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Star Trek: The Next Generation/Headscratchers: Difference between revisions
Star Trek: The Next Generation/Headscratchers (view source)
Revision as of 16:06, 5 January 2016
, 8 years ago→Holodeck!Stephen Hawking being paralyzed.
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*** It isn't really a complaint, just...well, a headscratcher. I mean, the way they reference the apple that fell on Newton's head makes me think they tell stories and talk to each other like real people, not simple drones.
**** Yes, that's what they're programmed to do. Holodeck characters are designed to act like they're self-aware. Only on very rare occasions does that mean they ''are'' self-aware.
*** Well, think of it this way. On ''[[Futurama]]'', one of the commentaries describes them debating whether or not Hawking's head should appear as it does today, or as it might if he were cured. They decided that the heads all have to appear as the person was when they were most famous (whether or not this makes a ton of sense). The same logic applies to TNG, even when you think of it in in-universe terms (this is a presentation of Hawking, not the man himself, and why would Data think of not interacting with Hawking as he was most famous?)
** As it is, the episode's presentation of Professor Hawking is ''still'' not consistent with how Hawking is in real life. In real life, it takes him an ''extremely'' long time to write (and therefore have his computerized voice say) even a single sentence. From [[That Other Wiki]]:
{{quote|In Hawking's many media appearances, he appears to speak fluently through his synthesiser, but in reality, it is a tedious drawn-out process. Hawking's setup uses a predictive text entry system, which requires only the first few characters in order to auto-complete the word, but as he is only able to use his cheek for data entry, constructing complete sentences takes time. His speeches are prepared in advance, but having a live conversation with him provides insight as to the complexity and work involved. During a TED Conference talk, it took him seven minutes to answer a question.}}
** But obviously no one would want to watch a ''TNG'' episode in which there's a seven-minute pause between Hawking's poker quips; that'd be your whole episode right there. So, ''some'' concessions were made to make the holographic Hawking's condition "better" than in real life.
*** Makes perfect sense: If you were making a computer simulation of Stephen Hawking, you'd proabably make him, well, look like Stephen Hawking. You'd probably also take advantage of the fact it's a simulation to speed up his speech, probably by having the computer make the holo-synthesizer speak directly without going through holo-Hawking at all.
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