Skip to main content

star trek - Why don't Starfleet vessels have intelligent on-board computers?


Computers on board Starfleet vessels are quite primitive compared to on board computers such as HAL 9000. At their best, they can decipher requests such as "Computer, delete that last sentence" and utter things such as "That crewman is no longer on board this vessel". Even real life computers will be capable of this within a decade or so (by some estimates). Even computers such as HAL 9000 are likely to be available within a few decades.


So, in a genre where intelligent computers are abound, why this strange absence? Did the Federation run into some Battlestar-Galactica-like problem with AI in the past and decide to keep on board computers decentralized?


But if that is the case, how can one explain Data and highly intelligent holographic characters? The technology and programming constructs clearly exist, yet Starfleet vessels continue to be manned by hundreds of people standing in front of consoles.




Answer



TOS-era, the Federation has a bad track record with AI:



TNG-era, they made some headway, but AI is still largely unexplored:



  • The obvious example, Commander Data and other Soong-type androids - but the Federation doesn't know how to make them.

  • The Exocomps, which were accidentally evolved rather than created.

  • Professor Moriarty, a holodeck "malfunction" that researchers still haven't figured out.

  • Nanites, which were also accidentally evolved and not safe to have technology around.



Basically, the technology that exists either isn't reliable or isn't reproducible.


And, as Iszi reminded me in the comments, Soong-type androids are neither reliable nor are they reproducible: Lore and Lal.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

harry potter - Did Dolores Umbridge Have Any Association with Voldemort (or Death Eaters) before His Return?

I noticed that Dolores Umbridge was born during the first Wizarding War, so it's very likely she wasn't a Death Eater then (but she is pretty evil -- who knows?). After that Voldemort was not around in a way that could affect many people, and most wouldn't know he was planning to rise again. During that time, and up through Voldemort's return (in Goblet of Fire ), did Umbridge have any connection with the Death Eaters or with Voldemort? Was she doing what she did on her own, or was it because of an association with Voldemort or his allies? Answer Dolores Umbridge was definitely not a good person. However, as Sirius points out, "the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters". Remember that he also says that he doesn't believe Umbridge to be a Death Eater, but that she's evil enough (or something like that). I think there are two strong reasons to believe that: Umbridge was proud to do everything according to the law, except when she trie...

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.

aliens - Interstellar Zoo story

I vaguely remember this story from my childhood: it was about an interstellar zoo that came to Earth with lots of bizarre and unusual species, and humans would file through and gape at all the crazy looking creatures from other planets. The twist came at the end when the perspective shifted to the other side of the bars and we discovered that the "creatures" were traveling through space on a kind of safari. They thought they were the visitors and we were the animals. Neither side knew that the other side thought they were the zoo creatures. Answer Got it. Zoo, by Edward D. Hoch. Published in 1958. Link to Publication History Link to PDF

harry potter - What is the difference between Diffindo and Sectumsempra?

In the Harry Potter books, Diffindo is called the 'Severing Charm' and it’s most commonly used to cut ropes and the like. However, in the last book Hermione uses it on Ron but misses, creating a 'slash in his jeans' and his knee gets cut, causing him to 'roar in pain'. We've only seen Sectumsempra used once on screen when Harry directly uses it on Malfoy in the sixth book, but there it's mentioned that he is 'waving his wand wildly'. Wouldn't Diffindo, if used in such a fashion also cause a similar effect? Similarly, if it was able to cut Ron, it would also be able to, say, chop off an ear (George's)? In that case, how are these two spells different, except for Sectumsempra seemingly used exclusively to hurt humans? Answer While Diffindo and Sectumsempra both can be countered by other spells, Diffindo is far more easily countered. Reparo, a relatively common spell, can completely reverse its effect when used once. “He pulled the old cop...