Replicators

[Ryujin]

In the new animated Star Trek: Prodigy, the Federation ship USS Protostar has a vehicle replicator on board. There is a scene where a character uses it it replicate a shuttle, and then there is a hand-to-hand fight within the replicator while it is creating the shuttle. The visuals are very reminiscent of 3D printing, to me. It was a fun scene and a logical extension of the replicator technology.

Yup. The original Enterprise (NCC 1701) blueprints show cargo transporters, so they have tech on that scale. Natural progression to vehicular replicators.

 

[Thunderfoot]

Yup. The original Enterprise (NCC 1701) blueprints show cargo transporters, so they have tech on that scale. Natural progression to vehicular replicators

I remember before the technical team went rogue, there was a list of things you can and cannot do. Those have been left in the dust. Repl8cation was supposed to follow these rules.

Matter assembly, not creation.
Small items for basic life support, (clothing, food, etc)
Decorative items for creature comfort are okay.
No weapons or large matter.

After TNG came out rule 4 was amended to include armory stores for survival equipment and medical gear (remember the lab in the sick bay of TOS?)
Weapons could be authorized in emergency situations by the captain, first officer and security chief.
Wish I still had access to those notes. Some were amusingly written.

All of this was strictly for writing purposes but after Rod died, a lot of the 'style guide' went the way of the dodo and the saber tooth tiger. First was matter creation versus 'ships stores' of 'molecular construction goo.' lol

 

[MarkB]

Yup. The original Enterprise (NCC 1701) blueprints show cargo transporters, so they have tech on that scale. Natural progression to vehicular replicators.

DS9 introduced industrial replicators. On Bajor, having access to one for a few months would allow a large community to restore its farmland for agriculture. The largest-scale ones were powerful enough that half-a-dozen would be enough to rebuild the manufacturing infrastructure of an entire planet. We never got to actually see these in action, so it's unclear how large they were or what they looked like.

 

[Thunderfoot]

Yeah, I got the sense that the writers that came up with it said, 'hey, what a great idea!' and the effects staff said, 'hey, what a bunch of morons.' lol..

 

[Ryujin]

I remember before the technical team went rogue, there was a list of things you can and cannot do. Those have been left in the dust. Repl8cation was supposed to follow these rules.

Matter assembly, not creation.
Small items for basic life support, (clothing, food, etc)
Decorative items for creature comfort are okay.
No weapons or large matter.

After TNG came out rule 4 was amended to include armory stores for survival equipment and medical gear (remember the lab in the sick bay of TOS?)
Weapons could be authorized in emergency situations by the captain, first officer and security chief.
Wish I still had access to those notes. Some were amusingly written.

All of this was strictly for writing purposes but after Rod died, a lot of the 'style guide' went the way of the dodo and the saber tooth tiger. First was matter creation versus 'ships stores' of 'molecular construction goo.' lol

IIRC they went even further than that on TNG. They replicated a spinal cord for Worf, that ultimately didn't work.

 

[Dire Bare]

Yup. The original Enterprise (NCC 1701) blueprints show cargo transporters, so they have tech on that scale. Natural progression to vehicular replicators.

Not a vehicle transporter . . . a vehicle replicator. The vehicle wasn't transported from one location to another, it was created or "printed" just like a snack from the food replicators.

 

[Thunderfoot]

IIRC they went even further than that on TNG. They replicated a spinal cord for Worf, that ultimately didn't work.

oh crap, I forgot about that. You're correct, of course.

 

[Aeson]

Printing body parts is a thing...sorta?

It's Alive! Eyes and Ears 3D-Printed From Human Flesh Could One Day Boost Our Senses

Michael McAlpine has spent the past six years making a less synthetic kind of prosthetic.

www.wired.com

Going back to the porn comments. Penile grafts?

 

[Stalker0]

I'm waiting for some future star trek episode when gold pressed latinum can suddenly be replicated and the entire Ferengi economy goes belly up!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Given what Kirk said about gems and such in “The Squire of Gothos”(?), I’d have to think that gold pressed latinum would be reconned into something akin to bitcoin, but taken to the nth degree, and not merely a refined material.