OT - Unexplainable mysteries of the Universe ... Explained!

[narf poit chez BOOM]

go ahead.

[General Woundwort]

Thanks.

[Suicide Junkie]

Originally posted by DavidG:
Just watched a recent Voyager episode which reminded me of this thread with the question, re new Star Trek:

How many holo deck failures that almost destroy the ship does it take before someone decides to turn the FU#&*%# thing off!!??

The holograms are more intelligent than you give them credit for!
Those sneaky holographic people use chemicals and subtle environmental effects to make sure everybody loves the Holodeck and would never think of taking it apart.
Heck, Voyager had the Holographic doctor. Just imagine what he could be doing!

[Kamog]

Yeah, the holographic doctor is a medical genius. He is just as brilliant as Dr. McCoy or Dr. Crusher or Dr. Bashir. If holograms are so smart, why do starships need any real crew at all?

By the way, I never understood how these "solid" holograms are supposed to work, because they are supposed to be made of light. You can pick up holographic objects in the holodeck and they feel solid, and the Doctor can operate real medical equipment, and so on. The only time the Doctor isn't solid is when some aggressive alien attacks him. Then the weapon or fist or whatever passes right through him.

[Jack Simth]

Originally posted by Kamog:
Yeah, the holographic doctor is a medical genius. He is just as brilliant as Dr. McCoy or Dr. Crusher or Dr. Bashir. If holograms are so smart, why do starships need any real crew at all?

Two reasons:
1) Power outages put holograms down, and they are limited to prepared areas (the Doctor on Voyager was limited to the holodeck until they picked up the mobile emitter from a visitor from the future - a unique piece of equipment.)
2) Humans are more creative: they turned the doc into a command hologram once or twice - Harry came up with the ideas to save the ship, not the doc.

Originally posted by Kamog:


By the way, I never understood how these "solid" holograms are supposed to work, because they are supposed to be made of light. You can pick up holographic objects in the holodeck and they feel solid, and the Doctor can operate real medical equipment, and so on. The only time the Doctor isn't solid is when some aggressive alien attacks him. Then the weapon or fist or whatever passes right through him.

They are made out of photons and force fields; the photons provide the color, the force fields provide the shape, solidity, and physics (all managed by a computer, usually offscreen). Weapons/fists/whatever pass through because he isn't a comparatively high powered force field; he is designed to move tricorders and the occasional unconscious person, not stop swords.

[Jack Simth]

Originally posted by David Gervais:
Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle?
Good Question!

It does; however, it only permanently bonds when exposed to air, which it uses up in the process of bonding. Inside the bottle, it is sealed away, and only a small amount bonds while in storage.

[Fyron]

Weapons/fists/whatever pass through because he isn't a comparatively high powered force field; he is designed to move tricorders and the occasional unconscious person, not stop swords.

Actually, I believe it was explained that he is programmed to become temporarily incorporeal whenever someone or something attacks him in one of the episodes. I forget if he had to control it or not though.