Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 194.54.116.12 (talk) at 11:38, 30 October 2019. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Replicator" Star Trek – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (February 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this message) This article possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. (August 2008) (Learn how and when to remove this message) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

In Star Trek a replicator is a machine that can create (and recycle) things. Replicators were originally seen to simply synthesize meals on demand, but in later series much larger non-food items appear. The technical aspects of replicated vice "real" things is sometimes a plot element.

Origins and limitations

Although previous sci-fi writers had speculated about the development of "replicating" or "duplicating" technology, the term "replicator" was not itself used until Star Trek: The Next Generation. In simple terms,

Uses

One of the most important pieces of technology in the Star Trek universe, the replicator is used primarily to provide food and water on board starships, thus eliminating the need to stock most provisions. (Starships, starbases, and other installations stock some provisions for emergency use, in case of replicator failure or an energy crisis.) On Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, it was established that as long as there is an energy source to power life support, replication is used to provide breathable air on ships and starbases (and to disassemble the carbon dioxide exhaled by the crew), thus providing a seemingly endless supply of oxygen and eliminating the need to carry air tanks.

The technology is also used for producing spare parts, which makes it possible to repair most ship damage without having to return to a starbase. Other applications include replication of Starfleet uniforms, as well as everyday objects such as toys and souvenirs. Replication is also used by the Holodeck program to allow food, clothes, and other objects belonging within a simulation to be used or consumed by the participants.

Starfleet's safety protocols prevent unauthorized replication of dangerous objects, such as weapons and poisonous substances.

Replicators can also convert matter into energy. Following that principle, the device can dismantle any object into subatomic particles. The ensuing energy can then be stored for future use or immediately applied in a subsequent replication. This process is referred to as "recycling", and is applied to everything from dirty dishes to outgrown children's clothes.

Replicator technology, even if produced on a larger scale, cannot be used to create complex objects such as shuttlecraft or starships (the production staff felt that being able to replicate entire starships "at the push of a button" would severely impact dramatic potential). However, in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "For the Cause", industrial replicators are used to replicate large components of ships, shuttlecraft, and other pieces of this sort, which are later used in shipyards to construct such vessels. In this manner, as few as 15 industrial replicators are enough to replicate the components needed to build a fleet of starships or to help a civilization recover from a planet-wide natural disaster.

By virtually eliminating material scarcity, replicator technology plays an important role in the moneyless human economy within the Star Trek universe.

Voyager

When the USS Voyager was pulled to the Delta Quadrant, it became clear that replicator technology was unknown to some of the indigenous peoples of that region. Throughout the first seasons, the Kazon and other races tried repeatedly to obtain the technology.

Captain Janeway feared that if this technology were acquired by a civilization before they were ready, disastrous consequences could ensue. For this reason, and because of the Prime Directive, Janeway refused to give away the technology at any price.

Also on Voyager, the ship's energy constraints on the journey back to the Alpha Quadrant meant that replicator supplies had to be strictly controlled, leading to "replicator rations" becoming an unofficial ship currency. This is also the reason Neelix (aside from providing the crew with a morale boost through the preparation of fresh food) became employed as the ship's chef. Some ingredients came from the ship's hydroponics laboratory.

In the real world

In 2014, researchers at Nestlé were reported as working on technology comparable to the replicator, with the goal of providing food tailored to an individual's nutritional requirements.

In 2015, a Star Trek-inspired Replicator-Emulator is proposed to robotically grow, print or assemble not only food, but also shelter, energy, transportation and even whole towns. #WPProjects assigned 250 renewable automation projects - one project to every country in the world - and it also laid out the important social programs needed to protect incomes and bolster economies as societies completed their 2-year Renewable Automations projects.

In comparison, 3D printers, which are now a mainstream technology and have a range of impressive and important capabilities (including shaping prostheses or making organs) are decidedly different, in that they do not create objects with subatomic particles and programmed patterns, but instead must use fully formed materials.

Imperial College London physicists have discovered how to create matter from light - a feat thought impossible when the idea was first theorised 80 years ago. In just one day in Imperial's Blackett Physics Laboratory, three physicists worked out a relatively simple way to physically prove a theory first devised by scientists Breit and Wheeler in 1934.

BeeHex, an Ohio startup company, received a grant in 2013 from NASA intended for developing long-spaceflight food 3D printing technology. They now build food printing robots for eventual public use.

Cemvita Factory Inc., a biotech startup based in Houston, TX, is also developing a photobioreactor that converts carbon dioxide that's captured from air along with hydrogen from hydrolyzing water to nutrients and pharmaceutics.

