07-17-2018, 01:47 PM | #41 | |
Join Date: Apr 2005
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Re: What TL is the original Star Trek?
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The exceptions are that they might lift a single concept from a reference book (like some of the peripheral information about Andorians in Enterprise) or a smarta** set designer might slip a diagram of a starship or an alien from one of the books into a computer display (e.g., some of the biological diagrams from Worlds of the Federation which appear in Keiko O'Brien's classroom in DS9). Certainly, Star Trek is "mixed tech" heavily influenced by "forgettium" - potentially universe-shaping discoveries or technologies which are abandoned the episode after they're discovered. Additionally, Star Trek happens in a universe which diverges from our own billions of years before the present, with the really big changes in human history occurring by the 1950 and 60s (much greater advances in eugenics/genetics and space flight). By the 1980s, you have an entirely different tech structure, in part due to meddling by time travelers from the future. Very broadly, I'd suggest: Late 20th c. to early 21st c. - late TL8 - early TL9 (slow interstellar STL travel, extensive exploration of solar system, extensive genetic engineering, highly powerful computers based on 29th c. tech. Probably fusion power. Mature cryogenic preservation technology.) Mid 21st c. (WW III) - Regressed to TL5-7 in much of the world, but less so Western Europe and the USA, which still retain much TL9 tech. Prior to WW III, limited mature STL "generation ship" or "sleeper" interstellar ship technology sufficient to allow multiple human colonists, usually with truly embarrassing notions about their traditional ethnic cultures, to fly off into the void. Late 21st c. (Post WW III to "Warp I" era in 2163) - Early TL10 and some TL10^ (mature STL drives and space travel tech, experimental FTL drives, experimental FTL communication, antimatter power conversion, many forms of super medicine). Fully developed, but illegal, human genetic engineering (as made clear in Enterprise 4th season). It's also made clear that super medicine can cure many ailments caused by radiation poisoning. It is probably legal to do limited, therapeutic genetic engineering, like to cure cancer, or to fix "simple" genetic or epigenetic medical problems - like spina bifida or allergies - in utero or in childhood. Early 22nd c. (2100-2151 Enterprise era) - Mature TL10 with elements of TL12^ science fantasy, but "safetech" for sapient AI, nanotech, uplift, and "post-human" technologies such as visible cybernetics. (Mature FTL drive, primitive force shields, matter transmitters, universal translators and "blaster" hand weapons. Limited fast cloning.) Mid-Late 23rd c. (2250-2290 Discovery, TOS, and TOS Movie era) - TL11 with elements of TL13^ science fantasy. As above, but more mature tech. Experimental paradimensional and time travel tech. Experimental mind-emulation, mind control, and hologram technology. Experimental sapient robots and AI computers. Instant healing for many ailments. Limited or experimental cybernetic enhancements (e.g., Dr. Miranda Jones' sensor web). Late 24th c. (2365-2385 TNG, DS9, Voyager, TNG Movies) - TL12 with elements of TL14^. Mature holographic VR technology, fast FTL drive, mature matter conversion/replicator tech, better understood dimensional and time travel (limited only by Federation regulations regarding the Temporal Prime Directive and the Mirror Universe). Mature nanotech (If a smart teenager can create self-aware nanoswarms in a standard engineering lab, and the response from all the experienced scientists on the ship is, "Bad Wesley, now you have to clean up the mess!" vs. "OMG, Nobel Prize for you!" you can bet it's mature tech!) Fully-developed cybernetics (limited only by Federation distaste for obvious cyber-mods. E.g., Nog's artificial leg, Geordi's VISOR, and Seven's artificial eye). Experimental fast cloning tech. By the last quarter of the 24th century, at least in the timeline where USS Voyager returns from the Delta Quadrant loaded with early 25th c., limited 29th c., and advanced Borg technology, there could potentially be another leap forward in tech. Last edited by Pursuivant; 07-17-2018 at 01:51 PM. |
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07-17-2018, 02:00 PM | #42 | |
Join Date: Dec 2007
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Re: What TL is the original Star Trek?
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07-17-2018, 02:02 PM | #43 | |||||||
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Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Sumter, SC
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Re: What TL is the original Star Trek?
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As for the Canon, "Piece of the Action" does give us definitive details about the Iotians: 1) they were given "text books on how to make radio sets and stuff like that" when they were at the "beginnings of industrialisation" (early TL5) a century ago. They are at 1920s ie TL6 when Kirk meets them and to get there they had help. 2) the Iotians could easily take McCoy's communicator apart without destroying it; this is -15 to skill for TL9 and impossible for TL10 or higher. In "Patterns of Force" another TL6 possibly TL7 culture is able to disassemble communicators without destroying the components as Spock is able to use the parts to make a functional communicator. 3) It is stated that the Iotians can learn how the transtator works; this is -15 to skill for TL9 and impossible for TL10 or higher. 4) It is stated that the transtator is the basis for every important piece of equipment that the Federation has. 5) Kirk comments that "in a few years, the Iotians may demand a piece of our action." This would also be -15 to skill for TL9 and impossible for TL10 or higher. This all points to TOS tech being more TL6^ perhaps TL7^ then actual TL9 and it is all canon. Quote:
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Spock: "The mid-1990s was the era of your last so-called World War" This was reconned in First Contact to the 2070s and retconned again in "Doctor Bashir, I Presume?" to the 22nd century. And yes that really screws up the timeline. Quote:
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Last edited by maximara; 07-17-2018 at 06:45 PM. |
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07-17-2018, 02:45 PM | #44 | |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: What TL is the original Star Trek?
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And the point there is not to define the sum "7+x" but to argue for the "7." At least for me. Obviously their computer is capable of doing things real TL7 computers couldn't do. On the other hand, I don't think they were five whole TLs ahead!
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Bill Stoddard I don't think we're in Oz any more. |
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07-17-2018, 02:50 PM | #45 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
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Re: What TL is the original Star Trek?
The advantage to concentrating on TOS to the exclusion of the rest is that you don't need to concern yourself with the TNG franchise or STD; you can just take TOS on its own terms. And the only time travel you need to worry about is City on the Edge of Forever (1930s), Assignment Earth (1960s), and Tomorrow is Yesterday (also 1960s).
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07-17-2018, 03:08 PM | #46 | |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: What TL is the original Star Trek?
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Bill Stoddard I don't think we're in Oz any more. |
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07-17-2018, 03:19 PM | #47 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ronkonkoma, NY
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Re: What TL is the original Star Trek?
Given that slingshot time travel was discovered by the Enterprise crew and only used a couple of times, I'd say it's fair to say that it's not part of the setting's overall technology level. Nobody's building a fleet of time travel ships; they're just using starships to try out the technique.
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07-17-2018, 03:39 PM | #48 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
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Re: What TL is the original Star Trek?
I was thinking more along the lines of what we know about Star Trek's history where TOS is concerned; but yeah; time travel is very much an “experimental only” technology in TOS, in the same realm as stable SAIs and brain transplants.
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07-17-2018, 04:15 PM | #49 |
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: UK
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Re: What TL is the original Star Trek?
tbh, I'd say that Star Trek characters (in every series) refer to "the computer" in the same way that modern techies would refer to "the Internet" or "the cloud". In practical terms, it's really a large collection of closely networked computers rather than a single computer. There have been plenty of scenes in which crew in one part of the ship have done stuff on the computer and it wasn't readily apparent to crew elsewhere.
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07-17-2018, 04:18 PM | #50 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ronkonkoma, NY
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Re: What TL is the original Star Trek?
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