Star Trek and History

by Reagin, Nancy

  From Voyager, B’Elanna is another great example of an information technician in Star Trek, and she is also an example of women participating in the field. Like Scotty and La Forge before her, she is the chief engineer of her ship. The directors who cast Roxann Dawson, who is Latina, as Torres made her a role model for minority IT professionals—as did the decision to cast Levar Burton, who is African American, as La Forge. Torres has to overcome some racial bias: she is half Klingon, half human. Torres is excellent proof that regardless of race or gender, one can be a great information technician. Although initially against naming Torres the chief engineer of the Voyager, Captain Kathryn Janeway decided to appoint Torres after Torres manages to help rescue the ship from being trapped in a quantum singularity (VOY, “Parallax”). Torres also has substantial knowledge of Voyager’s technology and its capabilities. After blasting a hole through a nebula that turns out to be a cloudlike being, she suggests and implements the possibility of regenerating the wound by modifying a “nucleogenic” beam. She succeeds (VOY, “The Cloud”).

  The Android with a Billion Apps (or: Why Don’t I Have Cool Stuff Like That?)

  “Believing oneself to be perfect is often the sign of a delusional mind.”

  —Commander Data, Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

  There are a lot of different pieces of technology in the Star Trek universe. Some of them have been produced since the 1960s for mass consumption, including the personal data devices and instant communicators discussed previously. Unfortunately, some of the more amazing technology hasn’t come to pass yet. While some of these currently unreachable technologies are only a few discoveries away, some exist very far into our future, or may never be developed. One of the greatest examples of these is the android Data.

  Data is one of the most advanced technologies shown in Star Trek. He is a fully functional android, capable of performing almost all of the tasks any human would need to accomplish, and many more. On more than one occasion Data has even been the acting captain of the Enterprise. He has defended the Enterprise from aliens, other androids, and even its own crew. He also possesses the ability to learn (while this is shown in many episodes throughout the series, the episode “Inheritance” puts the most emphasis and explanation into the ability). Data proves to be a very interesting character.

  Despite seeming perfect, Data is unable to feel human emotions without the aid of another piece of equipment: the emotion chip. While this prevents him from being rash in pressing situations, it also prevents him from making humane decisions on his own sometimes. He is designed to aid, but he does so logically, and without feeling. He also isn’t always compatible with other technology. When La Forge proposes hooking up Data to the ship’s computer as a sort of fail-safe backup system, the end result traps Lt. Worf and some other beings inside a defective holodeck program (TNG, “A Fistful of Datas”).

  While Noonien Soong (creator of Data, Lore, and other Star Trek androids) seems to have understood humans enough to begin artificially replicating them, current-day computer scientists and programmers in our timeline do not. Data’s movements are fluid, his speech is formal and eloquent, and his processor of a brain computes at almost twice the rate of a human brain.

  Teams of scientists and engineers are currently working on different aspects of robotics and artificial intelligence around the world, but as of 2012, we do not possess any technology even close to that of Data. There are companies and institutes in Japan, such as the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, that are working on robots that can dance and move with little outside control.14 Even so, their movements are limited as they are usually preprogramed. Meanwhile, there are other robots such as Roombas that are motion sensitive and can sense objects around them. They are not intelligent in the sense that Data is.

  Since the beginnings of computer science, theorists have speculated about creating artificially intelligent beings like Data. Alan Turing, sometimes considered the father of modern computer science, predicted in 1950 that intelligent machines might be created within the next fifty years. He devised a test, the “Turing test,” which is a thought experiment in how to determine whether or not a machine possesses artificial intelligence.15 The test has a human interrogator, a human contestant, and a computer contestant. The interrogator then uses a teleprinter to relay questions to the two contestants (in a different room). If the computer can answer the interrogator’s questions in such a way as to make the interrogator unable to differentiate between the machine and the human, the machine “passes the test.”16 Even the Turing test, in which a machine only has to mimic human speech, has proven too high a bar for artificially intelligent machines; none has ever passed it. An android with feelings and sophisticated, original, creative thoughts like Data is far outside the realm of what people in the present-day field of artificial intelligence think a machine can do.

  One of the biggest hurdles to overcome in robotic/android design and implementation is the re-creation of the five senses. Touch, smell, sight, hearing, and taste are all extremely difficult to simulate artificially.17 A robot can be programmed to react when a pressure plate is activated, simulating one aspect of touch. In fact, such devices are easy to buy online, and they can be seen in iPads and other touch products. But there’s much more to it than just registering a touch. Even adding a temperature sensor isn’t enough to make it more human. How does one go about making it feel pain or having it differentiate between textures? These are the complications with touch.

