• 14th_cylon@lemm.ee
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    6 days ago

    Geordi made it clear more than once that not only would he rather just be able to see, but that his VISOR caused him constant pain

    it was also suggested that his visor was “superior to human eyes”. star trek is habitually inconsistent about its world and sometimes it is better not to think about it too much.

    • TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      I don’t think that’s contradictory at all though.

      Geordi wanted to be able to see [naturally], but his visor is superior to human eyes in that it can see things that humans can’t naturally see.

      To put it a different way: a person with advanced bionic legs that never tire, could run far faster than any natural human, and bend in ways that human legs can’t, would have superior legs. But there wouldn’t be anything wrong with their stance if they said “yeah but I just want normal human legs”.

      • Tippon@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        6 days ago

        Geordie’s new eyes were still bionic though weren’t they? It’s been a while, but I’m sure I remember him using them to search for someone in the movie.

      • 14th_cylon@lemm.ee
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        6 days ago

        I don’t think that’s contradictory at all though.

        Geordi wanted to be able to see [naturally], but his visor is superior to human eyes in that it can see things that humans can’t naturally see.

        we are nitpicking here, but if i amputate your hand and stitch can opener at its end, you can now do something normal human hand cannot, but i don’t think anyone would call that superior, or prefer it to their own hand.

        if geordi decided that after considering all factors, he would rather have normal eyes, then that is definition of “not superior” to me.

        and just a reminder that this is the extraordinary experience we are talking about. i am definitely choosing my eyes 😆

        • TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world
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          6 days ago

          I mean a can opener is very different, no? Or at least it is when I try to put myself in those shoes.

          A can opener can open cans but nothing more. Sure you gain one piece of functionality, but you lose others.

          Geordi’s visor was a bit different in that he could see the visible light spectrum, but also a bunch of other stuff.

          • 14th_cylon@lemm.ee
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            5 days ago

            bit different in that he could see the visible light spectrum

            he could not: https://i.imgur.com/dlVpyIo.mp4

            would you want to see like that? i mean if you were born blind and this was your only option, it is definitely better than nothing, but other than that, it is hard no from me.

            • TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world
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              5 days ago

              That’s a visual representation, in the visible light spectrum, of what he sees. He would see it differently than what appears on the viewscreen.

              There’s also nothing there that shows or says he can’t see the visible light spectrum.

              • 14th_cylon@lemm.ee
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                4 days ago

                There’s also nothing there that shows or says he can’t see the visible light spectrum.

                there is, it is exactly there on the screen, his perception of visible spectrum is just one step above nothing. would you want to see like that? accompanied by occasional technical problems and pain? would you call that superior to your eyes?

                He would see it differently than what appears on the viewscreen.

                that is just unfounded assumption, if you want to argue like that, you can make up literally anything and the discussion loses sense (not that the level of sense was very high anyway 😆)

                • TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world
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                  4 days ago

                  But that’s not how he sees, or how any of this works 🤦

                  Things that see stuff in the (to us) non-visible spectrum don’t see it in the visible light spectrum.

                  An insect that sees ultraviolet light doesn’t see it how we see it when we apply a camera filter to view it. That’s just the camera shifting it to our visible light spectrum, because we can’t see ultraviolet.

                  A screen showing an image in ultraviolet light would not be usable to us.

                  The viewscreen Picard was looking at wasn’t magically adding cones to his eyes and allowing him to see a wider range of the light spectrum. It was showing a representation in the visible light spectrum of what the visor can detect.

                  • 14th_cylon@lemm.ee
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                    4 days ago

                    An insect that sees ultraviolet light doesn’t see it how we see it

                    It was showing a representation in the visible light spectrum of what the visor can detect

                    the insect’s brain evolved to process insect’s available sensory input, so did human’s. so geordi would see exactly the same reducted picture that we see on the viewscreen, because that is the only thing our brain knows how to do.

                    and you are still narrowing this discussion to subset of the facts. there is still the fact of visor being piece of technology that can be lost, malfunction, causes occasional pain and allows its wearer to be hacked by romulan intelligence. i don’t call that superior to my eyes.

                    anyway, i don’t think we will progress further in this discussion, so until next time 🖖