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Rules
1 Explain your reasoning
All threads and comments submitted to the Daystrom Institute must contain an explanation of the reasoning put forth.
2 No whinging, jokes, memes, and other shallow content.
This entire community has a “serious tag” on it. Shitposts are encouraged in Risa.
3 Be diplomatic.
Participate in a courteous, objective, and open-minded fashion. Be nice to other posters and the people who make Star Trek. Disagree respectfully and don’t gatekeep.
4 Assume good faith.
Assume good faith. Give other posters the benefit of the doubt, but report them if you genuinely believe they are trolling. Don’t whine about “politics.”
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Daystrom Institute @startrek.website RampantParanoia2365 @lemmy.world s3e1 DS9, The Jem'Hadar. Why in the name of Christ on cracker do Jake and Nog disable autopilot in order to fly a Runabout they dont know how to pilot?
Someone please make this scene make sense. What do they think "auto" is short for?
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Daystrom Institute @startrek.website hopesdead @startrek.website Why did Richard Daystrom get a research organization named after them?
In “The Ultimate Computer”, the duotronic M-5 computer was deemed a failure which sent its creator Richard Daystrom into a nervous breakdown. Not only did Daystrom experience psychological distress (probably the most polite way to describe it), but was responsible for a machine that killed upwards of 53 people.
Why would a person responsible for the invention of a computer that unintentionally killed (unintentionally as in, not ordered to do so) get their name enshrined? Is there anything to explain why such a troubled person that ended up killing others in a quest to eliminate the risk of human death, would inspire anyone to name an organization after them?
EDIT: I need to add some complicating facts to this. “Chose Your Pain” (DIS season 1 episode 5) gives Daystrom Institute a founding date of 2256, which is before TOS. So based on comments, likely the duotronic computer is why the name was picked.
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Daystrom Institute @startrek.website hopesdead @startrek.website How long would a shuttle from Earth to Vulcan take?
So last week for my birthday, I went to Universal Studios for Fan Fest Nights. You can read all about it here.
I had a question that I wonder if it could be answered: how long would a trip from Earth to Vulcan be? The walking attraction Red Alert starts off at Spaceport Los Angeles which advertises shuttles to various places, one of them being Vulcan. According to NASA, Vulcan is 16.5 light years away. Can the length of this trip be calculated? I couldn’t find much information on Type 14 shuttlecraft featured in Picard season 3. Memory Alpha simply says they can go high warp speed.
I found this website that does warp speed calculations but I don’t know if it is accurate.
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Daystrom Institute @startrek.website data1701d (He/Him) @startrek.website How was T'Ana able to recognize the era of Earth by smell (or did she)?
In LD S3 E8 "Crisis Point: Paradoxus", the holographic version of Dr. T'Ana was able to recognize they were in late 20th century Earth, seemingly by a single sniff.
I am assuming this is a reflection of T'Ana's actually ability rather than mere cinematic indulgence, for two reasons:
- We do see T'Ana has enhanced olfactory senses in S2 E10 "First First Contact", as it implies she is able to track Tendi by scent, as well as in S4 E5 "Empathalogical Fallacies" when she hunts the Betazoids.
- Considering that Crisis Point was built off private logs, while the plot points may be ridiculous, crew abilities and limitations tend to be mostly accurate. We see this in the original Crisis Point, for instance, when Rutherford has to do the magic transport instead of Billups - simulated Cerritos crew members won't do what the real them would thing is impossible.
Anyhow, it makes me wonder if Starfleet Academy has some sort of sensory training courses for species with certain stronger senses. For
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Daystrom Institute @startrek.website hopesdead @startrek.website Potentially big lore to address in the remainder of Strange New Worlds regarding Klingons.
How might SNW explain the physiology of the Klingons that have ridged foreheads versus the smooth foreheads that come from the failed augment experiment in ENT? A refresher: during the run of ENT, Klingons attempted to replicate the experiment of Human Augments. It ends up failing, which results in the physiology of the population changing, thus giving a in-universe explanation for why the makeup in TOS varies from how they appear TMP and onward.
How might SNW address this bit of lore? TOS takes place during 2265-2269. SNW first episode “Strange New Worlds” is 2259, six years prior. We already know Klingons with ridged foreheads exist thanks to DIS. We even see some during “The Broken Circle”. Might one possible way of explaining the change be a shift in the military and/or political factions of the Empire that lead to more of the smooth foreheads Klingons dominating?
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Daystrom Institute @startrek.website data1701d (He/Him) @startrek.website Why did they revive Nova squadron in the 2380s?
In Prodigy, Nova Squadron has been revived by the mid-2380s.
This feels like a very terrible idea for a multitude of reasons. Besides the initial incident, I would think Starfleet would hesitate against elite cadet groups even further after both the attempted Red Squad coup and the USS Valiant incident.
