The science of Star Trek

Source: Best Computer Science Degree | Via Geeks are Sexy

Star Wars universe map

This enormous map shows the planets, regions, and hyperspace routes of the Star Wars universe [Click to enlage].

Source: http://i.imgur.com/TyAi9.jpg

The Jedi Career Path

The Jedi Path (Source: Wookieepedia)

According the book "The Jedi Path", the career of a Jedi is challenging and can lead to many different specializations.

I created the diagram below to illustrate the different career paths of a Jedi (in the time of the Galactic Republic) [Click to Enlarge]:

The Jedi Career Path

If an initiate did not get accepted as a Padawan, he/she could join the Jedi Service corps or leave the order.

If a Jedi Padawan passed the Jedi trials and became a Jedi Knight, he/she could join one of three branches: Jedi Guardian (typically blue lightsabers), Jedi Consular (typically green lightsabers), or Jedi Sentinel (typically yellow lightsabers).

From an educational perspective, the Jedi career path is a good example of apprenticeship learning: An initiate becomes part of a community of practice, mentored by a practicing master who assigns increasingly more challenging tasks, and learns from observing the master in action. Such situated learning is often used in trades, music, martial arts and other sports.

A vision of the classroom of the future?

Corning is a leading specialty glass and ceramics manufacturer. To showcase future uses of their glass, they created the video "A Day Made of Glass".


This video shows visions for home life, school, and work - all using touch sensitive glass that doubles as computer displays. I found the vision for the classroom of the future of particular interest. I'll break the scene down into separate pictures for further discussion.


The video shows two girls in school uniforms entering a modern elementary school building. Upon entering the classroom, they dock their tablet computers in their desks. [Click on picture to enlarge]

This action automatically uploads their homework and takes their attendance (as shown on the floor-to-ceiling screen in the front). The student's desk automatically opens a digital notebook for note taking, a calendar, a virtual keyboard, and a chat folder with student questions. From personal experience, typing on digital keyboards is cumbersome and slow. [Click on picture to enlarge]

The teacher uses her floor-to-ceiling touch screen to call up today's lesson: A physics lesson on optics. The wall screen also offers room controls (e.g. light dimmer). The teacher's actions on the main screen are mirrored on each students' screen. I don't know what the mirroring function serves: It seems it would distract students from looking at the main screen. [Click on picture to enlarge]

The teacher uses an interactive mindmap diagram to search through different topics. Through a drag-and-drop motion, the teacher transfers a physics activity to a multitouch table. I wonder if all the activities are created and scripted by for-profit education companies. This would leave the teacher hardly any creative freedom in which she could apply her expertise. [Click on picture to enlarge]

The students gather around the multitouch table for an optics activity. The students drag-and-drop color circles to explore additive color combinations. I found it noticeable that the class consists of only ten students. This optics activity could easily be achieved using real coloured glass and a light beam. Physics is about exploring the natural world, for which a computer activity provides no physical evidence. Computer-enhanced activities can be useful when showing phenomena that are too large/small or too fast/slow to experience directly. The goal should not become to replace all real-life experiments with computers simulations, but to carefully decide when which activity is more effective. [Click on picture to enlarge].

In a later scene, the students are seen on a field trip to a forest where they use their tablet computers for an augmented reality activity. [Click on picture to enlarge]

The Corning video makes no mention of the costs or durability of these glass-based tablet computers. Given the current financial situations of many public schools, such technology seems only affordable by wealthy private schools (as implied in the video).


The Corning video resembles Microsoft's vision of the classroom of the future:

The Meta-Geek

Copyright Scott Johnson: http://www.flickr.com/photos/scottjohnson/1190004360/ 

With geek culture becoming more mainstream, a novel form of geek emerges - the meta-geek.

A "meta-geek", or "geek geek", is fascinated with geek culture without being deeply involved in any one sub-culture. Meta-geeks are geeks about geek culture itself.

For example:

• A meta-geek can follow geek-related blogs and watches videos from geek-related events (such as Comic-Con, Dragon-Con, or Star Trek conventions) without going there in person.
• A meta-geek can be knowledgeable about comic characters without reading comics themselves. 
• A meta-geek can blog about other geek cultures (for example, see Geek hierarchy chart and Evolution of geek) or read geek-related blogs (for example Geeksaresexy.net or Geekosystem.com).

Building "A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer"

Neil Stephenson's book "The Diamond Age" presents a fascinating piece of educational technology called "A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer" (See diagram below).

The primer is an interactive book that can answer a learner's questions (spoken in natural language), teach through allegories that incorporate elements of the learner's environment, and presents contextual just-in-time information.

