out” in the “Star Trek” slogan “… seeking out new life and new civilizations
…” In “Star Trek: The Next Generation,”
Lieutenant Barkley undergoes a mind
meld with superior aliens who were
curious about humans and apparently
friendly, yet had no effect on the Federation. 9 These genius beings were never
seen again. Although they brought the
Enterprise 8,000 parsecs across the Galaxy and then sent it back, the Federation
never benefited from its super-warp
drive; no scientific knowledge or even
sources of nutrition became available.
Maybe if the beings were warlike and
dangerous to humans, the screenwrit-ers would have found them more compelling and followed up. Another genius
civilization, the Q beings, had, however,
transcended technology and viewed the
Federation with contempt. The story of
how the Q achieved their transcendence
would have been fascinating. What
might we gain if we really did contact
advanced civilizations, unconstrained
by the boundaries of an episodic weekly
TV show? Imagine the possibilities …
References
1. Bixby, J. Requiem for Methuselah. Star Trek episode 74;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Requiem_for_Methuselah
2. Braga, B. (screenplay) and Diggs, J. (story). Rise. Star
Trek: Voyager episode 61; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Rise_(Star_Trek:_Voyager)
3. Fontana, D.C. (teleplay) and Wolfe, L. N. (story).
The Ultimate Computer. Star Trek episode 53;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ultimate_Computer
4. Gerrold, D. The Trouble with Tribbles. Star Trek
episode 44; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_
Trouble_with_Tribbles
5. Kandel, S. I, Mudd. Star Trek episode 37;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I,_Mudd
6. Leinster, M. A logic named Joe. Astounding Science
Fiction (Mar. 1946).
7. Livingston, H. (screenplay) and Foster, A. D. (story). Star
Trek: The Motion Picture; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Star_Trek:_The_Motion_Picture
8. Lucas, J.M. The Changeling. Star Trek episode 32;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Changeling_
(Star_Trek:_The_Original_Series)
9. Menosky, J. The Nth Degree. Star Trek The Next
Generation episode 93; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
The_Nth_Degree_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation)
10. Peeples, S. A. Where No Man Has Gone Before. Star Trek
episode 3; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_No_
Man_Has_Gone_Before
11. Schneider, P. Balance of Terror. Star Trek episode 14;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balance_of_Terror
12. Sohl, J. The Corbomite Maneuver. Star Trek episode 10;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Corbomite_Maneuver
13. Sowards, J.B. (screenplay) and Bennett, H. and
Sowards, J.B. (story). Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek_II:_The_
Wrath_of_Khan
14. Sternbach, R. and Okuda, M. Star Trek The Next
Generation Technical Manual. Pocket Books,
New York, 1991.
David Allen Batchelor ( batchelor@alum.mit.edu) is
a scientist and computer engineer for data systems at
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD. His
first science-fiction novel, The Metalmark Contract, was
published in 2011 by Black Rose Writing, Castroville, TX.
© 2017 ACM 0001-0782/17/05 15.00
impact on air quality from rocket exhaust. One episode of “Star Trek: Voyager” concerned a space elevator, 2 but the
existence of a transporter beam apparently made the technology unnecessary.
Aliens lacking a transporter beam would
be interesting nonetheless. But a space
elevator would have been a good alternative given the hazardous possibilities
of transporter failure. You could never
get me to use such a glorified Xerox machine; if the transporter malfunctions,
as in “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” 7
one could materialize as a nightmare of
disorganized body parts, and worse.
Compared with medical practice
in the 1960s, medical technology advanced dramatically in the “Star Trek”
universe, but no scriptwriter considered
the conquest of ageing and death, or
immortality. Such a narrow view of the
limitless “Star Trek” universe is a pity,
because one would need immortality
to have time to read and view all the interesting “Star Trek” and other science
fiction media our own civilization is
creating. My DVR is figuratively bulging
with episodes of “Dark Matter” I have
not had time for, and the three-part
Syfy channel adaptation of Arthur C.
Clarke’s novel Childhood’s End, among
other titles, awaits. Science fiction productions I want to see are proliferating
like Tribbles. I need the ability to absorb
scenes at accelerated speed, the way Lt.
Commander Gary Mitchell did when
mutating into an advanced being. 10
Only rarely did Starfleet crews pursue
contact with advanced non-human be-
ings. For example, Captain Kirk’s meet-
ing with the advanced but creepy Balok,
Voyager” to finally accept a cybernetic
holographic character, “the Doctor,”
into the crew of the starship Voyager.
Replicated androids like Data
would make exponential cascades of
robots building robots building robots … providing a workforce to render the Federation a paradise of leisure. The robots could “terraform”
desolate planets and further expand the
Federation. They might even build spinning space stations for artificial gravity
or an inflatable planet.
Another technology being developed today is direct neural connections
with electronic devices. Body hackers
have surgically attached toy devices
to their nervous systems, and brain-machine interfaces enjoy a flourishing research environment. Compared
with direct wireless control of starship
systems through thoughts alone, as
relayed by, say, Bluetooth, the
Enterprise control panels might seem insufficiently futuristic. It is but one more
step to augmenting human memory
and, perhaps, intellectual capability.
Some of the thousands of exoplan-ets that have been discovered by earthly astronomers in recent years may be
ocean worlds. The Federation in the
far future might thus expect to encounter floating or undersea cities in their
meetings with aliens. We might then
ponder the plot potential of combining
another 1960s TV show, “Voyage to the
Bottom of the Sea,” with “Star Trek” on
such a planet. The writers of the forthcoming series “Star Trek: Discovery”
should keep this in mind for the sake
of realism, as well as for the promise of
future TV spin-offs and residuals.
Space elevators have inspired many
technology lovers since Konstantin Tsiolkovsky conceived and proposed them
in 1895. They offer exciting possibilities for expanding access to space at low
marginal cost, along with low marginal
The stress and
awakening emotional
conflict destroyed
her robot mind.
[CONTINUED FROM P. 104]