I'm rewatching Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and I got jerked out of an episode tonight by two things which seem to be severely anachronistic given that its set in 2030. The first is that the cellphones the characters were using weren't smartphones. You can sort of handwave this away, since they hadn't been developed when the series was written, but at the same time, you have multiple characters in the series who can communicate via cybernetic implants, so you're kind of left wondering why anybody would have anything like a cellphone or smartphone. The other thing is that there don't seem to be any self-driving cars, which seems odd, considering that they have all kinds of sentient AI systems. You'd figure that if they had AI controlled tanks, they'd have AI controlled cars, but it doesn't look like it. I know that TOS missed a bunch with the transporters (Why not use them instead of turbolifts? And why are transporters prohibited from working when the shields are up, but phasers work just fine?), but I'm sure that there's plenty of other examples out there. Anybody want to share theirs?
TOS replacing hand motion consoles with old-fangled buttons in the second pilot. TNG having holograms everywhere in the first couple episodes, then going right back to 2-D displays, then having hologram interfaces be a big deal in various alternate futures, including ST09. Trek in general refusing to admit they have brain interface tech, then forgetting in selected episodes. The NX-01 having a navigational deflector, but not shields. Star Wars, they have the quantum mumbo-jumo to make hyperdrive work, they have the quantum mumbo-jumbo power source to make hyperdrive work, but their weapons can't disintegrate matter? Yet....Vader tells Boba "no disintegrations"? What, a bounty hunter has the galaxy's only disrupter? Calling bullshit on that. While I'm on (classic) Star Wars, why is Lobot a one off? Neural cyborgs ought to be a thing. Hell, with the right complement of wi-fi controlled devices, they ought to give the Jedi a run for their money. And, this next one applies to any sci-fi universe that simultaneously has psychics, and cybernetics in the same basket. Why not just put cloned psychic brain cells into computers, and remove all hard instrumentality? No keyboards, it intuits your intentions. No need for cameras, it has an astral vision. No need for displays, it puts the image right into your head. Which makes you wonder, if the Borg no doubt assimilated psychic races, why did they need plugs?
the examples from TOS are easy to explain though - much more puzzling to me is button and switch controls on everything -some things you just can't help for one reason or other. But the actual topic is solid - if you can imagine communicator implants there's no reason for anyone to have a hand-held phone, that wasn't even a revolutionary concept
You're over-thinking this one. Drop a glass on the floor. It will "disintegrate". Every X-Wing and TIE Fighter in SW:ANH that was shot down "disintegrated".
Rewatching DS9 reveals some real misses. One that sticks out is how everyone is carrying around ipads, but when its time to show someone else a "file" the heroes have to actually carry their ipads to another level and hand it over to that person. They nailed tablets, but completely missed WiFi and wireless.
Voyager was worse. They live in a time where they no doubt will have zettabytes of storage, and many was the time Janeway had stacks of PADDS on her desk.
Every show has things like that for dramatic reasons. In Star Trek, why is the transporter rooms never right next to the bridge? Because the "walk to the transporter" is often used for expository dialogue that advances the plot. Same with the "turbolift time". Technically with the technology we've seen in the TNG era, the ships really should not have that many corridor and internal passage ways. Since site to site transporters have been perfected, the only time corridors should be used is in an emergency. If I was producing a new Star Trek I would have transporter use cut back dramatically. Maybe future medical science found out that long time repeated used "caused cancer" or some 25th century equivalent Cop shows have their own things. Like law enforcement people shooting at moving cars. That is so rare in real life that when it happens it tends to make CNN. Or lawyer shows where there is a "dramatic revelation in the courtroom". Also almost never happens. In fact the USA show "Suits" actually gets lots of things right in regard to lawyers. The lawyers in that series very, very rarely actually enter a courtroom They spend a lot more time doing research or in conferences to iron out things.
Togusa was explicitly uncyberised - to the extent that he was -very- unique in section 9. Everyone has prosthetic eyes for instance. Don't believe me? When the laughing man holds the guy hostage on the broadcast, he is able to hide his face from everyone at the scene by hacking their eyes, except for 2 homeless people. The typical level of cyberisation wasn't explorered, because we're watching the elites all the time. The question is, when you refuse any implants etc, what do you fall back to? The series may suggest old style phones fulfil that need. Look at analogue watches - people don't need them any more but they are still popular for fashion and fulfilling one or more functions very well. Perhaps the non-smart phone is the 'watch' of the era?
But Togusa (and other uncyberized folks) wore a neck collar that gave him many of the same abilities to access the net. Why not just wear that full time? And a non-smartphone in 2030 will be like Victrolas are today: Ancient technology. (Actually, I don't fault them for having characters with non-smartphones, since the series was made before the iPhone came out, and few people had any idea of what such devices would be capable of even after they'd been released. If they didn't all have implanted [or wearable] cybernetic communication units, I wouldn't have thought anything about the characters using cellphones, but seeing them all "telepathically" communicate, and then one of them answer a cellphone just jolted me out of the moment.)
Well, that was like Dayton said. It's visual shorthand for saying "Janeway has lots of what we would call 'paperwork' to attend to." Just like having the top two officers on a starship beam down to an unexplored planet with only two security officers is saying "They'd have more of an escort, but they're on our budget."
I remember I think it was a behind the scenes of Deep Space Nine. It mentioned all those times that a main character tells an extra something or gives them an order and the extra only nods or nods and smiles. The book said that if that extra actually had spoken dialogue that over the years through syndication and all it could cost the studio hundreds of dollars because of the difference in pay scale for a "speaking extra" over just a "nonspeaking extra".
It's been that way for decades. A good friend of mine used to be a reporter in Los Angeles. He used to take side gigs playing teevee reporters or anchors on shows like The West Wing. He's been back in San Antonio for two or three years now, but still gets the occasional royalty check from his "acting days". Each one is usually worth a few cents (he recently posted a picture of one on Facebook made out for $0.02).
The smart tanks in GitS:SAC were stated to be new and special technology, so it's not inconsistent for them to not have AI-controlled cars.
Yup, that's the big one. And don't forget, society doesn't always embrace technological advances just because they're there. Some advances don't make it beyond the lab, be it because of safety concerns, because the public isn't comfortable with it, or simply because it's not cost-effective.
They're second or third gen tech, what makes them special is that they have Genuine People Personalities, with the thought that instead of having a human order them around by saying, "Go here, shoot this." they can be told, "Go here, look around and if you see anything suspicious, shoot it." The episode I watched which inspired this was the one with the androids committing suicide. They were described as "obsolete models," but based on the behavior exhibited by one that didn't commit suicide, it would be smart enough to operate a car, if told where to go. Well, servant androids aren't uncommon, and the characters in the series work for a top government covert ops branch that can (and does) order the military around (with no questions asked). (Think La Femme Nikita set in the world of Blade Runner.) If they wanted the things, they could have them (after all, they fire high explosive weapons in downtown Tokyo, with no repercussions). And dramatically, having self-driving cars would work for the series. In one episode, people have their cybernetics taken over by a virus and kidnap people. No different than having your Johnny Cab go crazy and take you someplace where you don't want to go.
