VOY: Extreme Risk Review

[FaxModem1]

The simplest answer for the aeroshuttle is that it simply was not on board when they left DS9 because it was arriving on Tuesday. In fact, maybe many of Voyager's problems can be explained that way.

That and it seemed to be a test ship for a lot of technologies that just didn't pan out. The bio-neural gel packs seemed to be an experiment that was only tried on Voyager, and nowhere else, as years later, they're still using the isolinear chips on the Enterprise-E, Defiant, and other things.

[Nobody700]

The simplest answer for the aeroshuttle is that it simply was not on board when they left DS9 because it was arriving on Tuesday. In fact, maybe many of Voyager's problems can be explained that way.

That and it seemed to be a test ship for a lot of technologies that just didn't pan out. The bio-neural gel packs seemed to be an experiment that was only tried on Voyager, and nowhere else, as years later, they're still using the isolinear chips on the Enterprise-E, Defiant, and other things.

I mean the fact they could get sick and destroyed from bad cheese probably caused the entire federation to remove the crap.

[FaxModem1]

The simplest answer for the aeroshuttle is that it simply was not on board when they left DS9 because it was arriving on Tuesday. In fact, maybe many of Voyager's problems can be explained that way.

That and it seemed to be a test ship for a lot of technologies that just didn't pan out. The bio-neural gel packs seemed to be an experiment that was only tried on Voyager, and nowhere else, as years later, they're still using the isolinear chips on the Enterprise-E, Defiant, and other things.

I mean the fact they could get sick and destroyed from bad cheese probably caused the entire federation to remove the crap.

To be fair to Voyager, that's not how you're supposed to make cheese, as most cheeses are refrigerated to prevent food poisoning. Neelix has it's contents just open under a ventilation duct to infect everyone from breathing in fresh mold like that. And again, Neelix did do that more than once, as later on he once infected the ship with fleas from a plasma coil used for his stove.

This is also the guy who ripped out an entire wall of replicators and made said kitchen with no one noticing within the course of a couple weeks, tops. I don't know about you, but I like to have professional contractors rebuild a room so that I don't accidentally ruin the place by starting a fire with the wiring or flooding the place with the plumbing. Either Neelix is a professional builder, capable of making a kitchen. Or he made one that's barely functional and is accidentally causing problems with the ship.

I sometimes enjoy Neelix, but man was he a hazard to the ship and crew. All that said, one dangerous cook shouldn't take down a cook like that, so you're probably right that Starfleet decided against the very vulnerable technology.

[clearspira]

Organic tech is one of those things that keeps on popping up in sci-fi and its always worse than metal due to the fact that metal cannot catch a disease.
Voyager - caught a disease. The Wraith hive ships in Stargate - caught a disease. Moya from Farscape - caught numerous diseases.

There is no way in real life we will ever have organic tech the way sci-fi portrays it. There is just no reason to.

[FaxModem1]

Organic tech is one of those things that keeps on popping up in sci-fi and its always worse than metal due to the fact that metal cannot catch a disease.
Voyager - caught a disease. The Wraith hive ships in Stargate - caught a disease. Moya from Farscape - caught numerous diseases.

There is no way in real life we will ever have organic tech the way sci-fi portrays it. There is just no reason to.

You forget the other part that could be worse about having a living ship. That they might start having to deal with all the trauma that being a living ship would have to go through. Talon in Farscape, for instance, became so traumatized over the course of his life because of being stolen from his mother, hunted by Peacekeepers, captained by Crais, etc. that he went psychotic, and everyone had to tiptoe around him because of how unhinged he was becoming until eventually he just started killing other ships just on the potential idea that they might just be a threat, even when they were just innocents passing by.

Imagine that as a career. Professional ship therapist, for actual spaceships.

[Steve]

I'm sure the Culture has Minds just for that. Then again, they're not organic, just incredibly advanced AI computers.

[Deledrius]

Organic tech is one of those things that keeps on popping up in sci-fi and its always worse than metal due to the fact that metal cannot catch a disease.
Voyager - caught a disease. The Wraith hive ships in Stargate - caught a disease. Moya from Farscape - caught numerous diseases.

There is no way in real life we will ever have organic tech the way sci-fi portrays it. There is just no reason to.

You forget the other part that could be worse about having a living ship. That they might start having to deal with all the trauma that being a living ship would have to go through. Talon in Farscape, for instance, became so traumatized over the course of his life because of being stolen from his mother, hunted by Peacekeepers, captained by Crais, etc. that he went psychotic, and everyone had to tiptoe around him because of how unhinged he was becoming until eventually he just started killing other ships just on the potential idea that they might just be a threat, even when they were just innocents passing by.

Imagine that as a career. Professional ship therapist, for actual spaceships.

It's funny/strange that this never seemed to be a plot point once they got into the Doctor's rights. I recall early on that a friend and myself had basically assumed the bio-neural system of the ship was a primary component in the Doctor's sapience, but the show just kinda forgets that it's even there.


As for the "we'll never use it like this", I wouldn't be so sure. More and more we're seeing some things done this way IRL, because co-opting some biological/chemical machinery that exists in nature is a heck of a lot easier than building your own from scratch (for now). Take something that has the features you want, engineer it slightly to do the thing you want instead, and enjoy all the other features evolution already gave that organism "for free".

[Riedquat]

Captain's yacht is a real Historical thing. They told me.

Napoleonic War etc: both Captains are Aristocrats with lots of bling.
When both sides have enough time to prepare before a battle, they each put a little row-boat behind the ship with all the Treasure. By Laws of Chivalry you don't shoot at the Captain's yacht. etc

I'd have thought valuables would be better off tucked away in the hold in action.

The ship's boats of that era were utility vehicles, very much more the equivalent of Trek's shuttles even though the captain had his boat for ship to ship or ship to shore journeys.

[TheStarWarsTrek]

I mean, all the arguments against organic technology (can get sick or injured, needs food, ect) . . . they apply to the use of animals for transportation as well. And while a car is objectively better than a horse in most cases, we still sometimes use horses don't we?

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

I think Torres' plot was kind of an odd pairing with the main plot, but I liked it because I like Torres.