star treck quantum phisics

[Dak]

ok, i dont watch it myself, but my dad is a trecky and so iv seen a couple of episodes, and i always wonder how true to actual quantum theory all the stuff that they spout is?

 

i mean, i saw one episonde where worf (or whatever his name is, that big clingon dude) died, but then his second heart kicked in and he came back to life, and as a biologist i could argue that the chance of an alien species evolving that was prettymuch identical to a human in apperance with the exeption of a few wierd gill-like facial ridges is slim, but on the other hand the humanoid shape is a very good one so i suppose its not that unbelievable, and i suppose that theres no reason that a second heart couldnt be shoved in somwhere (and redundansy is allways good) etc

 

but im in no position to comment on the quantum phisics...

 

so how accurate is all the stuff about the rotation of tachyons and hyperdrive and wormholes and time-space matrices and photon cannons and gravity inversions etc? always been curiose...

[swansont]

It's science fiction. Emphasis on the latter.

 

Now, there are some tenuous ties to real physics, and for a while they had a science consultant who had an advanced degree in applied physics (and he had friends who also had advanced degrees in physics, me being one of them, and he would consult with me on occasion especially later on when he started writing scripts), but at the end of the day it was all made up. Having a good story was always more important than getting the physics correct.

[J'Dona]

In the case of many different species being humanoid in appearance, this was explained in one episode where they discovered that the early galaxy was virtually devoid of life, and the one major spacefaring race of the time decided to seed their DNA throught the galaxy so that life would arise all over. Of course, sharing the same DNA from billions of years ago doesn't mean that intelligent species would keep arising in humanoid form, given the huge differences in evironment, history, and evolution on the planets.

 

However, it's too expensive to invent a complete and unique biology, psychology, society, and history for every alien race you want to feature in a science fiction series, and if they did do it properly there's little chance the viewers would understand the slightest thing about them. So for the sake of story and comprehension, most "aliens" in Star Trek are just humans wearing makeup.

[Daecon]

I thought that was a really bad episode.

 

"Oh we don't know enough about Klingon physiology to have realised Worf has two hearts" because our medical tricorders and transporter system records are so obviously pathetic they can't detect anything like that.

[ydoaPs]

read Physics of Star Trek.

[Dak]

However, it's too expensive to invent a complete and unique biology, psychology, society, and history for every alien race you want to feature in a science fiction series

plus, it originally came out in the 70s/80s. when special effects consisted of human + plastasine, and i guess theyre carrying on the tradition

 

yourdadonapogo: was that supposed to be a link? if so, its broken

[ydoaPs]

no; book titles are underlined.

[Dak]

ah, did not know that. we live and learn. might perusal it in my library.