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In The Original Series in the 60s, people had no idea what the future would look like or what technology would look like. In one of the early episodes, they had a paper print out machine on the bridge that looked like a fax machine, which was considered futuristic in the 1960s.
Like the example of the Enterprise fax machine, what technology or system do you think are we displaying in the current Star Trek shows that will show how dated we will become in the future?
Single Use Padds:
At first I thought PADDS were dumb as fuck.
Now though, I switch between phone, tablet, laptop, desktop, all the time.
I sometimes hand a device to someone else to show what I'm talking about, then grab a different device to continue what I was doing.
Coming from the mainframe era (which TNG did, PCs were just starting to become known to the average person when production started), it made sense. And today we have virtually the same thing if we choose - keep the data elsewhere, portable device is just an access point.
Sometimes it's just easier to hand someone a screen, and if they're simple to produce, why not?
Yeah, but they do go overboard at times. There's more than one instance where someone has a box full of PADDs with different info on each.
Yea, but that probably has more to do with replicator technology. Why interrupt your work on one PADD to check something or work on a related document "in another window" when you can replicate another one easily
I suppose, but they don't look organized or anything in the scenes I'm talking about. I wish I could remember the episodes or even series where this has happened, but it's happened more than once. Someone says they have to study something and they have a big, disorganized crate full of PADDs.
When I'm dealing with sets of documents, my desk doesn't look organized. I can easily see that happening if I replaced books with PADDs.
Ah yea, but this is a post-paper world, that box of PADDs would be what would today be a box of papers and books.
Oh yea, sometimes it's kind of over the top on the show.
As a real-world example - some Weather Channel hosts stand surrounded by waist-level screens. I've had a multi-monitor obsession since Serial Experiments Lain, and am currently typing this on a screen so big that I ran out of desk, and even I caught myself going "Think you got enough displays?"
But honestly... they can use them. They're zipping between subjects and views on-the-fly, and don't have time to alt-tab or squint at previews. It's gotta be helpful to have a physical object dedicated to full-quality interaction with one data set at any given time.
Of course the properly futuristic version is VR / AR. Some large rimless glasses with glints of light in them, where you can have as many floating rectangles as you like. Or indeed proper 3D models to walk around, instead of using 2D controls to place a flat-screen camera.
My headcanon has been that many of those PADDs are 1-time use read only devices that can't have the data copied, transferred, altered or deleted. When they're done, they just get resynthesized. They could be for classified data, secure reports, and so on. If it's just reading a couple duty shift reports, they are the small simple PADDs with scroll buttons. Intelligence reports on the sector, would have different levels of interactive bottoms on the sides. Potential prototype vessel upgrades, more space, more interactive features, and so on.
Alternate interpretation: Starfleet's mobile device UI isn't great for managing multiple documents that you quickly switch between. Everyone defaults to using multiple PADDs because they're not going to see a major revision of LCARS anytime soon.
(Also, they're free and easily obtained, just go to a replicator.)
I just realized the logistical support nightmare that would be. It has to support written language and cultural context for all Federation species without breaking UI/UX. It would also have to produce legible output for all those different vision systems, which could run the gamut of what's "visible" light frequencies, contrast, brightness, and suitable magnification. Once your software engineering dream-team solves all that, you don't change it. Ever. My head canon here is that LCARS is ugly and clunky, but is a compromise that everyone can manage to suffer through.
I find it amusing that a console featuring tangible buttons and lights with fixed positions, as seen on the original Enterprise, might actually be the better answer here.
Which would explain why TOS-era ships used those everywhere. Until they had LCARS and the matching display tech it was just easier to have everyone remember button positions.
Or it could just be a total misunderstanding of technology
Look at the size of those bevels
Bezels..?
Auto correct is dumb
Yeah, bezels. It was autocorrect, totally.
Maybe they get as annoyed as I do about fingerprints on the screen surface.
Hey, we're getting there lol. If you count things like RFID tags (which have circuitry and microcontrollers embedded), we have plenty of disposable, single-use tech.
There is definitely lots of single use tech in use today, but I'm more referring to IPAD/Tablet like things that seem to be single use in Trek shows.
Pretty sure they used single use PADDs to bridge the meaning of paperwork to the digital age.
What for example screams being busy more? A bunch paper stacks/PADDs or just a single PADD?
I don't think they're single use like you'd throw them away or anything. I think they use multiple PADDs so they can hold and interact and look at multiple documents at the same time.
In a post scarcity setting, it makes sense. Sometimes I like having multiple paper documents in front of me, and that feels like the equivalent.