Bio-Neural Gelpacks, what good are they?

Dennis Toy · Post by **Dennis Toy** » 2005-06-02 03:07am

i was reading Mikes canon database on Mosiacs and i saw something about the bio-neural gel packs. I as a computer science and engineering majoring student can tell you that adding biological components to computer technology is a bad idea. Biological components needs sustainance and nutrients to survive, let me ask you, how are the gel-packs fed? biological components are inherently suceptable to disease and degeneration( this is seen in the episode "learning curve" and "Macrocosm".
Bio-Neural Gelpacks add nothing to the speed and processing power of the computer system.

I think Bio-Neural Gelpacks are nothing but Chic technology like nano-tech, and decoration for those who like cool looking things.

Sir Sirius · Post by **Sir Sirius** » 2005-06-02 09:13am

Did you know that 1+1=2, that the sky is blue and that the moon is not made out of cheese?

Nieztchean Uber-Amoeba · Post by **Nieztchean Uber-Amoeba** » 2005-06-02 09:44am

Sir Sirius wrote:Did you know that 1+1=2, that the sky is blue and that the moon is not made out of cheese?

WTF? Where did you see that?

Batman · Post by **Batman** » 2005-06-02 09:59am

Nieztchean Uber-Amoeba wrote:
Sir Sirius wrote:Did you know that 1+1=2, that the sky is blue and that the moon is not made out of cheese?
WTF? Where did you see that?

I realise there are people who still think it was all a sham but men have been on the moon, and the amount of cheese they found there was-how shall I put it-none whatsoever?

Isolder74 · Post by **Isolder74** » 2005-06-02 10:00am

Well a single Snail neron was used in an experiment and it was able to hold much motre memory that a microchip of the same size(man I wish I could find the IEEE Spectrum that had the article about it) the main problem was keeping the thing alive and the fact that it was a pain to keep alive.

Wetware has its merits but not on a military vessel. It's just too fragile. It's suceptible to too many things.

Lone_Prodigy · Post by **Lone_Prodigy** » 2005-06-02 10:49am

They're onboard for the same reason Picard went in solo as a one-man boarding party in Nemesis– B&B are fucktards.

Robert Walper · Post by **Robert Walper** » 2005-06-02 10:51am

OP wrote: Bio-Neural Gelpacks, what good are they?

They sound cool.

...

Yeah, that's about it.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2005-06-02 12:40pm

The technobabble given is that the gelpacks have "intuition" which allows them to reach answers faster, or some shit like that.

Robert Walper · Post by **Robert Walper** » 2005-06-02 12:42pm

Uraniun235 wrote:The technobabble given is that the gelpacks have "intuition" which allows them to reach answers faster, or some shit like that.

IIRC, the original episode of Voyager claimed they allowed "faster" response time for systems throughout the ship.

Kamakazie Sith · Post by **Kamakazie Sith** » 2005-06-02 12:48pm

Dennis Toy wrote:i was reading Mikes canon database on Mosiacs and i saw something about the bio-neural gel packs. I as a computer science and engineering majoring student can tell you that adding biological components to computer technology is a bad idea. Biological components needs sustainance and nutrients to survive, let me ask you, how are the gel-packs fed? biological components are inherently suceptable to disease and degeneration( this is seen in the episode "learning curve" and "Macrocosm".
Bio-Neural Gelpacks add nothing to the speed and processing power of the computer system.

I think Bio-Neural Gelpacks are nothing but Chic technology like nano-tech, and decoration for those who like cool looking things.

I'm sure they've thought of all those possible problems.

LOL I can see it now half way through the first season;

"Captain, we're losing our link to the computer core!"

"What's happened?"

"Oh my god! I forgot to feed the bio-neural gelpacks!"

This technology simply requires suspension of disbelief. Yes, in our world it wouldn't work. However, we're not talking about our world.

Isolder74 · Post by **Isolder74** » 2005-06-02 02:30pm

well there is that one episode where the gells packs were failing due to radiation from a weird nebula that only Seven and the doctor ended up being able to survive until a gel pack failing 'kills' the doctor

Kurgan · Post by **Kurgan** » 2005-06-02 02:44pm

How about the time that the gelpacks "caught a cold" from Nelix's moldy cheese?

Great stuff.