The primer includes sensors that monitor the learner's actions and provide feedback. The learner is in a cognitive apprenticeship with the book: The primer models a certain skill (through allegorical fairy tale characters) which the learner then imitates in real life.

The primer follows a learning progression with increasingly more complex tasks. The educational goals of the primer are humanist: To support the learner to become a strong and independently thinking person.

A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer Diagram [Click to Enlarge]

Currently, educational technology has early examples of adaptive tutoring systems. However, an artificial (pseudo-) intelligence that can mentor a learner in real-life complex problems is still far away.

For example, the IBM Watson computer can understand natural spoken language and give simple answers. Educational toy company LeapFrog developed the LeapPad - a tablet computer for children that resembles the "Young Lady's Illustrated Primer" - except for the goal of subversive critical thinking.

Microsoft Vision of the Future Video (2011 edition)

This video shows Microsoft's technocratic vision of the future: Augmented reality and technology embedded in glasses, tables, and refrigerators.

Transparent Airbus Airplane of the Future

Airbus showed off their concept airplane that will be efficient and environmentally friendly. By 2050, air travelers can enjoy bio-morphing seats, automated luggage handling, high-tech holographic amenities at your fingertips, acupressure seats, and oh, yeah, a see-through airplane skin.





This goes along well with the airport check-in of the future:





Sources: Airbus 2050 Concept Cabin Has Transparent Skin | Geekosystem
Sources: IATA Checkpoint of the Future (Geekosystem)

Failed Technology Predictions Infograph

#E2sday: Failed Tech Predictions (And Some That Came Close) | The Future of Work

Chinese Government bans Science Fiction and Fantasy TV shows

New guidelines set forth by the Chinese State Administration of Radio Film and Television plans banning science fiction, supernatural, and fantasy television shows. They consider “fantasy, time-travel, random compilations of mythical stories, bizarre plots, absurd techniques, even propagating feudal superstitions, fatalism and reincarnation, ambiguous moral lessons, and a lack of positive thinking" to be in conflict with Chinese heritage.

Suggested alternatives are reproductions of the Chinese revolution and historical pieces with an emphasis on construction and reform.

Read more here: “No Time-Travel,” Says Chinese Government

History of Science Fiction Flowchart

This flowchart shows the history of science fiction. [click to enlarge].

See the original here: no empire no longer

Jane Espenson: Science Fiction Writer and Nerd

Jane Espenson (46) is writer and/or co-executive producer of some of the biggest cult science-fiction shows of the past decade, including Star Trek The next generation, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Battlestar Galactica, Caprica and Gilmore Girls.


Jane studied computer science and linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley. Go Bears!


Read more about Jane Espenson here: Jane Espenson: Writer, sci-fi thriller, one nerdy lady - CNN.com

Technology of the Future Now

Do we live in the future? Some current technology certainly does look futuristic: From X-ray body scanners at the airport to virtual realities, personal jetpacks, flying cars, sonic weapons, and universal translators. See list here: 9 Developments That Prove We Really Are Living In The Future

Universal Translator soon available

Universal Translators are common in science fiction. Star Trek has the universal translator. The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy has the paradoxical Babel Fish. In Farscape, John Chrichton is implanted with translator microbes. In The Last Starfighter, Alex Rogan is given a chip that was attached to the collar of his shirt. And the companions of Doctor Who have an instant translation service by a telepathic field generated by the TARDIS.


Thanks to Google, universal translation will become available on Earth soon. Google's prototype language translator, Conversation Mode, uses Android phones to record spoken words and then play them back in a different language.

Conversation Mode combines the technology of Google Voice and Google Translate (which only works for text) to translate over fifty languages via a speech interface on a smartphone. Read more here: Google Waves Goodbye to Language Barriers : Discovery News

The video shows a demonstration of Conversation mode.

Bad Science in Science Fiction Movies

io9 targets bad science in science fiction movies, from the instance of sound in space and fire is space to faster than light travel.

Two comments about the chart: It's debatable if Apollo 13 counts as a science fiction movie (See blog on difference between hard and soft science fiction here). Second, 'dodging faster-than-light weapons e.g. lasers' is incorrect. Lasers beams do not move faster than light, as they are light.

Difference between Science Fiction and Science Fantasy

What is the difference between Star Trek and Star Wars? According to the Henderson Institute of Knowing Knowledge, there are three general levels of science fiction:

• Hard Science Fiction: Hard science fiction has science or technology in the center of the plot, and all of the key science or technology is explained and entirely possible given currently known scientific laws, theories and constraints. It involves no magical or supernatural elements. Examples: Star Trek. Battlestar Galactica. Babylon 5. Stargate. Firefly. Andromeda. V. X Files. Alien. Blade Runner. Matrix. Terminator. Jurassic Park. 2001: A Space Odyssey.

