Star Trek: Deep Space Nine S7E17 “Penumbra”
The idea that they are still using analog technology in the far future pleases me.
Analogue is best for DX (distant communication) because of the cliff effect, it’s better to have KSSH than having the signal drop completely.
Reminds me of how prevalent “tapes” were in everyday use in TOS
Interestingly enough, tapes seem to be the most reliable of long-life storage so far. We’ll see how those ‘stone’ cd/dvd/bd-r disks work out…but apparently they’ve stopped manufacturing them now too…
Starfleet systems are digital, but have to interface with any other possible system, so there’s a layer to it that can interface with analog systems. Which is why you often see and hear analog static during transmissions.
Also, Nicole de Boer is cute as a button no matter what she does.
Alternatively, it could be possible the Starfleet voice protocol is similar to UDP, and the system simulates static to fill in the gaps when there is packet loss.
Starfleet systems are digital
They aren’t. Digital implies electronics. Starfleet runs on duotronics/multitronics and isolinear chips. No more transistors or resistors.
No. “Digital” refers to the logic used to implement a system, which is usually boolean and probably still is in Star Trek.
Things can be digital regardless of implementation; tapes and spinning hard drives, can still store digital binary data.
What? Digital implies digits! Electronic, duotronic, multitronic, whatever it’s called at the time. Starfleet computers are programmed in binary (at least as of TNG), it’s been shown many times.
“Electrons? What is this, the dark ages?”
Imagine if Bones was an engineer.
“Soldering? My god man, what do you want me to do next? Install vacuum tubes??”
