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See the original image at blahblahtech.com —

How close are we to star trek technology?

blahblahtech.com — So when did science fiction become science fact, eh? After reading this, you may just discover that we ’re a lot closer to the technology in Star Trek than you might think…

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  • Standup101, on 02/14/2008, -3/+18Star Trek was always a fun watch--does that make me a Trekkie?
    • logicalnoise, on 02/14/2008, -1/+11I always felt that a trekkie was someone who loved the shows and aspired to either be appart of that shows experience or aspire to help make the shows reality ours.
    • moskaudancer, on 02/14/2008, -0/+11No, just that you're at least a semi-geek and someone who can appreciate a good story.
    • bmson, on 02/14/2008, -1/+9http://duggmirror.com/general_sciences/How_close_a ...
    • Sino, on 02/15/2008, -2/+1Does Digging this up make me a trekkie?
    • t.toe, on 02/15/2008, -1/+1No, actually, that makes you a "Trekker". "Trekkies" are the nerds who know all there is to know about the shows and the Star Trek universe. And, from what I hear, they're very possessive of their "Trekkie" title.
  • latova, on 02/14/2008, -2/+57Scotty says he'll have the technology in a year. But he can give it to us in a month.
    • moskaudancer, on 02/14/2008, -1/+11Damn, Scotty's always underestimating himself. He really ought to give himself more credit.
      • Kumah, on 02/14/2008, -1/+21In Next Generation Scotty explains that it was an intentional ploy to make Kirk think he was the best engineer ever. Duh.
  • ForbesBingley, on 02/14/2008, -3/+50"Very funny Mr. Scott. Now beam down my clothes."
  • BigManOnCampus, on 02/14/2008, -7/+26Isn't that an image of a light-saber? What exactly is that supposed to be? Doesn't look Star Trek to me.
    • MellerTime, on 02/14/2008, -1/+10Spock's marshmallow creator?
    • moskaudancer, on 02/14/2008, -3/+1It's not a warp core or a torpedo. If it's a Trek gadget, I don't what it is.
    • twb010, on 02/14/2008, -1/+24It is a universal translator from the Original Series. I guess I am the only one brave(or stupid) enough to admit to knowing what it is.
      • skunks, on 02/15/2008, -1/+7Sadly, I recognized it as well...
      • rootneg2, on 02/15/2008, -1/+5damn I thought it was a hypospray.

        my_geekness--;
      • BigManOnCampus, on 02/15/2008, -0/+1What episode was that used in? I don't remember that thing.
  • MagnumVP, on 02/14/2008, -5/+3They might have the technology soon, but it won't be in my lifetime for it to be used the way I want it done.
    • moskaudancer, on 02/14/2008, -7/+2Sorry, I responded to the wrong comment. Please digg down.
    • dOOBiEx213, on 02/15/2008, -0/+1Sure we already have it, we just don't know about it.
  • jamesrdorn, on 02/14/2008, -4/+182009... duh...
    http://digg.com/movies/Star_Trek_pushed_back_to_20 ...
  • glasnostic, on 02/14/2008, -1/+54apparently we are still a few years from servers that can handle a digg story about Star Trek
    • medledan, on 02/15/2008, -4/+2LOL!! HAHAHAH account suspended HAHAHAHHAH!!
    • hseldon, on 02/15/2008, -0/+2Hostgator by the smell of it.
  • Esoteric1, on 02/14/2008, -8/+2Its gonna take a while cuz my prof at college says so.
    • Kr4t05, on 02/14/2008, -2/+5As long as there are people that still can't spell words like "because" or "professor," we'll never make any progress. >>
  • allengeer, on 02/14/2008, -1/+7engage.
  • chingy1788, on 02/14/2008, -2/+5I'd say pretty far, since its at 141 Diggs and its not loading for me
  • Dumbledorito, on 02/14/2008, -1/+11Closer than we were back in 2006, when this was written.
  • austenw, on 02/14/2008, -4/+19Wordpress = Epic Fail
  • SilverBlade2k, on 02/14/2008, -1/+5forget Star Trek technology, how about decent servers that can handle digg users first?
  • JulyZerg, on 02/14/2008, -1/+0O.o
  • Trav3133, on 02/14/2008, -1/+2not close @ all
  • NonLeftistDiggr, on 02/14/2008, -3/+7Show me some blue chicks that are bangable and I'll tell you how far along we are.
    • santiago1, on 02/14/2008, -0/+9Mr. Shatner, is that you?
    • Kronos6948, on 02/15/2008, -0/+6You dig Andorians?
    • rootneg2, on 02/15/2008, -0/+3dunno about blue.

