Holodeck technology

Discussion in 'Computer Science & Culture' started by Xylene, Nov 12, 2005.

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  1. Xylene Valued Senior Member

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    I was talking to a computer expert five years ago, and asked her about the holodeck technology of the Enterprise et. al. and how close it was to becoming reality. She told me that it was about ten years away, in her opinion, ie by the beginning of the next decade we'll be able to interact with computer generated programmes who we can't tell apart from real people. How in your opinion will this affect society in future?
     
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  3. Dascu Registered Senior Member

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    Mass confusion.
    Some people will definitly have problems interacting with a near-human computer program.
     
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  5. tablariddim forexU2 Valued Senior Member

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    Children as young as 4 are growing up with access to technology that would have been regarded as SF 20 years ago. By the time this kind of tech becomes commonplace, only the middle aged and older wil have a problem with it.
     
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  7. If I'm remembering m'trek, being so old and middle aged its rather hard for me to understand quite what all these buttons do so you'll all have to bear with me here whilst I cogitate and probably soil myself in the process, the "holodeck technology" incorporated in the series wasn't merely a case of simply projecting recorded material in 3D - the video "textures" if you will were skinned around ----- arahhg,\Slef fFDSA -wombat!

    Oh, do excuse me. I'm so old and middle aged trying to insert italics there proved such a new and incomprehensible notion to me the very thought prompted me to have a stroke. Now I'm completely paralysed from the left eyebrow down and talk like Steven Hawkins...

    "hello. would you like. to come to the carpark. with me. If you like you can. watch me do wheelies..."

    Now, where was I?

    The mind, y'know. It goes.

    Ah, yes! Glynxypittle! - I mean, sorry, the notion - language has gone now - the notion with the holodeck thing was that the video texture of the hologram was supposed to be skinned around 3D forcefields modelled to the dimensions of whatever the given form.

    asparagus!

    I'm sorry. I'm just so middle aged, all I can think about is having anal sex with girls young enough to be m'own daughter. Where was I?

    Holodeck Technology - keep on the ball Mr Anonymous, focus. Concentration. Learning.... So... So very ....difficult when one is middle aged and older....

    Basically Xylene, even relatively simple display type 3D holographic projection is hugely problematic still to achieve both in terms of technical accomplishment and actual practicality - no ones really yet cracked the problem of rendering and animating genuinely realistic 3D human character animation in the usual 2D media environment - let alone having the things strut their funky all over the place in real time, 3D environments.

    I'm sure there's a number of very cutting edge R&D projects out there working on the problems even as we speak, but the bottom line is next decade is being a tad optimistic.

    After all, other than the technological achievement of pulling the idea off, what really are its practical applications? For medical purposes the ability to scan and recreate holographically a patient from the inside out as a visualisation tool undoubtedly would be of some benefit - but in a world where even the relatively small percentage of industrialised nations can hardly find adequate employment for its own domestic populations to this very day - does the idea of producing artificial holographical people genuinely serve any practical use?

    jo-hobba!

    I've just made a little brown fish in my pants. Curse my middle-ageness, and my trecherous ancient arse!
     
  8. Xylene Valued Senior Member

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    Life's a real bitch when y're old, ain't it?

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  9. Light Registered Senior Member

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    It sounds interesting, but seriously - I think she's off by at least a factor of three. Creating a free-floating hologram is VERY difficult and actually impossible to do with current technology. Another five years will certainly bring advancement but not that much. For one thing, it's expensive work and hardly a priority for the R&D outfits.

    And to go the whole nine yards? That will probably take even much longer. Besides all the very complex optics involved (an almost overwhelming task!) look at the state of Artificial Intelligence. Trying to create a computer program that would fool people into thinking they're dealing with another person (for more than just a couple of minutes at most) is still a LONG way out of reach.

    Then, making those optics appear solid and actually interact with them? Add another 50 years.
     
  10. What?! What's that y'say?! "Lives a real witch when you're old?" Eh? What?! Stop mumbling! Speak up!

    .... Oh, bugger.

    The vibration from all that shouting's now gone and caused me to collapse into a pile of dust - curse being middle aged and older!

    Bah!

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  11. spuriousmonkey Banned Banned

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    And we will be able to regrow limbs, appendages etc with the aid of stem cell therapy also in ... drumrol... 10 years!

    And cure cancer.


    Been doing a bit of 3D of real life tissue myself. It costs me about 2 weeks to make a simple representation of a small tooth.

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    can't really represent it as 3D holo presentation of course...
     
  12. Every tried making up a displacement map for that sort of think M? Y'never know, might shave a bit of time out of the whole business - it's quick enough to rig up so as you can give it a try at anyrate.
     
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