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In the Star Trek The Next Generation Technical Manual which I obsessed about as a child, the authors (Rick Sternbach and Micheal Okuda, graphic designers on the
by qubex 9y ago
In the Star Trek The Next Generation Technical Manual which I obsessed about as a child, the authors (Rick Sternbach and Micheal Okuda, graphic designers on the show) go to great pains to emphasise grow things about the replicators: first, that they have limitations in terms of resolution, and that replicated objects are only ”approximately correct” (something that in-universe is referred to as ”molecular resolution”, so that they cannot run off and start replicating characters)m and secondly, that replication has a huge energetic cost (to foreclose on the risk that one might infer the capability to replicate whole starships at the press of a button). As such, I have never viewed the replicators as being ”post-scarcity” myself, but to have simply shifted the effective constraint to an energetic limitation.
- XorNot 9y agoOn some level they're probably just efficient sewage processing.
- jdietrich 9y agoAstronauts on the ISS mostly drink recycled water, including bodily fluids: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISS_ECLSS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISS_ECLSS
- KozmoNau7 9y agoSo the replicators make a liquid that is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea?
- grzm 9y agoTē, Erl Gray, hot?
- lloeki 9y ago> replicated objects are only ”approximately correct” Regarding food and drinks, there are numerous quips across TNG that replicated edible things aren't quite up to spec to the homemade, natural ones, and often altered to provide optimal nutrients† or prevent deleterious effects (notably alcohol). † I suppose that's how Troy's getting away with her massive chocolate dessert consumption
- FractalLP 9y agoYea, Scotty doesn't like Synthol in that TNG episode where he gets revived.