StarTrek has long since been a popular sci-fi series, from the ‘old days’ of Captain Kirk and Spok to the later years of Riker and Picard to Janeway and Chakotay. Of course there were other StarTrek series such as Deep Space Nine and a number of movies over the years focusing on some important characters or aspects of the show.
Although the various series have seen variation in popularity, it is one of the few sci-fi series that has attracted many viewers beyond the typical middle-aged man living with his mom in a room filled with sci-fi memorabilia. It has been popular for years, and even today StarTrek is hitting the Box Office with incredible success. But why is so much more popular than other fleeting series?
Part of the answer may have to do with compelling story lines, interesting characters, and fascinating missions. But the edge is very likely with the fact that much of the technology that appears in the series is consistent with our understanding of science. Much of what we see in StarTrek is, or at least could be. That is what this site is dedicated to; understanding the science behind the fictional technology of StarTrek.
Star Trek ships are a great example of this. Besides being made of amazingly strong material and being the size of a small city, the on-board computer is quite amazing itself. Each StarTrek Ship has one with the following abilities:
1) Voice recognition- Anyone can talk to the ship’s computer on StarTrek and ask it questions or command it to do something. The computer is able to not only understand what is being said, but also recognizes the voice of the speaker. This way it knows who has access to what commands so that not just anyone can put the Enterprise in self-destruct mode or prank call Star Fleet Command.
We already have cell phones that are voice activated and have software that can turn vocal speech into words on a computer. This is primitive of course to what is found on StarTrek ships, but it is entirely conceivable that our technology will rival that of the Enterprise some day.
2) Autopilot/Navigation- The various races in the series have all developed some form of GPS that covers the known universe (at least known to StarTrek). The ship knows precisely where it is and can get from point A to point B on its own. This is a particularly helpful feature because that way an Ensign doesn’t have to be making constant adjustments to avoid hitting space debris or get back on course. If you think about it, when a ship in the ocean is off course just a degree, it can end up in the wrong place 1000 miles later. Now imagine traveling trillions and trillions of miles. The slightest deviation would put you far from your destination. The ship’s computer constantly monitors its place in the cosmos so that it can make slight adjustments as needed.
We already have airplanes that take off, fly, and land mostly on their own. It’s not inconceivable that we could do the same with a space ship. Cars have even been created that drive entirely on their own. They only go about 25mph, but they continuously exchange data with other cars in its vicinity so that they never have to stop because they calculate exactly how fast they need to go in order to avoid a collision. So an autopilot function on a Star Ship is not only conceivable in our future, but likely (the Shuttle has a similar system by the way).
3) Calculation- The computer on Star Fleet ships no doubt has an enormous database of information that can be retrieved at a moments notice, but it also has an amazing ability to crunch data. In many cases one of the crew may ask the computer to determine what would be the result of a certain course of action. The computer responds with the answer or at least the likelihood of certain results.
We have simulations now that can describe the likely results of certain weather patterns, particle interactions, virus propogation, and much more. However, these simulations are only good for what they were programmed to predict. For example, a simulation created to predict the effects of a particular chemical reaction could never of course predict what the stock market will do tomorrow. The ship’s computer seems to have pretty much every simulation imaginable already built in or (probably more likely) is a sophisticated and probably huge algorithm that mimics logical thought. That way, no actual simulation needs to be done, it just computes things based on its enormous store of data combined with a logical assessment of those facts.