• Soft Science Fiction: Soft science fiction is similar to hard science fiction as the used technology is plausible. The difference is that the technology is not in the center and the mechanism is not explained. Soft science often focuses on sociology, psychology, or anthropology. Examples: Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Earth Final Conflict. 3rd rock from the Sun. Alf. Buck Rogers. Superman. Smallville. Lost in Space. Alien Nation. Quantum Leap. Flash Gordon. Logan's Run. Sliders. 5th Element. Back to the Future. Gattaca. Brazil. Planet of the Apes. Dune. Fahrenheit 451. Avatar.

• Science Fantasy: Science fantasy is like hard or soft scifi but mixed with magical or supernatural elements. Examples: Star Wars. Farscape. Dr Who. Shadowrun. Futurama. The Jetsons. The six million dollar man. Buffy.

The three levels are often difficult to distinguish,  but I think they are useful as general categories.


As for the question Star Wars vs Star Trek, there can be no answer as they belong into different categories. Comparing hard science fiction (that aims to explain and follow science) to science fantasy (with all its unexplained magic powers) is not sound.



Many Star Wars fans were angry at George Lucas when he tried to explain the Force by introducing Midichlorians. Giving a hard science fiction explanation in science fantasy does not go well together. (Not to mention all other reasons why fans were angry with George.... Jar Jar anyone?)

Personally, I think it doesn't matter who would win (and we will never know). Just enjoy whichever science fiction/fantasy world you prefer!

Enjoy this great cross-over of hard/soft science fiction and fantasy:

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Star Trek and Star Wars are not that different after all: Both are space sagas that follow the Hero's Journey schema anyway.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Futurama
Star Trek Wars
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Ugly Americans New Episodes Nick Swardson's Pretend Time Night of Too Many Stars

TVtropes.org posted an article on how Isaak Asimov distinguished three types of science fiction stories:


"In 1953, Isaac Asimov published an article titled "Social Science Fiction" in Modern Science Fiction. In that article he stated that every science fiction plot ultimately falls into one of three categories: Gadget, Adventure, or Social.

• Gadget: The focus of the story is the invention itself: How it comes to be invented, how it works, and / or what it is used for. The invention is the end result of the plot.
• Adventure: The invention is used as a dramatic prop. It may be the solution to a problem, or it may be causing the problem itself, but the main focus is on how the invention affects the events of the plot.
• Social: The focus of the story is on how the presence of the invention affects people's daily lives, whether for good or for ill. The chief distinction between this and the other two types is that the presence of the invention causes the plot rather than affecting it or being the goal.

To demonstrate what he meant by each, he used the example of three different late nineteenth century authors all being inspired to write new stories about the automobile, each going in one of three directions:

• Writer X spends most of his time describing how the machine would run, explaining the workings of an internal-combustion engine, painting a word-picture of the struggles of the inventor, who after numerous failures, comes up with a successful model. The climax of the yarn is the drama of the machine, chugging its way along at the gigantic speed of twenty miles an hour, possibly beating a horse and carriage which have been challenged to a race. This is gadget science fiction. (Asimov, "Social Science Fiction")
• Writer Y invents the automobile in a hurry, but now there is a gang of ruthless crooks intent on stealing this valuable invention. First they steal the inventor's beautiful daughter, whom they threaten with every dire eventuality but rape (in these adventure stories, girls exist to be rescued and have no other uses). The inventor's young assistant goes to the rescue. He can accomplish his purpose only by the use of the newly perfected automobile. He dashes into the desert at an unheard-of speed of twenty miles an hour to pick up the girl who otherwise would have died of thirst if he had relied on a horse, however rapid and sustained the horse's gallop. This is adventure science fiction. (ibid.)
• Writer Z has the automobile already perfected. A society exists in which it is already a problem. Because of the automobile, a gigantic oil industry has grown up, highways have been paved across the nation, America has become a land of travelers, cities have spread into the suburbs—and what do we do about automobile accidents? Men, women, and children are being killed by automobiles faster than by artillery shells or airplane bombs. What can be done? What is the solution? This is social science fiction. (ibid.)

[See original TVtropes.org post here]

References:

Lists of top science fiction movies and shows

Difference between Science and Fiction

Difference between Science Fiction and Science Fantasy

Why Scientists Should Read Science Fiction

Hannah Waters wrote an interesting essay about why scientist should read science fiction. Science fiction authors often image future scientific developments. Looking at science fiction from the past provides historic insight into earlier visions. Science fiction is also a source of "scientific knowledge" for many non-scientists - so scientists should be aware of the ideas presented in those media.

Why Scientists Should Read Science Fiction | Culturing Science – biology as relevant to us earthly beings