# How did Luddites like McCoy and Phlox get such high-profile postings? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 11, 2021, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-luddites-like-mccoy-and-phlox-get-such-high-profile-postings/937715 "2021-03-11T15:35:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2021, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-luddites-like-mccoy-and-phlox-get-such-high-profile-postings/937715/81 "2021-03-13T20:16:21Z")
In the USN Commodore was a one star admiral, in effect. In the RN, a Commodore was a temp rank of the senior captain for a squadron. But In the RN, Admiral is not a temporary rank. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2021, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-luddites-like-mccoy-and-phlox-get-such-high-profile-postings/937715/82 "2021-03-13T21:19:48Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > I know there was some kind of science advisor. But if he got paid, he didn’t earn his money. Or maybe the science advisor told them, and the producers decided to ignore him, because otherwise the story wouldn’t have worked. Given the choice between story and science, nine times out of ten writers, directors and producers will choose the former. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2021, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-luddites-like-mccoy-and-phlox-get-such-high-profile-postings/937715/83 "2021-03-13T23:38:23Z")
Was it Asimov who advised them to have a blue shift when Enterprise went to warp in the first movie? ---
**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:** [March 14, 2021, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-luddites-like-mccoy-and-phlox-get-such-high-profile-postings/937715/84 "2021-03-14T01:33:32Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > But there is no reason, given transporter range, to get so close. I don’t think the show ever really thought about it, to actually mention it in doalog, but an “orbit” cannot be an actual great circle orbit. It was established that the transporter can’t beam very deep into the planet. Miles, maybe a hundred miles, of solid rock, but not 7000 miles. So there’s no way they could beam someone up from the back side of the orbit. The only time they made an orbit a plot point was Mirror, Mirror, that the ship orbited out of phaser range. In every other episode, Scotty was always ready on a moment’s notice to phaser someone, should the need arise. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-luddites-like-mccoy-and-phlox-get-such-high-profile-postings/937715/85 "2021-03-14T01:59:07Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > As a nitpick: The clear intention of the writers is that a transporter isn’t a suicide machine. Then what about that time that Riker got duplicated in the transporter? The version that stayed behind on Nervala IV is just the version that, under normal conditions, the transporter machine quietly kills so that we don’t have dupes running around all over. Of course the copies think they’re the originals, but that’s what you’d expect from a high-quality copy. Doesn’t mean they’re right. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-luddites-like-mccoy-and-phlox-get-such-high-profile-postings/937715/86 "2021-03-14T06:45:11Z")
Riker was duped by the subspace hullaballoo, not the transporter’s normal operation. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-luddites-like-mccoy-and-phlox-get-such-high-profile-postings/937715/87 "2021-03-14T15:08:08Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > Then what about that time that Riker got duplicated in the transporter? The version that stayed behind on Nervala IV is just the version that, under normal conditions, the transporter machine quietly kills so that we don’t have dupes running around all over. Of course the copies think they’re the originals, but that’s what you’d expect from a high-quality copy. Doesn’t mean they’re right. Setting aside the philosophical discussion, it would seem to be a trivial exercise to reproduce this situation and thus, make an unlimited number of duplicates of Lt. Data as needed to populate away teams, repair crews, and other hazardous situations without putting a delicate living being at risk. An entire cadre of duplicate androids could be produced who would be happy to perform in any hazardous, boring service, or disposable role, and utopia would finally be possible. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![abcdefghij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/43a26b/32.png) [@abcdefghij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abcdefghij)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-luddites-like-mccoy-and-phlox-get-such-high-profile-postings/937715/88 "2021-03-14T15:39:20Z")
Data was [programmed to exhibit civil rights](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/The_Measure_Of_A_Man_(episode)) to keep that from happening ---
**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:** [March 14, 2021, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-luddites-like-mccoy-and-phlox-get-such-high-profile-postings/937715/89 "2021-03-14T15:47:17Z")
You tell them, Dr. Maddox! ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-luddites-like-mccoy-and-phlox-get-such-high-profile-postings/937715/90 "2021-03-14T16:21:59Z")
> [@abcdefghij](#): > > Data was [programmed to exhibit civil rights](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/The_Measure_Of_A_Man_(episode)) to keep that from happening Programming can be changed. Especially if you have a magic teleporter and a ship’s computer that can figure out how to do anything with a couple of English-language pseudo-instructions. Even “Dr.” Crusher could probably figure it out. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![abcdefghij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/43a26b/32.png) [@abcdefghij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abcdefghij)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-luddites-like-mccoy-and-phlox-get-such-high-profile-postings/937715/91 "2021-03-14T16:34:57Z")
No, you can’t do that with positronic subspace, because tachyon deflector grid. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-luddites-like-mccoy-and-phlox-get-such-high-profile-postings/937715/92 "2021-03-14T18:02:30Z")
