‘To Boldly Go Where Innovation Hasn't Gone Before’
The Science Behind Star Trek Inventions
Karen Davies
& Fiona Davidson of Dav-idea Workshops
In the 50th
anniversary of its creation, Karen & Fiona used examples of creative
thinking in Star Trek to help us understand the process of innovation.
What Was Happening in the 1960s? For those who weren’t there
in the 1960s Karen & Fiona explained what they had missed & for those
of us who were there at the time, they reminded us what happened then. The mini car, the mini
skirt and colour TV made their appearances. Women’s rights became a new concept. There was the space race, effectively part of
Cold War rivalry, with the USSR achieving all the ‘firsts’ until they were
overtaken late in the decade by the Americans landing Neil Armstrong, &
those who followed, on to the surface of the Moon.
These were troubled times.
That Cold War rivalry nearly became very hot war with the Cuban Missile Crisis -
at the height of the tensions, I recall someone commenting that ‘It was nice to
wake up this morning’! The white government of Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe)
declared Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) from the United Kingdom.
The Americans became deeply embroiled in the Vietnam War, about which there
were mass protests in the USA & London - Tarik Ali comes to mind. There
were severe racial tensions in the USA, highlighted by the assassination of Martin
Luther King, and there were also the assassinations of John & Robert
Kennedy.
And that is without
mentioning the Beatles!
Technical Innovation in the 1960s The miniaturisation of
electronics had begun, but still had a long way to go - Karen passed around a series
of electronic exhibits that illustrated the change; first a glass valves that
had been a vital electronics component (Colossus in WWII had many of these hot
running components), and then the much smaller transistors & integrated
circuits that were beginning to appear- but the microchip didn’t arrive until the
early 1970s.
Star Trek Science Fiction In the 1960s Gene Roddenberry
let his imagination ‘boldly go where no man has gone before’, with Star Trek first
appearing as a TV series in 1966, set in the Milky Way Galaxy in the 2260s.
Further TV series & eventually films followed. Fiona & Karen took us through
the many fictional components that helped make the franchise so memorable -
here are some of their examples, with an update of what similar technology now
exists.
Whilst many of the
fictional technologies would have needed the internet & wifi to operate,
Star Trek didn’t predict them.
Transporters - convert a person or object into an energy pattern
(a process called dematerialization), then ‘beam’ it to a target, where it is
reconverted into matter - ‘beam me up Scotty’. In 2015 German engineers claimed to have created a machine which can
scan a physical object, and re-build it in a new location using a 3D printer.
 |
| Kirk holding a communicator |
Communicators
- a range of devices for voice
communication either person to person or to a starship in orbit, e.g. badges
and a hand held fold-up device. Nowadays
the Vocera Badge is a wearable voice-controlled device allowing hands-free
operation; it is useful in special settings such as medical services. Also,
there have been rapid technical developments with mobile phones that have
included fold-up phones. Smartphones with touch screens first appeared in 2007.
 |
| Spock with badge and Tricorder |
Tricorder - a multifunction hand-held device used for
sensor scanning, data analysis, and recording data, e.g. carrying out medical
assessments. In the last 10 years many
handheld single-function electronic device have become available and apps have
made smartphones multifunctional.
Universal
Translator - a device providing
instant translation of any language. Both
Microsoft & Google already offer some translation & are planning to
extend the range available. The image on teh RHS shows the device. | |
| Geordi La Forge, born | blind, wearing a Visor |
Visor (Visual
Instrument and Sensory Organ Replacement) that detected electromagnetic signals across the entire
electromagnetic spectrum (i.e. not just the visual spectrum) and transmitted
those signals to the brain through implants in the eye, so enabling someone who
was blind to have a wider range of vision than a
sighted person. Various initiatives using
micro-electronics are taking place to develop retinal implants with the aim of partially
restoring useful vision to people who have suffered from degenerative eye
conditions.
 |
| Rober Picardo (the Doctor) |
Emergency Medical Hologram (EHM) known as ‘The Doctor’- this was a hologram in the
form of a human male. The Doctor was available should the ship's doctor be
incapacitated which, of course, had to happen to make the fiction worthwhile! Nowadays
there is robot-assisted surgery that enables doctors to perform complex
procedures with more precision, flexibility and control than is possible with
conventional techniques. It has also been suggested that interacting with a
robot helps children cope with unpleasant medical procedures such as
injections.
 |
| The USS Enterprise at Warp speed! |
Warp drive -
a technology that allowed space travel at faster-than-light speeds.
Our reality is that we humans are far short of being
able to emulate fiction although, as that fiction apparently happened in 2061,
we still have 45 years to catch up. NASA is said to be interested in the
concept! Stephen Hawkins has said, ‘I am working on it’.
Discussion Session The input from Karen &
Fiona triggered a lively discussion as people shared their recollections of
Star Trek in general & also technological ‘dead ends’ & visionary
predictions. What predictions can we make for the future? One area that wasn’t
a recognised concern in the 1960s is climate change. We need innovation in this
massive & major topic, e.g. maximizing the use & effectiveness of
photosynthesis (we had a talk two years ago from someone from the Stephenson
Institute at Liverpool University about this). But there has been an absence of
action on implementing approaches already known, carbon capture and storage
being a major & troubling example.
Another topic of lively
debate was about the protection and monetisation of intellectual property.
Karen & Fiona pointed out the weakness of the UK in terms of numbers of
patents relating to current cutting-edge research and development, and quoted
other countries with far more patents on file - this applies to the graphene,
invented in Manchester.
Many large scale
scientific projects have an open source approach, making data readily available
to all. However, the very nature of profit-making businesses requires
protection of intellectual property & royalties - they need to generate a
revenue stream to fund further R&D.
After the meeting several
people commented on interactive nature of the evening, with the speakers &
audience participating in lively debate. One comment was, ‘That is what a good SciBar
meeting is about.’
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