5 ms·

Aluminium oxynitride, which is in fact transparent, was dubbed "transparent aluminum" after Star Trek. Fun stuff. I wonder how many inventions are inspired or

Aluminium oxynitride, which is in fact transparent, was dubbed "transparent aluminum" after Star Trek. Fun stuff. I wonder how many inventions are inspired or named after that show. "The Next Generation" particularly featured touch screens and tablet computers long before those things were common. And original series communicators bear more than a passing resemblance to cellphones.

shkkmo 4y ago
> "The Next Generation" particularly featured touch screens and tablet computers long before those things were common And called them PADDs amusingly enough.
- Izkata 4y ago
  "Personal Access Display Device" for the mildly curious.
kurthr 4y ago
It's kinda weird they didn't just use sapphire as "transparent aluminum". AlOxNy is actually somewhat harder (and more difficult to etch) than sapphire, but weird any way.
moron4hire 4y ago
Star Trek's PADDs are also interesting for what they don't show. You'll see many instances of characters giving PADDs to each other. There's one particular scene in an episode of DS9 where Sisco has a whole stack of PADDs on his desk, and he laments the workload. Star Trek figured out touch screens and personal data devices, but didn't figure out basic networked data communication, i.e. email attachments. At a time when email existed! I think of this every time I hand my phone to my wife to show her some stupid joke on Twitter or in a text message thread with my friends.
- ncmncm 4y ago
  Try to imagine how you would visually indicate a big workload without the stack. Kinda dumb, but dramatically effective, in its way.
  - noizejoy 4y ago
    Not that dumb? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeuomorph https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeuomorph
- krapp 4y ago
  >Star Trek figured out touch screens and personal data devices, but didn't figure out basic networked data communication, i.e. email attachments. At a time when email existed! I think it's more that they wanted to convey, to the viewer, that information was being passed from place to place, or have stacks of PADDs serve as easy visual metaphors for "piles of paperwork" or what have you. Star Trek isn't actually trying to extrapolate realistic future technology, it's telling dramatic stories In Space, and the needs of the narrative always come first.
  - ncmncm 4y ago
    Jinx!
  - ggm 4y ago
    "The needs of the narrative outweigh the needs of the factual" sounds like a spock-kirk dialogue in the high rad chamber scene
  - marcosdumay 4y ago
    Yet the GP still passes his phone around when there's something interesting in it. I imagine that if they were cheaper, we would do exactly what TNG shows.
- LeoPanthera 4y ago
  If you could replicate tablet computers essentially for free, I wonder if in fact the concept of multitasking would fall by the wayside. Why bother switching between apps if you can just make another tablet.

shkkmo 4y ago

> "The Next Generation" particularly featured touch screens and tablet computers long before those things were common And called them PADDs amusingly enough.

Izkata 4y ago
"Personal Access Display Device" for the mildly curious.

kurthr 4y ago

It's kinda weird they didn't just use sapphire as "transparent aluminum". AlOxNy is actually somewhat harder (and more difficult to etch) than sapphire, but weird any way.

moron4hire 4y ago

Star Trek's PADDs are also interesting for what they don't show. You'll see many instances of characters giving PADDs to each other. There's one particular scene in an episode of DS9 where Sisco has a whole stack of PADDs on his desk, and he laments the workload. Star Trek figured out touch screens and personal data devices, but didn't figure out basic networked data communication, i.e. email attachments. At a time when email existed! I think of this every time I hand my phone to my wife to show her some stupid joke on Twitter or in a text message thread with my friends.

ncmncm 4y ago
Try to imagine how you would visually indicate a big workload without the stack. Kinda dumb, but dramatically effective, in its way.
- noizejoy 4y ago
  Not that dumb? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeuomorph https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeuomorph
krapp 4y ago
>Star Trek figured out touch screens and personal data devices, but didn't figure out basic networked data communication, i.e. email attachments. At a time when email existed! I think it's more that they wanted to convey, to the viewer, that information was being passed from place to place, or have stacks of PADDs serve as easy visual metaphors for "piles of paperwork" or what have you. Star Trek isn't actually trying to extrapolate realistic future technology, it's telling dramatic stories In Space, and the needs of the narrative always come first.
- ncmncm 4y ago
  Jinx!
- ggm 4y ago
  "The needs of the narrative outweigh the needs of the factual" sounds like a spock-kirk dialogue in the high rad chamber scene
- marcosdumay 4y ago
  Yet the GP still passes his phone around when there's something interesting in it. I imagine that if they were cheaper, we would do exactly what TNG shows.
LeoPanthera 4y ago
If you could replicate tablet computers essentially for free, I wonder if in fact the concept of multitasking would fall by the wayside. Why bother switching between apps if you can just make another tablet.