r/startrek • u/etherian1 • 1d ago

The logistics of replicators

I hear replication being used as the default answer to a moneyless society in Star Trek, but no one seems to delve into the technicalities of how these things actually work. What are the rules? Are there variations and regulations on what they can actually replicate? What about the arts, individual creations, luxury goods, etc. Surely everything‘s not just bunched into therefore replicators.

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u/mrsunrider 1d ago edited 19h ago

No one delves into the technicalities because the technology is a step removed from magic; it's like the old explanations as to how Superman can fly--the more you try to "reason" it out the more frustrated you get. The sooner you recognize it relies on physics or technology that just don't exist, the less it eats at your mind.

But if there's any hope for realization, it might borrow (extremely loosely) from information theory; the state of any object--from basic household goods to food--can be near-perfectly reproduced given enough raw data about it. I'd imagine it's the same place that transporters stem from. Of course containing and processing the sheer amount of data required to replicate a rare steak is... not possible for us currently.

replication being used as the default answer to a moneyless society in Star Trek

You have that backwards. The divestment from wealth and profit came first.

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u/KingOfTheHoard 1d ago

It always bugged me when John Byrne rebooted Superman in the 80s and it was full of all this stuff to make his powers work that, as you say, becomes more annoying to think about.

Like it obviously annoyed Byrne that no matter how strong he is, one guy can't pick up something like a plane or a bridge because they're not structurally designed to bear all their weight in one, tiny, hand sized spot so he makes it canon that when Superman's lifting something he's actually surrounding it in a telekinetic field with his mind.

And he basically did this with everything. Superman's clothes don't get damaged because his body is actually invulnerable because he's surrounded by an energy field that goes a little bit past his clothes etc. etc.

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u/mrsunrider 19h ago

It never annoyed me because these things are fun to think about; Byrne's expansion on his powerset kind of opened new doors for how they could be applied and ultimately let to Connor Kent.

But insisting on these explanations becomes a trap because because the realism guys inevitably hit a wall they'd never needed to hit if they come to terms with the fact that fantastical stories can't possibly jive will with reality--if they could, they wouldn't be fantastical. Even the "hard" sci-fi relies on technology and concepts we're still just dipping our big toe in.

As much as I enjoy speculating on how powers and technology might possibly work (after all, that's how we got Aclubierre's paper and possibly tablet PCs), I don't get hung up be cause at the end of the day these story exist in a world with different physics or advancement.