# Things from Star Trek that are now a Reality **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 25, 2008, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-from-star-trek-that-are-now-a-reality/457714 "2008-07-25T06:08:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-from-star-trek-that-are-now-a-reality/457714/1 "2008-07-25T06:08:45Z")
“Computer, search your memory banks for…” Well holy shit if that isn’t now called the internet. I could never figure out how the ship’s computer was going to have all the universally known knowledge about a particular planet or villain. Now I know. “Communicators” - Well, don’t we now have cell phones complete with the “flip-out” action. “Lock onto his coordinates” - GPS. Got it. “Put your phasers on stun” - OK. We have tasers. Damed close. “Automatic doors” - We didn’t have those auto-sliding doors before Star Trek. This was supposed to be 500 years in the future. We have a lot of these things 40 years later. What else do we now have? What else from Star Trek is on the horizon? ---
**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:** [July 25, 2008, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-from-star-trek-that-are-now-a-reality/457714/2 "2008-07-25T06:28:29Z")
[QUOTE=Leaffan] “Computer, search your memory banks for…” Well holy shit if that isn’t now called the internet. I could never figure out how the ship’s computer was going to have all the universally known knowledge about a particular planet or villain. Now I know. “Communicators” - Well, don’t we now have cell phones complete with the “flip-out” action. “Lock onto his coordinates” - GPS. Got it. “Put your phasers on stun” - OK. We have tasers. Damed close. “Automatic doors” - We didn’t have those auto-sliding doors before Star Trek. This was supposed to be 500 years in the future. We have a lot of these things 40 years later. What else do we now have? What else from Star Trek is on the horizon? [/QUOTE] A little off, Star Trek TOS starts up in 2266. Also: Floppy disks. Big screen TVs. Tablet PCs. Bluetooth headsets. Anti Matter. ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-from-star-trek-that-are-now-a-reality/457714/3 "2008-07-25T06:41:22Z")
[QUOTE=Lobohan] Anti Matter. [/QUOTE] [Carl David Anderson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_David_Anderson) discovered proof of positrons back in 1932. Yeah, we have it now, but we had it well before TOS was aired. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-from-star-trek-that-are-now-a-reality/457714/4 "2008-07-25T06:44:20Z")
I can’t recall in which episode, but I once saw Chekov using a round, shiny disc that was very similar to today’s CD or DVD in a computer. Although one thing the writers of TOS apparently _didn’t_ foresee was tapes becoming obsolete for all practical purposes. As for positrons, yeah, they’re the basis for PET scans used in nuclear medicine imaging. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-from-star-trek-that-are-now-a-reality/457714/5 "2008-07-25T06:50:58Z")
The ability to replace the photo receptors in the eye with a man-made one that synchs into the nerve endings is here/around the corner. > **[Visual prosthesis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_prosthetic)** > > A visual prosthesis, often referred to as a bionic eye, is an experimental visual device intended to restore functional vision in those with partial or total blindness. Many devices have been developed, usually modeled on the cochlear implant or bionic ear devices, a type of neural prosthesis in use since the mid-1980s. The idea of using electrical current (e.g., electrically stimulating the retina or the visual cortex) to provide sight dates back to the 18th century, discussed by Benjamin Fran... ---
**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:** [July 25, 2008, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-from-star-trek-that-are-now-a-reality/457714/6 "2008-07-25T06:51:04Z")
[QUOTE=Darryl Lict] [Carl David Anderson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_David_Anderson) discovered proof of positrons back in 1932. Yeah, we have it now, but we had it well before TOS was aired. [/QUOTE] Yeah but we have actual anti matter containment now. Enough to light a 40 watt bulb for a second! ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-from-star-trek-that-are-now-a-reality/457714/7 "2008-07-25T07:12:33Z")
Biofunction monitors - just go into any intensive care unit and it will look like you’ve stepped into the _Enterprise_’s Sickbay. ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-from-star-trek-that-are-now-a-reality/457714/8 "2008-07-25T07:17:43Z")
[QUOTE=Lobohan] Yeah but we have actual anti matter containment now. Enough to light a 40 watt bulb for a second! [/QUOTE] True, but our warp drive technology hasn’t quite reached TOS. ---
**Author:** ![Atrael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Atrael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atrael)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-from-star-trek-that-are-now-a-reality/457714/9 "2008-07-25T13:45:36Z")
There was a history channel special about [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_William_Shatner_Changed_the_World) that I’ve seen a few times. As I recall, one of the things that I hadn’t thought about was .mp3 files. Someone stated in an interview that he was inspired by scenes in ST:TNG where they’d just ask for a music piece and it was available. That was pretty cool I thought. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-from-star-trek-that-are-now-a-reality/457714/10 "2008-07-25T14:05:54Z")
The Captain’s log should have been the Captain’s _blog_ On _NCIS_ it always amuses me that the military’s video hookups are exactly like those used on _Star Trek_. ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-from-star-trek-that-are-now-a-reality/457714/11 "2008-07-25T14:22:15Z")
Nothing matters until we develop a Holodeck. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-from-star-trek-that-are-now-a-reality/457714/12 "2008-07-25T14:23:57Z")
[QUOTE=Leaffan] “Automatic doors” - We didn’t have those auto-sliding doors before Star Trek. [/QUOTE] According to [about.com](http://inventors.about.com/od/astartinventions/a/FamousInvention.htm), you’re off by about 12 years. > [@](#): > > Dee Horton and Lew Hewitt invented the sliding automatic door in 1954. ---
**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:** [July 25, 2008, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-from-star-trek-that-are-now-a-reality/457714/13 "2008-07-25T14:24:55Z")
[QUOTE=Athena] Nothing matters until we develop a Holodeck. [/QUOTE] And after that, nothing will matter, either.