aye, but what if we reversed the polarity of the quantum inhibitor while enhancing the pattern buffer rigidity conflaguration - did ya think of that laddy? ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-luddites-like-mccoy-and-phlox-get-such-high-profile-postings/937715/93 "2021-03-14T18:07:58Z")
> [@abcdefghij](#): > > No, you can’t do that with positronic subspace, because tachyon deflector grid. I’m going to relinearize the isolinear matrix using a stream of polarized opteron particles to counter-chronologically neutralize the tachyons before (after?) they are emitted. The resulting anti-temporal radiation flux may turn everyone into a lizard-person or initiate a pocket universe that will grow to consume the galaxy if not renebulized by enclosing it in an inverted subspace field, but by the gods of cybernetics I’ll have by android legions! Stranger ---
**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:** [March 14, 2021, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-luddites-like-mccoy-and-phlox-get-such-high-profile-postings/937715/94 "2021-03-14T18:29:34Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Programming can be changed. The question has already been decided. > **[The Quality of Life (Star Trek: The Next Generation)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Quality_of_Life_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation))** > > "The Quality of Life" is the 135th episode of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation. It is the ninth episode of the sixth season. > Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures of the Starfleet crew of the Federation starship Enterprise-D. In this episode Data discovers that a group of robots are likely intelligent lifeforms. > This episode introduces the Exocomp robots. > The Enterprise arrives at Tyrus 7A to oversee a fledgling mining technolog... ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-luddites-like-mccoy-and-phlox-get-such-high-profile-postings/937715/95 "2021-03-14T18:56:49Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > The question has already been decided. Has it, though? A lone starship captain and a single researcher are not presumed to dictate the policy of the entire Federation. As for the “Exocomps” they may evolve to the point or regarding the humanoid cultures of the Federation and otherwise as being a existential threat to existence and destroy them out of a sense of self-preservation of their superior machine culture. And one could hardly blame them given what we have seen in the historical documents presented in the show. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Johnny\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Q)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-luddites-like-mccoy-and-phlox-get-such-high-profile-postings/937715/96 "2021-03-14T19:14:22Z")
Relevant… [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/xwhAq3F8NCE/hqdefault.jpg "The U.S.S. Make Sh\*t Up by Aurelio Voltaire (BiTrektual Version) OFFICIAL") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwhAq3F8NCE) ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-luddites-like-mccoy-and-phlox-get-such-high-profile-postings/937715/97 "2021-03-14T19:18:34Z")
In _Star Trek Picard_ someone had constructed a bunch of Datas, i.e., Data-type androids, using unspecified manufacturing techniques, conveniently left out any emotion chips or civil-rights chips, and sent them to Mars for use as robot slave labour. Another group of Datas did very nearly destroy the Federation by summoning their eldritch machine gods from another universe, but who can blame them, really. ---
**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:** [March 14, 2021, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-luddites-like-mccoy-and-phlox-get-such-high-profile-postings/937715/98 "2021-03-14T19:51:54Z")
Sure, it _starts_ with something simple like Alexa or Siri. The next thing you know, it’s exocomps, Skynet and Borg. Won’t somebody think of the microchips??!? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-luddites-like-mccoy-and-phlox-get-such-high-profile-postings/937715/99 "2021-03-14T22:40:32Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Setting aside the philosophical discussion, it would seem to be a trivial exercise to reproduce this situation Indeed. In fact I don’t think there’s really any need to reproduce the special conditions. The transporter crew sent down two beams at once. Obviously, had two Rikers come through on the near end, they simply would have diverted one of them to the transporter beam dump/replicator feedstock. The reflection wasn’t the cause of the duplication, just the reason the crew didn’t shut down the secondary beam. But really it’s all much worse than this, as we can see by various other accidents: - That time Picard and others got turned into 12-year-olds - When Tuvok and Neelix got merged into Tuvix - That guy that had all the rocks and leaves embedded in him in a weirdly benign way - Kirk getting split into good and evil parts Not to mention the always-on biofilter that removes viruses and such from the body. It’s clear that what comes out of the replicator is not a molecular copy of the original. It is at best an “artists interpretation” of the original. Usually the copy is pretty close, but sometimes it goes wildly wrong and the transporter invents structure out of whole cloth. It’s not a surprise, really. The transporter is a real-time machine and has to deal with data loss on the fly. It materializes what it can and invents the rest. ---
**Author:** ![Pavelb1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pavelb1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavelb1)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2021, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-luddites-like-mccoy-and-phlox-get-such-high-profile-postings/937715/100 "2021-03-15T00:35:01Z")
For the billionth time Starfleet…stop leaving your toasters on. If its not exocomps, its holograms. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-luddites-like-mccoy-and-phlox-get-such-high-profile-postings/937715.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-luddites-like-mccoy-and-phlox-get-such-high-profile-postings/937715.md?page=6)