      but those Orion slave girls really pull of the green look...
  • RobsaysHello, on 02/14/2008, -6/+3less than 12 parsecs.
  • PolarBearFire, on 02/14/2008, -3/+9Warp drive, teleportation, holodeck, universal translator, replicator, green alien babes. Can't reach the server, but I guessing I won't see any of those tech in my lifetime so we are nowhere close. Fools!
  • Garofoli, on 02/14/2008, -5/+1Dig effect at 162 mere diggs, eh?
  • Ibox, on 02/14/2008, -6/+3Wordpress has enuf articles on Digg, you'd think they'd stop sucking eventually... down @162
    • EXreaction, on 02/14/2008, -0/+3Yes, blame the software developers of wordpress for the unrelated owner of some blog's crappy host.
  • arunforce, on 02/14/2008, -1/+5We look at a 2006 article to address the future?
  • smashingmonkey, on 02/14/2008, -1/+10Just be sure to keep a mop near the holodeck.
    • DivisibleByZero, on 02/15/2008, -0/+3I guess a holographic mop wouldn't really do any good. Would just leave the mess behind once you ended the program.
  • Alcorr, on 02/14/2008, -1/+7Mirror?
  • coffee200am, on 02/14/2008, -2/+5Incoming transmission from blahblahtech...

    " We...are....down.....help..."

    End transmission.
  • skellener, on 02/14/2008, -1/+6Too bad we're no closer to the ideals of Star Trek like ridding the world of poverty, racism and intolerance. Especially after the last 8 years. Here' s hoping for the progress in the next 4-8 years!
    • krd1979, on 02/15/2008, -1/+4Yep, it's all Bush's fault... he's directly taking food from children, all while spewing racial slurs, driving his ozone killer car, and shooting gay people in the face (oh, wait that was Cheney).
      • darklights, on 02/15/2008, -2/+1Actually, yes. Look up the ethanol fuel plan by Bush, and how it is driving up the price of basic foods around the world. Dunno about the racial slurs bit, but wouldnt be suprised.
        • DRINKxREDxBULL, on 02/15/2008, -2/+1If you don't like ethanol then vote for McCain. He is the only candidate who went through Iowa telling them he would NOT subsidize ethanol.
    • DRINKxREDxBULL, on 02/15/2008, -0/+4I think replicator technology had more to do with that than any political efforts.......
  • frombeyond, on 02/14/2008, -4/+7How close are we to Seven of Nine sex robots. Thats all that matters.
    • DivisibleByZero, on 02/15/2008, -0/+1*****, even in the 24th century, nobody buy Chakotay had one of those. She was frigid. We'll be waiting a while.
  • osofast, on 02/14/2008, -1/+10we are pretty close, check out this theme on the nokia n800

    http://synthesize.us/LCARS_PADD
    • MacEnvy, on 02/15/2008, -1/+4I wish I could get that for Windows Mobile 6 ... I would totally use that.
  • Bidofthis, on 02/14/2008, -2/+1Trek or Treat!
    http://www.thejoekorner.com/scripted-photo-display ...
  • bennovw, on 02/14/2008, -1/+1Mirror?
  • djbon2112, on 02/14/2008, -0/+1It's down, anyone have a mirror?
  • TweekyD, on 02/15/2008, -0/+3Transparent Aluminum ... transparent server more like!!
    • DivisibleByZero, on 02/15/2008, -0/+1Clearly HE didn't invent the thing.
  • randeepjalli0, on 02/15/2008, -1/+10http://duggmirror.com/general_sciences/How_close_a ...

  • Uchikoma, on 02/15/2008, -2/+3Duggmirror got it:

    http://duggmirror.com/general_sciences/How_close_a ...
    Not to mention that this article was from...2006? Wtf? It's 2008 people -_-;
  • angusm, on 02/15/2008, -0/+3In the future, everyone will be William Shatner for 15 minutes.