Reception

A 2016 article in The New Yorker noted that replicators may be a "metaphor for the distant endpoint of the Industrial Revolution". They point out that technology as presented in Star Trek: The Next Generation changes the moral equation of being human, because nearly anything you want can be created with a request.

They note that Captain Picard's favorite beverage, Earl Grey tea, is created by the replicator, and the character often states "Tea, Earl Grey, Hot" during the television show. The beverage is then seen being produced in the replicator with a special visual and sound effect.

See also

• Molecular assembler
• Santa Claus machine
• Forever Peace, a 1997 novel by Joe Haldeman that features a similar device called the Nanoforge

References

1. "Confronting a New 'Era of Duplication'? 3D Printing, Replicating Technology and the Search for Authenticity in George O. Smith's Venus Equilateral Series". Durham University. Retrieved July 21, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
2. "Death Wish". Voyager Season 2. No. 18. UPN. February 19, 1996
3. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, episode Hard Time.
4. "Nestle plans to create 'Star Trek-like food replicator'". BBC. 24 June 2014.
5. "WP Transition Projects create 'Star Trek replicator emulator'". CSQ Research. 25 December 2015.
6. http://phys.org/news/2014-05-scientists-year-quest.html
7. http://www.iflscience.com/technology/nasafunded-3d-pizza-printer-now-works-at-tourist-attractions/
8. "Deep Technology Based on Cognitive Chemistry". www.cemvitafactory.com. Retrieved March 4, 2019.
9. "Cemvita Factory NASA iTech - Moji Karimi" (video). CemVita Factory Inc. September 1, 2018. Retrieved March 4, 2019.
10. Tonar, Ellis Talton and Remington. "Space Tech Startups Are The Key To Making Life On Mars Possible". Forbes. Retrieved March 4, 2019.
11. ^ Saadia, Manu (2016-09-08). "The Enduring Lessons of "Star Trek"". ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2019-07-24.

External links

• Replicator at Memory Alpha
• "Transporters, Replicators and Phasing FAQ" by Joshua Bell

v t e Star Trek
Outline Timeline Canon Lists
Television series	Broadcast The Original Series episodes The Animated Series The Next Generation episodes Deep Space Nine episodes Voyager episodes Enterprise episodes Streaming Discovery episodes Short Treks Picard Lower Decks Prodigy Strange New Worlds Starfleet Academy
Films	The Original Series The Motion Picture The Wrath of Khan The Search for Spock The Voyage Home The Final Frontier The Undiscovered Country The Next Generation Generations First Contact Insurrection Nemesis Reboot (Kelvin Timeline) Star Trek Into Darkness Beyond Television Section 31
Setting	Characters A–F G–M N–S T–Z Crossovers Concepts Games Kobayashi Maru Law Prime Directive Materials Dilithium Sexuality Stardate Locations Class M planet Galactic quadrant Mirror Universe Cultures and species Andorian Bajoran Borg Breen Cardassian Dominion Ferengi Rules of Acquisition Gorn Kazon Klingon High Council culture language grammar Maquis Orion Q Romulan Species 8472 United Federation of Planets Starfleet Academy Section 31 Tribble Vidiians Vulcan nerve pinch salute Xindi Technology Cloaking device Communicator Deflector shields Holodeck Hypospray Impulse drive Jefferies tube LCARS Medicine Replicator Spacecraft Deep Space Nine Defiant Earth Spacedock Enterprise NX-01 NCC-1701 A D E Klingon starships Shuttlecraft Voyager Transporter Tricorder Uniforms Warp drive Weapons Bat'leth
Production	List of staff Gene Roddenberry Norway Corporation Composers and music musical theme "Where no man has gone before" "Beam me up, Scotty" Redshirt Accolades (film franchise)
Unmade projects	The God Thing Planet of the Titans Phase II Star Trek 4
Spin-off fiction	Games Comics Novels Reference books Stage A Klingon Christmas Carol Klingon opera Very Short Treks
Aftershows	After Trek The Ready Room
Documentaries	Trekkies Mind Meld Trekkies 2 How William Shatner Changed the World Beyond the Final Frontier The Captains Trek Nation For the Love of Spock What We Left Behind
Cultural influence	First Contact Day Star Trek Day Kirk and Uhura's kiss Comparison to Star Wars Fandom productions Kirk/Spock Memory Alpha Shakespeare and Star Trek The Exhibition The Experience "The Last Voyage of the Starship Enterprise" (1976 SNL sketch) Free Enterprise (1999 film) Galaxy Quest (1999 film) "Where No Fan Has Gone Before" (2002 Futurama episode) The Orville (2017 television series) Please Stand By (2017 film) "USS Callister" (2017 Black Mirror episode)
Category

• Fictional technology
• Star Trek devices