I was thinking the other day about, of all things, Star Trek. While this may sound odd hear me out. For those of us old enough to remember, Star Trek aired in 1966 and ran 3 seasons...so much for a five year mission. Since then it has been syndicated, led to 4 spin offs and several movies. That, however, is not what got me thinking; I was more focused on the tech.
ST was very much science fiction. Traveling to the stars at light speed and faster. And then there was the effects. While not great I'm sure these, along with the insanity of it and the fact the camera was already in place before the module touched down, is what led many people to believe we never landed a man on the moon. My grand mother was one of these. She believed the entire moon landing was shot on a Hollywood style studio....remember Capricorn One? But I digress. My focus, and thinking, was on the tech.
What wonderful toys they had on Star Trek. Communicators, Phasers, the PADD that every one walked around carrying. Oh to have such things in reality, but that is decades if not centuries away. Or is it? Let look at these one at a time.
Communicators: every one had one. You could be in immediate contact with whomever you wanted and you could do almost anywhere. Science fiction? Well what about the cell phone? Remember how these things started? Huge, bulky, expensive pieces of hardware. Now they are small, compact, offer texting, web, blue tooth (for hands free) and some even have walkie talkie type features. Well, that sounds damn close to a communicator to me. And you can call virtually anyone you want, a large number of people have them and some even allow you to call around the world. One down.
Phasers: Okay, we don't have that...yet. But science has projected a LASER on the moon, there are LASER pointing devices, and LASER sighting systems. And the last varies in size, range and application. You can get a LASER sight for a handgun, a hunting rifle, and the military is using LASER guided bombs and missiles. Phasers can't be that far behind.
PADD: The Personal Access Display Device, a hand-held computer interface. Science fiction? Really? Has anyone seen, or does anyone have, an iPad? It is, by its very nature and design, a PADD.
Obviously we do not have light speed travel but it is really that far fetched? I know what Einstein said about this but remember, it is a theory. It can't be proven until we actually obtain the skills and technology to try. So who is to say that we cannot travel at that speed? Maybe in our great grandchildren will see this happen in their lives. The idea of space travel is pretty cool but that isn't what I want right now. We have communicators per se; we have the PADD, and phasers can't be far away. Fine. What I really want to know is where are the transporters? THAT'S what I want.
Just think about it, vacations that don't require drive time or flights. No more plane crashes. No more car crashes. No more possibly of a terrorist high jacking. And no more TSA. The best part is the savings. Obviously the cost to design, build and make it work is expensive. Therefore it would require all governments to be on board, but once up and running you could travel for cost cost of turning on a microwave oven. A family trip to Great Britain, Asia, Europe, or anywhere else in the world for $5.00. Not a bad idea there.
So Start Trek technology, at least some of it, is no longer science fiction; it is fact and growing by leaps and bounds. That is really cool for those of us who grew up watching ST wishing we could have those toys. Now we do. Not what you expected from me on my blog? Sorry, but I would love to travel the world but I can't seem to hit the Power Ball. So come on Governments, NASA, MIT, etc.....where is my transporter?