  Sight is even more difficult. What makes a human “see”? How do we translate that to mechanics? If you add a camera to a robot, does it see? Perhaps programming it to write what it observes to a graphic file can help, but even then it must be programmed to “understand” the data, or else it’s just a snapshot. A robot would also need depth perception and the ability to understand opacity and whether or not the robot can move through a substance. Designing a robot that has the sense of sight is not an easy task. One university in the United States that is doing research on how to get a robot to actually perceive its surroundings is Fordham University. They currently run different tests in their robotics labs, such as using “Terrain Spatiograms” that use various sensors to map out an area, effectively allowing the robot to read its surroundings and to make the information accessible to other machines.18

  There are many different devices in our world that are sound activated. We have GPS systems, phones, even stereos that respond to the sound of someone’s voice. Following that logic, it shouldn’t be too hard to get an android to respond to sound. However, responding to and actually “hearing” sounds are two entirely different problems to solve from a programming standpoint. Once again, it’s the challenge of “understanding” that is the real issue. In The Next Generation Data was able to hear and understand a situation, and then act upon it. In our universe it is hard enough to program a phone to accept the word call. Companies such as Sun Microsystems are intent on closing the gap between “accepting” and “understanding” verbal commands. Sun has various codes set up for programmers to use to incorporate voice recognition into their own creations.19

  Perhaps the closest thing the world has right now to a supercomputer necessary to do all of these things is IBM’s Watson. It “understands” natural language, which in layman’s terms means that it can pick out important keywords in a question or statement and search its immense database for an answer that seems to correspond to every keyword registered. Watson can’t move, nor can it hear or see. Despite these limitations, it is the epitome of robotic progress. IBM is currently trying to push Watson further by implementing enough processors to hold 120 petabytes of memory.20 A petabyte is approximately one quadrillion bytes. To put things in perspective, Star Trek writers in the 1990s gave Data a memory capacity of 100 petabytes (TNG: “The Measure of a Man”).

  Watson may not be the “missing link” between current computers and Data-like androids (except in terms of raw memory), but it is more closely relat
ed to the EMH (emergency medical hologram) program found on the USS Voyager in Voyager. While Watson does not have the ability to become a hologram and directly interact with people, IBM hopes a Watson-like computer will soon be used by hospitals around the world. Watson’s ability to locate and use keywords makes it an excellent companion in medical fields, especially in diagnostics. After someone enters a few symptoms of a patient, the computer will respond with a few possible causes of an illness. The more information that it receives, the better the chance that its diagnosis will be accurate. This would vastly improve the amount of time spent on trying to accurately diagnose a patient.21

  Another interesting advanced device that the Star Trek universe has that ours doesn’t is the holodeck itself. IMAX theaters can create the illusion of being in a different time period or location, and our 3-D capabilities enhance the feeling, but compared to the holodeck found in The Next Generation, Voyager, and Deep Space Nine, an illusion is all it is. Unlike the holodeck, there is no way to interact with the illusion.

  Throughout the various series, the holodeck is used in multiple ways. It contains many different programs, and it has the ability to produce some solid replications of actual matter, such as food. It has been used as everything from a swimming pool to a Wild West simulation. Although preprogrammed with seemingly hundreds of scenarios and uses, it can also be programmed to specific needs, as seen when La Forge creates the holographic Dr. Brahms. Voyager also uses the EMH, which exists as a separate entity from the holodeck. The holodeck is a useful technological advancement that doesn’t exist yet.

  Jean-Luc Picard Has Joined Faceborg

  “I am Locutus of Borg. Resistance is futile. Your life as it has been is over. From this time forward you will service us.”

  —Locutus of Borg (Captain Jean-Luc Picard), TNG, “Best of Both Worlds”

  The hivemind is upon us. I bet you were just thinking the same thing (see how it works?). If you think about it, is there really a difference between Mark Zuckerberg and the Borg Queen? Both have made it far easier than normal to connect with other people. They both give us one set design to identify ourselves. While Zuckerberg gives us a web page with a limited way to creatively express ourselves, the Borg Queen wishes to fit us with brain-sapping headgear to take away all of our individuality. However, some of us are only one Farmville request away from losing our free will anyway. If the Borg from Star Trek resemble anything in contemporary life, it is Facebook.

  The Borg are an advanced collective found in multiple episodes, and one movie, of the Star Trek series. It is their goal to attain perfection by assimilating as many races and species as they can. They try to absorb the weapons, technologies, and skills of everyone they come across. Perhaps their entire mission statement can be summed up by the famous quote, “Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile” (Star Trek: First Contact). The Borg are a nuisance to be dealt with in every series except the first Star Trek series, although Voyager sees them in action more than any other series. The Next Generation creators stated that the reason the Borg were used so rarely in the show was that they were overpoweringly superior to the Federation’s defenses, and it was difficult to write ways out of a Borg attack.22

  While not everyone finds Facebook addicting, there are many people who do. According to the Nielsen Social Media Report, computer users in the United States spend more time on Facebook than on any other website.23 It is the constant urge to be connected that draws most people to it. Currently Facebook has over 750 million users, with approximately 50 percent of those users logging in on any given day. About 33.3 percent of these users access Facebook via their phones. These users also spend about seven hundred billion minutes on Facebook a month.24 The younger generations tend to appreciate Facebook even more than the older ones, as the instantaneous exchange of information is necessary, or else they’ll get bored. Patience is no longer just a virtue; it’s a four-leaf clover in a barren field.

