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Ghosts, Time Travel, and Space / Inter-dimensional Neural Communication...

Edward

Bartender
Messages
24,788
Location
London, UK
In one of the Star Trek movies, I forget which, they travel back to "present day", where Scotty is asked to show the "primitive" engineers some advanced technology or another. When McCoy reminds him of the Prime Directive, Scotty responds "how do we know he isn't the one who invented it?"

Star Trek VI: The Voyage Home - where they take the whales back to their own time to solve their extinction?

I thought the Prime Directive was a Next Generation thing, but I could well have misremembered that.

In the 1989 movie Millennium Kris Kristofferson's character keeps meeting Cheryl Ladd's character, a time traveler from 1000 years in the future. The problem is that she time travels several times and pops into his life in a non-limear manner. In other words, the first time he meets her (in his reference) is not the first time she has meet him (in hers). And the first time she meets him (in her reference) is not the first time he has met her (in his). Very confusing and probably one of the reasons the movie was never popular.

It sounds almost convoluted enough to have been written by Steve Moffat.... was it full of winks to the audience, representing the author saying "Look everyone - tell me how clever I know I am!" ?
 

GHT

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,341
Location
New Forest
someone will break through in science and math to a level we had no clue about today?
They already have. Apart from text and voice, I haven't the faintest idea what else I can use my so called smart phone for. No idea how to go on line with it, no idea what an app is, how to obtain one, what to do with it once I have it, not a clue. Twitter leaves me perplexed, can't see the point of Facebook, but, somehow, I don't seem bereft of knowledge. My books haven't become redundant and what I don't have, I don't miss. On the plus side, if I am ever the subject of social media, as in put up for ridicule because of my style of dress, it would be a futile exercise. What's the point of teasing someone if they don't know they are being teased?
 

philosophygirl78

A-List Customer
Messages
445
Location
Aventura, Florida
They already have. Apart from text and voice, I haven't the faintest idea what else I can use my so called smart phone for. No idea how to go on line with it, no idea what an app is, how to obtain one, what to do with it once I have it, not a clue. Twitter leaves me perplexed, can't see the point of Facebook, but, somehow, I don't seem bereft of knowledge. My books haven't become redundant and what I don't have, I don't miss. On the plus side, if I am ever the subject of social media, as in put up for ridicule because of my style of dress, it would be a futile exercise. What's the point of teasing someone if they don't know they are being teased?

that's deep.... (the last part).. However, one could argue that the strongest stock presently on the NASDAQ does hold some weight....
 

JimWagner

Practically Family
Messages
946
Location
Durham, NC
It sounds almost convoluted enough to have been written by Steve Moffat.... was it full of winks to the audience, representing the author saying "Look everyone - tell me how clever I know I am!" ?

Actually it was based on a John Varley short story, "Air Raid", and he wrote the screenplay too. The movie was played straight with no winking and nudging, although that might have helped the average movie goer catch on to what was happening.
 
Messages
16,868
Location
New York City
In one of the Star Trek movies, I forget which, they travel back to "present day", where Scotty is asked to show the "primitive" engineers some advanced technology or another. When McCoy reminds him of the Prime Directive, Scotty responds "how do we know he isn't the one who invented it?"

I remember that and thought it was another example of Star Trek playing fast and loose with the Prime Directive and the time continuum. But whatever, it's only TV and, still, one heck of a show.
 

LuvMyMan

I’ll Lock Up.
Messages
4,558
Location
Michigan
They already have. Apart from text and voice, I haven't the faintest idea what else I can use my so called smart phone for. No idea how to go on line with it, no idea what an app is, how to obtain one, what to do with it once I have it, not a clue. Twitter leaves me perplexed, can't see the point of Facebook, but, somehow, I don't seem bereft of knowledge. My books haven't become redundant and what I don't have, I don't miss. On the plus side, if I am ever the subject of social media, as in put up for ridicule because of my style of dress, it would be a futile exercise. What's the point of teasing someone if they don't know they are being teased?

You are not alone in regards to things on our "smart" phones! Both my Husband and I have the HTC One phones, and do not use 95 % of what is on the darn things. Calls and Text and viewing things on them is all they are used for...oh yes..taking pictures, too!

Never worry about your fine attire being picked on. If anything you make other people wish they dressed as smartly as you do!
 

JimWagner

Practically Family
Messages
946
Location
Durham, NC
When my wife and I were out at lunch today we were chatting about the series Fargo. We've been binge watching it on Netflix. Part of the first season takes place in Duluth, MN and it is depicted as a fairly small town and visually I'd have it at about 5000 people. I thought it was bigger. Easy enough to check out. Whip out the smartphone, bring up the browser and Google "Duluth MN population". Just north (no pun intended) of 86,000 in 2013. About 30 seconds of effort. Could have done it all with voice commands and not typed anything at all if I wouldn't have felt like an idiot talking to my smartphone in the restaurant.

The point is, the Future is Now.

My smartphone is smaller and sleeker than anything they had on Star Trek. It's ubiquitous technology in the hands of nearly everyone, not just Star Fleet officers. We spend less than $50/month for my wife's and my phone together (Consumer Cellular). And we can easily access at least as much information as Star Fleet officers could on their best days, and just as quickly.

If you had told me in 1970 when I was a systems programmer on room filling $5,000,000 mainframes with less than 1/10000 of the raw power of today's smart phones that in my life time nearly everyone would not only be carrying around that kind of power but it would be this cheap I'd have just laughed with disbelief.

This is time travel. It's just not instantaneous and you can't go back.
 

Inkstainedwretch

One Too Many
Messages
1,037
Location
United States
That's the thing. We can flap our gums all we want, but nobody *knows* the answer to the Ultimate Question. No one will ever know until their own moment comes.

Yet for thousands of years people have made a pretty good living out of claiming that they know exactly that, and charge for temporary salvation from it.
 

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