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Star Trek Tech That Exists Today

Posted by Soulskill on from the where-are-my-self-sealing-stembolts dept.

Esther Schindler writes "When Star Trek hit the air waves, talking computers were just a pipe dream. While teleportation remains elusive, several once-fictional technologies are changing the way people live and work. Here are some ways in which we're approaching the gizmos that Star Trek demonstrated. Speech recognition? Check. Holodeck? Sort of. Replicator? Workin' on it."

8 of 207 comments (clear)

  1. Personal Waste Transporters by ad454 · · Score: 4, Funny

    The Star Trek trek that I thought was the most futuristic was the Personal Waste Transporters that would automatically beam out solid, liquid, and gaseous human waste, plus dirt, oil, etc.; which eliminated the need for toilets, showers, etc. from Star Ships and Away Missions.

    Strange that in Star Trek, they could beam away all of the bad stuff from their bodies, but would still need to eat and drink in traditional fashion.

    Prior to the Waste Transporters, I don't want to even think about how rough Klingon toilet paper would have been, Vulcan deodorant which requires mental discipline to ignore orders, or the poor quality of a Ferengi tampons that fall apart.

  2. More important: by vlm · · Score: 4, Funny

    More important:

    Tribbles
    Romulan Ale and synthehol
    Green skinned orion womens
    Space Hippies
    Hand held Hypo sprays full of tranquilizers (There are non-hand held ones available since the 70s)
    Pesky GD "son of a chief medical officer" ensigns
    Skin tight leotards as a women's businesswear. Microskirts as traditional women's businesswear.
    Holodecks full of amorous versions of your female coworkers "I am the goddess of love" or whatever that line was.

    Now that I think of it, you keep all that dilithium stuff and just provide the leotards and mini skirts.

    --
    "Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
    1. Re:More important: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Holodecks full of amorous versions of your female coworkers "I am the goddess of love" or whatever that line was.

      NO! HELL NO! You CLEARLY don't work where I do.

    2. Re:More important: by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 4, Funny

      I live on the west coast, and let me tell you - most of the women who wear yoga pants around here really have no business wearing yoga pants.

      --
      #DeleteChrome
  3. Re:Teleportation remains elusive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Teleportation remains elusive

    That's really neither here nor there

  4. Re:iPhone by neonKow · · Score: 4, Funny

    Sounds more like they are ebook readers in the book.

    And anyway, you shouldn't assume all tablets are iPads. They could very well have been Samsung tablets.

  5. Re:Not really... by neonKow · · Score: 4, Funny

    Hey, I played Tomb Raider, and I can definitely tell you the ancient Egyptians had automatic waist-height axes. Slap some doors on them, and you have automatic doors!

  6. Re:Teleportation remains elusive by iBod · · Score: 5, Funny

    Indeed.

    When I was a kid I used to fantasize about a future where the would be teleportation booths on every street corner.

    You'd walk in, pop some coins in the slot, dial your destination then whoooooooo.....

    I live in the UK so the teleportation booths would be run by BT, Vodafone, O2 or possibly Virgin. I imagine that you could get an off-peak tariff to be able to teleport anywhere in the world after 6pm.

    Trouble is, your head would arrive at the intended destination but your limbless and bloody torso would arrive somewhere in Cairo and your assorted arms and legs would be buffered indefinitely, only to ve lost for all time once they reboot their server.