#michael okuda

[chernobog13]

Nerds living the dream!

[unreformedcarrots]

[wormyorchids]

It’s up!!

OKUDAZINE - Jam's Ko-fi Shop

This zine celebrates Star Trek displays, the man who revolutionized them, and the legendary Sci fi couple he is a part of! Quarter sized zin

[isagrimorie]

I’m watching a new video on the Delta Flyer and its design specifications and its so funny how invested I am with Trek ship design when I was so frustrated with a Star Wars podcast getting waaay too in the weeds with it for Star Wars Rebels when Hera got a new ship design for the nascent Rebel fleet.

But for Star Trek? I’m very into Starfleet design, I find it pleasing that there’s a design language and logic within the Starfleet ships, like I realized in the Galaxy Quest thing the older I get the more I feel sympatico to the fans who go over the schematics of the Galaxy Quest ship design.

This is why I feel so frustrated with SNW because it doesn’t feel like there’s the same consideration.

It’s why I loved, loved Picard season 3, especially with the return of the Okudas. The way they kept the design language consistent from TOS, TNG, DS9, and Voyager and straight to Picard s3 ships there’s a consistency in the design and evolution in the design that feels right.

And Michael Okuda didn’t just remain stagnant either, he kept up with new technologies and brought it to Picard season 3 with how much he thought about the User experience and interface of the consoles. He was one of the first to bring the concept of gaze tracking to the idea of the panels. It’s just such a joy to watch and pour over the schematics and origins of in-universe and out of universe designs. I miss the Okudas in Trek. I miss the okudagrams.

They pioneered so many things and I think really helped build the worlds of Star Trek.

[cantsayidont]

Cooking à la replicator

Chapter 7.6 of the semi-canonical STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION TECHNICAL MANUAL by Rick Sternbach and Michael Okuda includes a description of how the replicators work that offers some interesting background for how people in the TNG era might approach food and cooking in the era of replication technology.

The first and most important point is that the molecular patterns replicators use to recreate objects are a form of compressed storage, akin to a compressed audio or image file. The text explains:

Because of the massive amount of computer memory required to store even the simplest object, it is impossible to record each molecule individually. Instead, extensive data compression and averaging techniques are used. Such techniques reduce memory storage required for the molecular patterns by factors approaching 2.7 x 10^9. The resulting single-bit inaccuracies do not significantly impact the quality of most reproduced objects, but preclude the use of replicator technology to re-create living objects. … The data themselves are subject to significant accuracy limits.

So, a replicator pattern is an approximation of the original object, just as a JPEG image scanned from a 35mm negative is only an approximation of the original negative. Data compression issues also mean that there are tradeoffs between imaging fidelity, memory storage requirements, and the power required for replication. The text notes:

There are two main replication systems on board the Enterprise. These are the food synthesizers and the hardware replicators. The food replicators are optimized for a finer degree of resolution because of the necessity of accurately replicating the chemical composition of foodstuffs. Hardware replicators, on the other hand, are generally tuned to a lower resolution for greater energy efficiency and lower memory matrix requirements. A number of specially modified food replication terminals are used in sickbay and in various science labs for synthesis of certain pharmaceuticals and other scientific supplies.

The chapter doesn't specifically discuss how these things impact food and food preparation, but there's enough information to infer a number of additional points:

There is a quantifiable difference between replicated and non-replicated food, and probably a qualitative one as well. A fresh apple is not identical to a replicated copy of that apple, so we can surmise that beings with sufficiently sensitive palates could probably tell the difference. Furthermore, a fair number of people would probably insist that they could tell the difference, whether they actually could or not!

The range of foods that can be replicated has significant practical limits. In order to replicate something, you need either a preexisting molecular pattern or an extant example you can scan. Furthermore, because each pattern is resource-intensive to store, a given system can really only retain a finite number of patterns. So, for rare, exotic, or unusual foodstuffs, no molecular pattern may be available, and finding a molecularly scannable example might be difficult.

Because of the "single-bit inaccuracies," generation loss is likely an issue, so replicating replicated food will produce a qualitatively worse result (although each first-generation replicated copy of the same pattern is theoretically identical).

The difference in replicator resolution probably has many gradations. For instance, a food replicator included in a shuttlecraft survival kit might be tuned for the lowest resolution that's still safe for foodstuff preparation, to conserve power, while replicators used for synthesizing pharmaceuticals in sickbay might have somewhat higher resolution than the ones in the mess hall.

So, what does this mean for TNG-era cooks like Benjamin Sisko and his dad? Some guesses:

Chefs might use specialized ultra-high-resolution replicators, either ones specifically designed for culinary use or repurposed ultra-high-res replicators from some other application (like a pharmaceutical replicator), to produce higher-quality replicated foodstuffs.

Cooks and bakers may prefer to replicate raw materials and then prepare them the old-fashioned way. For instance, it would probably make more sense for a baker to have replication patterns for different kinds of flour, eggs, sugar, etc. than to try to image and store complete breads and cakes, since the same ingredients could be used to create many different finished products.

People undoubtedly still cook with non-replicated ingredients where they can get them, and probably routinely combine replicated and non-replicated ingredients. An apple pie made with fresh-picked apples and replicated flour and sugar is probably still better than a wholly replicated pie.

There might be a whole genre of cookbooks focused on cooking with replicated food, aimed specifically at working around the impact of resolution-related "single-bit inaccuracies" on how food tastes.

People probably have strong opinions about the impact of replication, such as which foods or drinks can't be satisfactorily replicated, and the pros and cons of different replicated and non-replicated foodstuffs.

People on starships probably occasionally try to make food or beverages with the sickbay replicators, insisting that it tastes better that way.

[siryl]

A nanite diagram by Michael Okuda, scanned from Star Trek: The Continuing Mission by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens.

[2mo3cm-man]

[giffingthingsss]

Condensed Commentary: Observer Effect

Judith and Garfield  Reeves-Stevens

Denise and Michael Okuda