The Computers of Star Trek by Lois Gresh and Robert Weinberg

Star Trek is a series that purports to be of the future, but are the computers we see on Star Trek really indicative of how computers will look, sound, and be in the future? Or are they more indicative of how our computers are today? And if they are of today, what will the computers of tomorrow really be like? What should we expect of the computer systems of the future?

For a start, the computers of tomorrow will be nothing like the computers of today. Expect everything to smaller, faster and lighter. By the time 300 years pass, computers might not even be external to us. Instead, we could carry them wherever we go, right inside our own bodies, or even within our own cells.

With the advent of nanomachines, we could have computers that make the need for speech irrelevant. But we must realize that many stories on Star Trek would seem boring indeed without a need for away parties or actors to talk to one another. A bunch of people sitting in chairs twitching and nodding might seem more like the crew of an insane asylum rather than a Starship crew!

Realizing that the computers in Star Trek and the way in which they are affected by things is more dependent on story material than actual speculative facts is the key to understanding why computers on Star Trek are the way they are. And this book examines not only the computers in the Starship Enterprise and the way they work based on the Technical Manuals put out by the series, but also by what is shown in various stories about the way the Starship works.

Not just the computers themselves, but many computer creations, including Lal, Julia Trainer, Nanites and the Ship's Medical Hologram are examined in detail. Data, in particular, is examined quite closely for clues on whether his AI relies on "top down", "bottom up" or both systems of learning. (The answer the authors come to is both, but mainly bottom up. However, it is strange that Data doesn't even know how, exactly, his own brain works! And when someone does work it out (The Nanites), he never seems to ask them for details afterwards!

And then there is how the officers of the ship seem to rely on humans and human reaction times for battle. Wouldn't computers, of the size in the Enterprise, be more adept at fighting? Programmed with many scenarios and battle tactics, wouldn't the computers be better able to maneuver the ship and fire the weapons? The authors make the case for "Yes" decisively.

While Star Trek is an entertaining series of shows, this book shows us that contrary to the show being set in the 24th Century, the computers it shows are no more than very large, very fast models of computers and computing systems we have now. And while you can still enjoy the shows after reading this book, the computer systems will have lost their luster more than a bit. But it's our own potential to outstrip what we saw in the shows and movies in the next hundred years or so which will most fill your mind and imagination after reading this book.

I highly recommend this book for both showing what's wrong with the Star Trek computer models, and for showing how we have the potential and capacity to make computers much better than that in less than 100 years. I can't express how wonderful this book was to read.