Also, I have two takeaways from the LD Nova Fleet incident. One, Locarno feeling the need to “revive” Nova Squadron suggests that it didn’t still exist in 2381, meaning the revival must have been relatively close to 2384. Second, I feel like the coming back of a former “elite” cadet to bite them would further make Starfleet wary of establishing an elite cadet group again.
Overall, it just seems every time the Academy does this, they just produce a group of arrogant cadets very susceptible to manipulation and/or recklessness. Even 2384 squadron seems this way - we see their elitist attitude towards the former Protostar crew matching that of Red Squad and such.
So why did they do it a
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Daystrom Institute @startrek.website data1701d (He/Him) @startrek.website Interesting Observation of Ferengi Gender Roles in Nagus Rom Era
Edit: When I say "Center Right" I also mean relative to Ferengi society.
A small addition to my post, Gender and Sexual Orientation in FERENGI society from a few months back.
I caught this frame in the background of LD S4 E6 Parth's Ferengi Heart Place, depicting an unclothed Ferengi woman.
This provides an interesting insight into the Ferengi social/political landscape of the Nagus Rom era. It suggests a center right that is fine with women traveling in public to some extent (maybe with limits, like it can only be with husband or father or out of necessity), but not them being clothed. This doesn't seem to be that common, as most Ferengi women we see in this episode (including on the television in Boimler's apartment) are clothed, but it seems to be a position that exists.
Honestly, I'd be interested in a novel (perhaps written from the perspective of an autobiography) or something about how Nagus Rom and Leeta survived leading Ferengin
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Daystrom Institute @startrek.website hopesdead @startrek.website A huge question regarding alternate timelines related to Picard.
If you haven’t watched all of Picard, “All Good Things…” (TNG season 7 episode 25) and “Endgame” (VOY season 7 episode 25), please be advised there are major spoilers.
This may come down to a personal interpretation: did the events of “All Good Things…” ever exist? There is one reason I ask this: the false positive diagnosis of irumodic syndrome. The way I see it, the events of that episode are rendered non-existent.
Jean-Luc assumes prior to his death in season 1 of Picard that his illness was irumodic syndrome. However, it is never specified in that season that he has the illness. In season 3 Jack Crusher is diagnosed with it and assumed inherited. However by the end we learn it was a condition related to his time as Locutus of Borg.
In VOY, the future timeline with Admiral Janeway appears to be connected to the anti-timeline future from “All Good Things…”. The Admiral wearing the same uniform and badge. However the big difference is that the present day Prime Voyager is aided b
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Daystrom Institute @startrek.website the_sisko @startrek.website Why aren't shields up by default?
So, this may be a frequently discussed topic, and I'm sorry if so. But I was watching S1 of SNW and there was a scene where an early "shields up" saved the ship from serious damage. And now that I think of it, I just can't come up with a good reason why shields aren't up all the time, with a few obvious caveats.
- Yes, shields must be down to transport, this seems like the most obvious reason to have them down. But we see plenty of episodes where shields are brought down momentarily for a transport. Why not do that always?
- One reason brought up frequently is that raising shields could be taken as an act of aggression. But if you arrive with shields already up, then you're not doing anything aggressive, you just arrived that way, so I don't think this makes much sense in a world where most Starfleet ships just keep their shields up.
- I don't know for certain, but it seems possible that shields may not be usable at warp. I don't remember any specific episode where that happened, b
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Daystrom Institute @startrek.website reddig33 @lemmy.world Warp field debris question
In ENT episode “Divergence” parts go flying off the ship during warp 5. What would happen to something at that speed without the protection of the field? Would it stay in high speed motion until interacted upon by something else (meteoroids/dust/gravitational fields)? Or would it disintegrate under this kind of speed?
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Daystrom Institute @startrek.website hopesdead @startrek.website Changes in Vulcan Beliefs
Did Syrran’s teachings change the accepted spiritual and philosophical ideology of mainstream Vulcan society? ENT had the unique position of being a prequel to TOS. It at first presented mind-melds as a deviant act that was socially unacceptable. Moving into the 23rd century of TOS and the movies (I’m going on recall right now), the deviance seemed to have gone away. However the dangers of mind-melds held true even by the time of VOY. When ENT reached the three parter of “The Forge”, “Awakening” and “Kir’Shara”, the story specifically focused on katras.
It feels like the direction ENT was pointed, the people in charge of the big lore wanted to flip what we knew about Vulcan society. One of the major conflicts over the course of the series was the Earth-Vulcan relationship. Of course this was rooted in the Federation arch.
To clarify my question: did the rebellious teachings of a cult (T’Pol specifically calls the Syrrannites a “violent cult”), become the accepted beliefs over a cen
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Daystrom Institute @startrek.website data1701d (He/Him) @startrek.website Las Vegas, Nevada in the 24th Century?
What is Las Vegas, Nevada like in the 24th century?
It seems to be implied that Vegas still exists (not just some legendary destination of the past like Vics) and is still associated with gambling - Chakotay's hallucination of Tom Paris in VOY:"The Fight" mentions Vegas along with Mars and Orion III when mentioning the odds in a fight.
