Timeline for How come so many species in Star Trek universe have compatible communications technologies?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
15 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Apr 22, 2014 at 4:39 | comment | added | nomen | @Jules: except that it would not be obvious on which frequency ranges such a signal would be transmitted. Which means doing high bandwidth scans on highly entropic noise. | |
| Apr 22, 2014 at 4:17 | comment | added | Jules | @nomen while that's true, certain encodings (e.g. PCM for audio signals) are much more logically obvious than others, and would likely be universal or near-universal. | |
| Apr 22, 2014 at 1:31 | comment | added | nomen | @HorusKol: thanks, you're right. For any encoding, a permutation of it is another encoding. I stopped writing that half-way through and got foncused. :) | |
| Apr 22, 2014 at 0:28 | comment | added | HorusKol | @nomen - isn't it 2^8! (factorial) possible combinations/encodings? | |
| Apr 21, 2014 at 22:47 | comment | added | Mr.Mindor | @user13500 If you simultaneously receive content on thousands of bands across the spectrum, why assume they are intended to be separate messages, or intended to be interpreted in a digitized way at all? In the analog world, we receive and process multiple bands to form one message naturally, think on visible light and our eyes. | |
| Apr 21, 2014 at 21:17 | comment | added | nomen | @user13500: You are missing the point. Your DAC will have an encoding of the numbers as binary numbers in it. And that encoding is not unique, or even "likely". Put it this way: there are 2^8 encodings of the set of numbers 1 to 2^8. You are talking to somebody with a degree in mathematics, by the way -- not that I am arguing from authority, but it is mathematical law. | |
| Apr 21, 2014 at 21:00 | comment | added | user13500 | @nomen: When one encode "raw" audio one also (usually) remove information, shuffle it around, add extra data to be used by decoder etc. "Raw data" is represented in a linear fashion with no data added or removed (within the spectrum of DAC). After digitalizing a wave pattern recognition comes into play. | |
| Apr 21, 2014 at 18:12 | comment | added | nomen | @user13500: any representation is an encoding. There is no such thing as a "raw stream". Those "advanced mathematical models" cannot exist, and that is mathematical law. | |
| Apr 21, 2014 at 14:29 | history | edited | Valorum | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 115 characters in body
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| Apr 21, 2014 at 12:11 | comment | added | user13500 | @Izkata: Then do not encode it, raw stream, or use encodings that do not give low entropy. We have hundreds of encodings, but they have advanced warp drives, replicators, subspace communication, tranceiver arrays, spectrum communication etc. One have to assume they use advanced mathematical models to analyse data for pattern recognition. If one then also send on thousands of bands and use thousands of formats and encodings the likelyhood of an advanced system would be able to translate at least one is plausible. | |
| Apr 21, 2014 at 11:38 | comment | added | Izkata | @user13500 Even unencrypted, we have dozens/hundreds of encodings for video that are not compatible with each other | |
| Apr 21, 2014 at 11:36 | comment | added | user13500 | Q is about communication software. E.g. in our world we have digital vs analog. DAB, FM, GSM ... Guess a starship would have the capability to scan most spectrums and manage to extract unencrypted communication ... (An enhanced SETI :) Likewise one would send on a wide range of spectrums and formats when recipient has unknown tech. | |
| Apr 21, 2014 at 11:36 | comment | added | Valorum | @clickrick - the premise of the question is flawed. We see them struggle with communication at least 4-5 times per season. | |
| Apr 21, 2014 at 11:17 | comment | added | ClickRick | Unhelpful, as you concentrate on language translation (which I specifically excluded from my question) and even for that partly rely on out-of-universe arguments. | |
| Apr 21, 2014 at 10:50 | history | answered | Valorum | CC BY-SA 3.0 |