# Star Trek technology we need NOW! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 24, 2002, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-technology-we-need-now/133689 "2002-10-24T14:57:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TPWombat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TPWombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TPWombat)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2002, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-technology-we-need-now/133689/21 "2002-10-25T15:23:53Z")
IIRC, as also noted by **Scott Adams** , if we had those little medical pepperpots that go _debedebedebedebe_ and seal wounds in seconds, you’d forever have to watch out for your friends sneaking up behind you and sealing up your ass. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2002, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-technology-we-need-now/133689/22 "2002-10-25T15:59:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Enderw24 \* > \*\*An android that’s fully functional and programmed in multiple techniques of pleasure. \*\* [Almost there…](http://www.realdoll.com/intro.html) ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2002, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-technology-we-need-now/133689/23 "2002-10-25T16:44:35Z")
Forget about androids programmed for pleasure; I can take care of the pleasure aspects myself. What I need is an android programmed for housework and grocery shopping 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2002, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-technology-we-need-now/133689/24 "2002-10-25T18:15:19Z")
> [@](#): > > A communicator insignia pin. My contention is that we’re very nearly there. All they have to do is put a pin and clasp on the back of cell phones and there you are. ---
**Author:** ![Find\_Friends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@Find\_Friends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Find_Friends)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2002, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-technology-we-need-now/133689/25 "2002-10-25T19:03:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Maybe in the 24th Century people don’t think that such childish pranks are amusing. \*\* Have you forgotten Q, or don’t you consider himself a “people”? Popping into Katherine’s bubble bath certasinly qualifies as a “prank” by our standards, although Q himself may have had a different way of classifying it. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2002, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-technology-we-need-now/133689/26 "2002-10-25T19:34:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TPWombat \* > \*\*those little medical pepperpots that go _debedebedebedebe_ Twiki was a doctor? (Yeah, I know he went _bedebedebede_, but I couldn’t resist.) ---
**Author:** ![TPWombat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TPWombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TPWombat)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2002, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-technology-we-need-now/133689/27 "2002-10-25T22:23:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mobo85 \* > \*\*Twiki was a doctor? > (Yeah, I know he went _bedebedebede_, but I couldn’t resist.) \*\* Making bad Buck Rogers jokes makes baby Jesus cry. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2002, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-technology-we-need-now/133689/28 "2002-10-25T23:00:54Z")
Its not crucial now, but when I’m 60, I’d like to be able to step through a transporter and be turned into a 12 year-old with all my adult memories intact. Since my immortality is crucial to the continued existence of humanity, I expect our elected officials to view this as their highest priority. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2002, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-technology-we-need-now/133689/29 "2002-10-28T00:10:12Z")
> [@](#): > > Why would a replicator like technology be dependent upon “Transporter” technology? I would imagine you could have something very very similar to a replicator with sufficiently advanced nanotechnology. Program box, add raw materials… wait for the buzzer… open box and enjoy end product of billions of tiny robotic assemblers. You’ll be waiting an awful long time for the buzzer, then. I’ve never understood why people think that nanofabrication would be quick. I mean, I’m currently sitting at a desk which was nanofabricated. Any idea how many years it took for that wood to grow? Why would technological nanofabrication be any quicker than biological nanofabrication? Sure, you could probably program them to make the desk already in its final shape. But the time spent shaping the material is nothing compared to the time to grow it. ---
**Author:** ![StPaul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58f4c7/32.png) [@StPaul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StPaul)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2002, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-technology-we-need-now/133689/30 "2002-10-28T03:27:22Z")
The “Artificial gravity generators” would be neat. Simply because they are indestructible. Even if your spaceship is a blasted wreck with no life and not enough power to keep the lights on, the artifical gravity generators keep working perfectly. One thing you wouldn’t want is their circuit breakers. The control consoles always blow up in a plume of sparks before the breakers cut out. They must put pennies behind their fuses. ---
**Author:** ![lokij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5e9695/32.png) [@lokij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lokij)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2002, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-technology-we-need-now/133689/31 "2002-10-28T09:13:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chronos \* > \*\*You’ll be waiting an awful long time for the buzzer, then. I’ve never understood why people think that nanofabrication would be quick. I mean, I’m currently sitting at a desk which was nanofabricated. Any idea how many years it took for that wood to grow? Why would technological nanofabrication be any quicker than biological nanofabrication? Sure, you could probably program them to make the desk already in its final shape. But the time spent shaping the material is nothing compared to the time to grow it. \*\* You might be right, it might not necessarily be quick. I would bet that if it’s possible to engineer the sytem to be quick that they would do so, comparisons to biological constructs aside. Biological nanofabrications are usually byproducts of life, the intent of biological ‘programing’ is basically to reproduce and THAT they do very very quickly in optimum circumstances. In an artificial system the nanobots only reason to exist would be to produce goods, any other considerations would be secondary, with no energy devoted to survival strategies or reproduction they could probably accomplish that goal pretty quick if supplied in sufficient number. In any case I think Nanotechnology is a better bet than some vague sort of “Transporter” technology that appears to violate some serious physics (to me anyways). ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2002, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-technology-we-need-now/133689/32 "2002-10-28T11:16:19Z")
Seven’s clothing… I thank you. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-technology-we-need-now/133689.md?page=1)