I think the fact that this is a hallucination of Tom in Chakotay's mind, combined with the fact that it was mentioned with contemporarily active places, heavily suggests that Vegas is alive and still has some form of active gambling.
However, I would imagine that a lot would still change for Vegas. Modern-day Vegas has Nellis AFB in it and Creech nearby, so it would have probably been a major target during World War III and as a result been heavily damaged. For urban planning, this probably gave a largely blank slate during redevelopment, so in many ways, Earth probably ended up becoming a typical 24th century city or town with vastly improved public
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Daystrom Institute @startrek.website x4740N @lemm.ee How are schools different in star trek
What's different in star trek schools compared to real life schools on earth
What do they learn in star trek schools
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Daystrom Institute @startrek.website x4740N @lemm.ee What happened to roads in star trek ?
Wondering what happened to roads in star trek
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Daystrom Institute @startrek.website data1701d (He/Him) @startrek.website How Many Kims on the Anaximander / Is the Anaximander sufficiently staffed?
I went through LD 5x09 "Fissure Quest" to try and count/estimate the amount of Kims on the Anaximander.
The most we see on screen together not including Lieutenant Kim is 8 Kims on the Beagle Bridge (6 First Contact Uniforms, 1 Voyager uniform, 1 Delta Flyer uniform):
In the scene immediately after the opening credit, we see two non-Lieutenant Kims with the Voyager uniform:
Combining the 8 Kims seen on the Beagle with the extra Voy Kim on the Anaximander, I estimate there to be at least 9 Kims (besides Lt).
However, there are some inconsistencies.
We only see 6 (non-Lieutenant) Kims in the prison, despite it being somewhat implied the Anaximander is mostly empty besides Garak and Bashir:
To be honest, I found it a bit pedestrian and the continuity geek in me is a bit annoyed with some bits.
Sigh. Okay, here we go.
The opening Star Trek Universe sequence features the old scow used in this movie as well as a mirrored version of the Star Trek logo, referencing Philippa Georgiou’s Mirror Universe origins and the plot’s connections to the MU.
Aeschlyus was a playwright of Ancient Greece often considered the father of tragedy. The full quote is actually, “The anvil of justice is planted firm, and fate who makes the sword does the forging in advance.”
The opening scene takes place in the Terran Empire, the Mirror Universe counterpart of the Federation, although exactly where (or when) is not specified.
San was first mentioned in the DIS novel Die Standing as a friend of the younger Giorgiou, and then subsequently seen in flashbacks in DIS’s third season. We know little about him except that Giorgiou saw herself standing over his body and she believed she was de
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Daystrom Institute @startrek.website The Bard in Green @lemmy.starlightkel.xyz Why does the Terran Empire use the Hunger Games to choose a new emperor and how is one chosen as a competitor?
Is being a pretty 15-19 year old the primary prerequisite?
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Daystrom Institute @startrek.website data1701d (He/Him) @startrek.website Klingon Theology Question: "When I say jump out of an airlock, you will JUMP OUT OF AN AIRLOCK!"
In an attached clip from the video "game" Star Trek: Klingon (in-universe an educational holodeck program), a holographic Gowron violently shakes the player and yells player, "When I say jump out of an airlock, you will JUMP OUT OF AN AIRLOCK!"
My question is, outside of edge cases where it's actually necessary to win a battle, would this level of order-following actually align with proper Klingon theology?
I feel like this would be an honorless death (kind of like if your commander told you to stab yourself with a d'k tahg), and thus if you were actually given an order like this, the proper Klingon thing to do would be to challenge your commanding officer to honorable combat. I could see a more Martokian view that honor demands you follow your commander, though, but I feel like even he would have limits.
I can think of three explanations for what Gowron said: 1) It's simply a hyperbole. 2) Gowron isn't exactly a beacon of
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Daystrom Institute @startrek.website data1701d (He/Him) @startrek.website How would the Trill Symbiosis Commission handle duplicate symbionts?
Let's say we have a certain Trill symbiont with a host. What would happen if the symbiont was duplicated under the condition that:
- The host and symbiont were transporter cloned. (2 Jadzia Daxs)
- A person from an alternate timeline with the same symbiont ends up permanently marooned in the prime timeline. (Larry Dax from a timeline where Curzon didn't reinstate Jadzia coexisting with prime Jadzia)
- A past host comes back from the dead with a version of the symbiont a la Spock or Shaxs, or even something similar to Doctor Who's concept of an extraction chamber (Jadzia got bored in Sto'Vo'Kor and decided to climb the Black Mountain, meaning her and Ezri exist simultaneously)
I imagine in all of them, the commission would at least let the duplicate live for the rest of the lifespan of the original host, much like the Federation at large treats transporter clones.
However, what happens when it comes time for the symbiont to be transferred? I can't imagine the commission's ideology wou