Z")
I’ve always wondered if Kirk pays Child Support to the 100’s of bastard children he undoubtably has scattered throughout the Universe. ---
**Author:** ![abcdefghij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/43a26b/32.png) [@abcdefghij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abcdefghij)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2021, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethical-or-social-problems-caused-by-star-trek-tech/939759/75 "2021-04-26T00:32:56Z")
Why do you think he’s always going around claiming the Federation doesn’t use money? ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2021, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethical-or-social-problems-caused-by-star-trek-tech/939759/76 "2021-04-26T01:28:56Z")
Well, there’s one bastard child he didn’t have to worry about paying child support for. Given we’re talking about something in the future, is it proper to ask, “Too soon?” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethical-or-social-problems-caused-by-star-trek-tech/939759.md?page=3)