  • BluesFan, on 02/15/2008, -1/+3holodeck porn style....***** yeah!
    • merkk, on 02/15/2008, -0/+4have you seen some of the holodeck accidents? I dont think I'd want to know what sort of holoporn accidents you could get into :)
    • Jarasmen, on 02/15/2008, -0/+2Dude, just treat yourself to a prostitute...
      • Plinkotic, on 02/15/2008, -0/+2A hardlight Vag accidently BSODing my junk off? No thanks. When Linux makes a Holodeck, then sure. Til then, I'll wait. I do wonder why we never saw any Holodeck stuff mimicking famous wars or fictional characters of our time. They remember Shakespeare and not Spiderman?

        Not on my planet.
      • Tahiri, on 02/15/2008, -2/+1They had taste. You don't.
  • theOnlyChick, on 02/15/2008, -0/+2http://duggmirror.com/general_sciences/How_close_a ...
  • mal1964, on 02/15/2008, -0/+1I can do the hand thing, "Live long and prosper" you just cant see here.
  • adml_shake, on 02/15/2008, -0/+10Most scientists today got into the various fields they are in because of Star Trek.
  • Joomal, on 02/15/2008, -1/+4Obviously not close enough that people still can't purchase enough bandwidth for their websites.
  • ukoa, on 02/15/2008, -7/+1This article is like my Grandmother, old and buried....
  • bonds, on 02/15/2008, -0/+3Mister Crusher, set course for good times...maximum warp. Engage!
  • DivisibleByZero, on 02/15/2008, -0/+5The thing about teleportation always seems weird to me. It's cool that they can actually teleport matter, but for a functioning teleporter, you don't necessarily need the same exact atoms on the other end. Just so long as you've got all the needed building blocks and data on how to put them together....you could basically duplicate a person somewhere else and optionally disassemble the old one.

    Whether you're using new atoms, or moving the same ones around, you'll need to be able to take stuff apart and put it together... so that's the part of the technology we need to focus on.
    • merkk, on 02/15/2008, -0/+5The transporter stuff in trek has always been a little flakey, because they've done what you said but sometimes they have basically violated the laws of conservation of matter/energy to do it. There has been more then one episode where someone stepped into the transporter and they wound up with two of the same person.

      If I suddenly found myself sucked into the star trek universe, i think i'd be with Dr McCoy and not trust the transporter. Since as far as I understand it, it basically kills you, and then makes an exact copy. I'd prefer to travel without the dying aspect :)
      • adriyel, on 02/15/2008, -1/+2There's no difference...you have no soul...no one does. *rolls eyes* All there is is your body mate. That's it. you're just atoms. Get over it.
        • rootneg2, on 02/15/2008, -0/+3still, nobody is ripping my atoms apart and spewing them across space to get put back together again by some magic box.

          I'll take a shuttlecraft thank-you-very-much.
        • DivisibleByZero, on 02/15/2008, -0/+3Well on that one episode where Picard got taken over by some energy being, they kind of suggested that the only way they were able to bring him back was that his "life force" or something was out in the energy cloud...which would basically mean that you couldn't create a human replicating device (which probably also has something to do with why they could never get moriarty out of the holodeck).

          So in the star trek universe, people (and evidently holograms) have souls. Real world? Verdict's still out on that one.
      • DivisibleByZero, on 02/15/2008, -0/+2None of the transporter duplication would necessarily violate conservation of matter. They've got big vats of arbitrary matter sitting around to fuel the replicators, so they could just construct a duplicate out of that.

        I think a lot of it's actually reclaimed waste, which probably includes the corpse you left beaming out, as well as everybodys poop and garbage.
  • Daiken, on 02/15/2008, -6/+4Buried. We're nowhere close and I don't need some stupid article to tell me otherwise. We will not achieve warp travel anytime soon. We will likely never be able to create a replicator. Teleporters might be theoretically possible but you would likely end up killing person at point A and recreating him at point B, still won't ever happen. Phasers? nope. Artificial gravity (without spinning and crap)...nope. Imuplse drives? nope. Force fields? nope. Holodeck is probably not even possible. The list goes on...
    • sdellboy, on 02/15/2008, -1/+4We're nowhere close to inventing anything to replace the horse-drawn carriage. We'll never achieve mass communications - embracing pigeon technology is the best option. And as for curing diseases, putting people into space and flight? Pipe dreams.
    • merkk, on 02/15/2008, -1/+4Actually, we have teleported things already. We're little bit aways from teleporting people though since at this point all we teleported was a single photon, but you have to start somewhere. And at least we didn't wind up with a good photo and an evil photon copy :)