  Perhaps it’s time for some direct comparison. Facebook’s actual mission statement asserts that “Facebook’s mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.”25 The Borg Queen, through technological improvements, gives the Borg the ability to share what is happening through a psychiclike link that also keeps them connected. Zuckerberg actually uses the term connect a lot throughout Facebook documents. After all, that is Facebook’s goal: the connection of the human race. Another interesting fact about Facebook is that its platform allows other websites (currently 2.5 million) to “integrate” with it, thus assuring “your culture will be adapted to service us.”26 Like the Borg, Facebook also has a knack for taking existing technology and improving upon it. In an attempt to “increase the user experience” (read: get some of its users back) AOL created software that connected AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) to Facebook Chat. Those who used the software conducted their conversations under their Facebook ID, rather than their AIM screen name, forcing AOL to accept that, truly, resistance is futile.27

  Another parallel is reflected in the old real estate phrase “location, location, location.” The first action the Borg take against the Enterprise in Star Trek: First Contact is to go for their maps. “This is not coincidental—maps and power are complementary.”28 Zuckerberg is also aware of how important it is to know information about different areas for advancement and expansion. Although Facebook started in the United States, almost 70 percent of its users are from different countries.29 Maps are crucial to any expanding empire.

  Perhaps Star Trek knew the fate of the world when it introduced the Borg. If anything, they symbolize the very human desire to convert people to our ideological beliefs and “teach” them our ways. This is what the human heart wants most: understanding. We want others to know what we know, to feel how we feel. That’s the power the Internet gives us. Not only do we get instantaneous transfer of news and information but also of hopes, dreams, and emotions.

  The biggest downfall of a hivemind, a collective consciousness like the one the Borg belong to, is the loss of originality. The Facebook page is available in only one design, one color scheme. This makes the site more uniform and navigable. It makes it simple and easy. As the Borg would say, it makes it “perfect.” Everything becomes bleak and gray after a while since the primary goal is efficiency rather than presentation. While this is a logical course of action, it is rarely ever the ideal course of action.

  Of course, the Borg are too advanced and powerful a group to be described by just one website. While the Borg do seem like the endgame result of social media, it is more accurate to compare them to the dreaded event forecast in the concept of the “Technological Singularity.” The term was coined by Vernor Vinge in 1993, but the general idea can be dated as far back as Turing: “Once the machine thinking method has started, it would not take long to outstrip our feeble powers.”30 The Singularity foresees a future date when all of the world’s knowledge and information will be contained in a single machine.31

  The coming of the Singularity is implicitly predicted by Moore’s Law, a law that states that technology will approximately double in power and capabilities every twenty-four months, while also decreasing in size. This law is named after Intel cofounder Gordon E. Moore, who wrote an article published in 1965 describing the phenomenon.32 Moore predicted that technology would keep improving in terms of power, based on the falling cost of components and the increase of components per device (in Moore’s case a silicon chip). The law was modified slightly in 1975 (changing the projection of doubling from twelve months to twenty-four months) and has remained true for nearly half a century since. At this rate, it is expected that technology will have the ability to store the entire collection of human knowledge (that is, every bit of known data on the planet) around the 2040s. Are the Borg far behind?

  While we don’t yet have the Borg, or even Data, we have long since achieved and surpassed every function of the Star Trek communicators. We have automatic doors. Our current PDAs and iPad
s rival, and in most aspects exceed, the capabilities of the PADDs, which were staples in intergalactic travel in Star Trek since at least 2060. IBM’s Watson, arguably one of our most advanced AI machines, is undergoing an installation of memory that would allow it to hold 20 petabytes more than Data. We are advancing rapidly, even more rapidly than Gene Roddenberry could have imagined in the 1960s. Still, there are algorithms to solve and there are data to be plotted: we may even reach the singularity. All that’s known is that the future is wild, and as long as Star Trek remains a cherished artifact of human history, it will inspire new generations of IT professionals.

  Notes

  1. The speed of light is unsurpassable. The basic warp speed, “Warp 1,” is equivalent to the speed of light. There are about twenty superior warp speeds, each surpassing light speed using a cubic equation in Star Trek. For The Next Generation and on, a new scale was created and used by Mike Okuda (art and special effects director for TNG), limiting the warp factor to 10 (9.999 before needing infinite energy). M. Bret Godfrey, “Engineering Department: Warp Speed Defined,” Star-fleet.com, Online Star Trek Roleplaying, December 20, 2008, http://www.star-fleet.com/ed/warp-chart.html.

  2. Roddenberry gave many lectures throughout the 1970s and 1980s. “Gene Roddenberry Founder Bio,” the Roddenberry Foundation, http://www.roddenberryfoundation.org/.