Set phaser for Text!

Technology

Science fiction is supposed to be about the future. It’s an attempt to predict what that future might look like. Some pieces of it rely on pure flights of fantasy whereas others work on existing technologies and educated guesswork as to where that tech will take us. One example is that of Nuclear powered cars and home heating systems. Others are that we shall all be living on the Moon or Mars. However, one show was spot on. Star Trek was able to predict the mobile phone.

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It’s not that Kirk was going to ask the ship’s computer to locate a Vodafone Store Ireland way for him. He could have used King Communication for that anyway.  He was actually given one from Starfleet Command to use when he was away from the ship on a mission.

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The communicator device that we see Kirk and the Crew use has a flip-top lid like some early phones. There are some marked differences. First, the modern phone cannot fire a phaser out of it. This is a good thing. Second, it can’t make off-planet calls so it would be next to useless if you were trying to call Mr Scott to “beam” you up.

However, the communicator does not have any games, access to the internet, Instagram or Youtube nor does it give you the option for a quick Tik Tok.

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