      I wouldn't dismiss phasers either. We already have lasers that would pretty much vaporize a person if they got hit by it. And we have lots of non-lethal weapons which might not shoot out a beam of light but still do a pretty good job of stunning you. (do a google search for the microwave based one, its pretty cool).

      Impulse drives are completely practical drive system. NASA has even come up with some designs for probes and whatnot to use one. Agree with you on warp drive though....nothing close to that happening anytime soon that i've read about. And we havent found anything like force fields either as far as i know.

      However, there were some things you didnt mention.

      What about the tricorder? The thing that can scan you and find outs whats wrong...sounds sorta like a CAT scan or MRI scan to me. Granted, they aren't nearly as small as a tricorder, but give it time :)

      And also with the tricorder - the tricorder was basically a powerful handheld computer and laboratory. We'll we have some pretty good handheld computers today. And we're working on nano sized lab testing equipment. You could fit a bunch of different chemical tests all on one chip. Just pair that up with a good pda and you've got something that acts close to a tricorder.

      Anyhow, i'm not saying we're going to be traveling to the romulan neutral zone tomorrow. But we're not absolutely far off from everything futuristic in trek. Some of it is not so far off.
  • Radical5, on 02/15/2008, -0/+0Aw3some
  • hseldon, on 02/15/2008, -0/+4The "Trophy Active Protection System" is a projectile that shoots at an incoming munition. Not quite a "force field".
  • Zlorp, on 02/15/2008, -0/+5teleporters will never work like they do in star trek, the only teleportation we know of would destroy the original person and create another one at the other end
    • shdwfthsun, on 02/15/2008, -0/+2That's exactly what I think. It even becomes a moral problem if you believe that everyone has a soul. When you kill someone in the process of teleportation, what occupies the re-animated body?
      • MacEnvy, on 02/15/2008, -0/+1If you do have a soul, repent in some way and then go into the transporter. Your soul will be gone by the time you get to the other end of the transporter. Then you can live a life of excess without worrying about your "everlasting soul". Sounds like a good deal to me.
    • rootneg2, on 02/15/2008, -0/+3nobody cares about the guy in the box...
  • Technopope, on 02/15/2008, -0/+7We exceeded the technology of Star Trek decades ago with the invention of the "fuse".
    • B1663r, on 02/15/2008, -1/+1What??? Star Trek technology uses some form of advanced diodeless technology where it works differently if you reverse the polarity. I know 99% of the time, when I reverse the polarity of modern electronics they usually spark some, then never work again after that.
    • jgzman, on 02/15/2008, -0/+2Also the 'surge protector.'
  • Mist0r_Wiggles, on 02/15/2008, -0/+1well one thing is for sure, we'll be closer in 25 years.
  • nydwarf, on 02/15/2008, -0/+1What's up with internet hosting companies these days these accounts get suspended way too quickly.
  • starscream45, on 02/15/2008, -1/+6Am I the only one that thinks cloaking devices would be a bad thing. Some person that gets their hands on one could just sit in a parking lot and walk up to you and punch you in the face and steal your wallet or purse. You'd never even know what hit you. Hopefully it would be like predator and you could sort of see them moving.
    I bet a lot of high school boys wouldn't mind having a cloaking device though (ladies locker room).
    • MacEnvy, on 02/15/2008, -0/+3Everyone would just start walking around with infrared goggles. They'd probably build them into sunglasses and contact lenses.
      • rootneg2, on 02/15/2008, -0/+3if cloaking works in the visible spectrum then it probably wouldn't be to hard to extend the range slightly into the IR and UV ranges.

        You would probably have to start looking at a wholly new scale of EM radiation like microwaves or x-rays to defeat it.
    • jgzman, on 02/15/2008, -0/+3Well, if you can have a personal cloaking device, I want a personal deflector shield.
      Actually, no. I'd rather have the cloaking device myself.
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