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279 points nnx | 3 comments | | HN request time: 0.7s | source
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TeMPOraL ◴[] No.43544030[source]
Star Trek continues to be prescient. It not only introduced the conversational interface to the masses, it also nailed its proper uses in ways we're still (re)discovering now.

If you pay attention to how the voice interface is used in Star Trek (TNG and upwards), it's basically exactly what the article is saying - it complements manual inputs and works as a secondary channel. Nobody is trying to manually navigate the ship by voicing out specific control inputs, or in the midst of a battle, call out "computer, fire photon torpedoes" - that's what the consoles are for (and there are consoles everywhere). Voice interface is secondary - used for delegation, queries (that may be faster to say than type), casual location-independent use (lights, music; they didn't think of kitchen timers, though (then again, replicators)), brainstorming, etc.

Yes, this is a fictional show and the real reason for voice interactions was to make it a form of exposition, yadda yadda - but I'd like to think that all those people writing the script, testing it, acting and shooting it, were in perfect position to tell which voice interactions made sense and which didn't: they'd know what feels awkward or nonsensical when acting, or what comes off this way when watching it later.

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jeremyjh ◴[] No.43545284[source]
There was an episode where Beverly Crusher was alone on the ship, and controlled everything just by talking to the computer. I wondered why there is a bridge, much less a bridge crew. But yes it makes sense to use higher bandwidth control systems when possible.
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1. johnnyanmac ◴[] No.43545338[source]
Star trek's crews overall are chosen in a way that seems to consider redundancies, as well as meshing as a team that can offer varying viewpoints.

It runs directly counter to that more capitalistic mindset of "why don't we do more with less?" when spending years navigating all kinds of unknown situations, you want as many options as possible available.

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2. TeMPOraL ◴[] No.43545899[source]
Definitely plays well with the kind of scenarios the writers throw at them - you can pretty much expect any Starfleet officer, whether a commander or an ensign, to operate any system on the ship with at least some passing competence. There's no "I work in stellar cartography, I don't know which button fires torpedoes or how to turn on the bio-bed in sick bay" on a Starfleet ship, except when uttered as a joke (or with EMHs). Overkill in real life? Perhaps. But definitely reassuring.

Hell, if someone really didn't know, they could expect "Computer, turn on the bio-bed 3" to just work - circling us back to the topic of what NLP and voice interfaces are good for.

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3. beefnugs ◴[] No.43554167[source]
Actually this is why Lower Decks is so neat, they hint that there are juniors who barely know anything. That might have been the one sticking negative for me growing up, was that you had to be some super smartypants to be anywhere near starfleet