5 Inventions Influenced by ‘Star Trek’

In the original series, crew members who beamed down to alien worlds could communicate with each other and the ship by flipping open a clamshell-shaped communicator. In 1983, 14 years after the original show was canceled, Motorola released the first commercially available handheld cell phone. Then, in 1996, Motorola released the StarTAC, an early clamshell-style flip phone whose design drew inspiration from “Star Trek” communicators.

The arrival of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” in September 1987 brought with it new technology, including handheld, touchscreen devices called Personal Access Display Devices, or PADDs. Apple launched the iPad in 2010, with co-founder Steve Wozniak stating the 21st-century real-world device reminded him of the 24th-century fictional inspiration. Today, multiple tech companies offer similar touchscreen tablets.

In the 1986 movie Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, the crew of the Enterprise travels back in time to 20th century San Francisco, where chief engineer Montgomery Scott finds himself briefly discombobulated when a desktop computer doesn’t respond to his voice commands. In his time, the answer to almost everything could be found simply by asking the ship’s computer to consult its vast knowledge base. Voice-activated virtual assistants are now so widespread we use them to play our favorite music and turn on our lights. AI is also becoming increasingly integrated into our lives, sometimes through conversational interfaces. Its development has brought both benefits and widespread anxiety.

Two of the primary “Star Trek” franchise antagonists, the Klingons and the Romulans, deployed “cloaking devices” on their warships, rendering them invisible to most sensors. By the time “Star Trek” first aired, the U.S. government had already been developing stealth technology for years, including technology incorporated into the Lockheed A-12 and later the SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance aircraft.

While no technology presently exists to make a spaceship disappear in front of our eyes, developments in nanotechnology mean that the concept of cloaking devices may “become a reality in humanity’s very near future.”

One practical challenge for a self-contained starship with hundreds of people on board spending several years zipping around the galaxy is where to store the enormous amount of supplies, food and drink that would be required. “Star Trek: The Next Generation” solved this problem with replicators, which could summon up almost everything a person could conceptualize, from cups of tea to clarinets, with a voice command. While the show’s vision of creating matter from pure energy is likely physically impossible, 3D printing technology is becoming rapidly widespread and affordable, with even 3D food printers possibly reaching our kitchens “within the next 10 to 20 years.”

“Although ‘Star Trek’ was remarkably prescient in some ways, of course it didn’t get everything right,” Siegel says. But even as some of the show’s seemingly advanced technologies have become obsolete in today’s world, Siegel explains one of the great strengths of “Star Trek” is its vision for how tech can be integrated into human society.

“The ‘Star Trek’ perspective doesn’t just tell you what we can develop and what is possible, but how we can use that technology to really bring about a better world for all of us,” he says. “It’s a reminder of what we’re capable of if we work together for the collective good.”