I think there was also an Enterprise episode where an evil computer was using stolen brains to "boost its processing power" (or maybe memory storage). It was that season 1 ep about the Space Station that could fix your ship for a fee (name escapes me and it's been awhile).

It's just the popular biotech > mechanical sci fi brainbug. Thanks B&B!

Junghalli · Post by **Junghalli** » 2005-06-02 03:33pm

Out-universe explanation: it's more

B10T3K

In-universe explanation: it may be as Isolder suggested, provided we accept that Trekverse dryware really sucks balls. As for keeping them alive maybe they're disposable. The gel pack has a certain lifespan and then you need to replace it. Or maybe they feed them off the replicator system.

Isolder74 · Post by **Isolder74** » 2005-06-02 03:50pm

The Snail Neuron had to be constantly kept in a neutriant saline bath that had to seperate from all the rest of the circuit. At best the longest they managed to keep it alive was about 2 weeks. The advantage was the neuron can store info in other than plus or minus, positive and negative. As a side note, it takes a whole cray to simulate the abilities of one human brain cell, hence the interest in understanding a neuron. The Snail experiment was really about understanding how a brain cell works rather than how much use we can get out of it.

On the other hand, it it could be made stable it makes an eccelent state machine that can then be used to brigde a network togather. The brains cell has many input and output states that can be taken advantage of. Too bad they don't live very long.

Noble Ire · Post by **Noble Ire** » 2005-06-02 05:23pm

Uraniun235 wrote:The technobabble given is that the gelpacks have "intuition" which allows them to reach answers faster, or some shit like that.

Jedi Circuit Boards?

Robert Walper · Post by **Robert Walper** » 2005-06-02 10:29pm

Pure Sabacc wrote:
Uraniun235 wrote:The technobabble given is that the gelpacks have "intuition" which allows them to reach answers faster, or some shit like that.
Jedi Circuit Boards?

*snicker* There's a funny idea.

wilfulton · Post by **wilfulton** » 2005-06-02 11:26pm

What good are they? Maybe to they have some heat retention properties that would make them good as blue ice? You know, that stuff you freeze in your freezer and then put in your cooler to keep your beer/soda/sandwiches/etc cold?

*dramatic sigh* you know, I liked Star Trek better back when they had fewer toys. There was less disbelief to suspend back then.

Grand Moff Yenchin · Post by **Grand Moff Yenchin** » 2005-06-03 02:15am

Kurgan wrote:How about the time that the gelpacks "caught a cold" from Nelix's moldy cheese?

That was the worst bio related episode I watched. It showed the lack of isolation, from the containing of the bio-gels to the ventilation system. Obviously they don't even care to put their fancy bio containment fields or whatever to protect such equipment.

Anyway neuron related computers could be fun: linky.

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2005-06-25 02:15pm

Uraniun235 wrote:The technobabble given is that the gelpacks have "intuition" which allows them to reach answers faster, or some shit like that.

crime against touring tests and AI too

star trek ships feel pain, and are tired of the incompetent meat beings, thus they try to self terminate or kill one or more crewmen by triggering remote charges that are part of security's booby trap systems from time to time. nothing else can explain the vast number of exploding consols and warp core malfunctions, they just want the hurting to end...

Adrian Tullberg · Post by **Adrian Tullberg** » 2005-07-11 10:10am

"Commander, do you have an explanation as per why every computer system on my ship is down?"

"Captain ... we have strong evidence to believe the computer committed suicide."

"... and .... what exactly is this 'strong evidence'?"

"The only remaining data existing. A suicide note."

"Stating ..."

"I can't take any more downloads of Leather Lads of Luxembourg ..."

"It's probably in a better place now, Commander ..."

Skylon · Post by **Skylon** » 2005-07-11 11:08am

Didn't the writers forget about them after the ep where they got infected with moldy cheese? I don't remember them being mentioned again.

Old Plympto · Post by **Old Plympto** » 2005-07-11 11:23am

"Commander, do you have an explanation as per why there is blatant thread necromancy here?"

GrandMasterTerwynn · Post by **GrandMasterTerwynn** » 2005-07-11 12:33pm

Old Plympto wrote:"Commander, do you have an explanation as per why there is blatant thread necromancy here?"

Because some of us apparently enjoy the irony of making a post in a dead thread pointing out how bad it is to post in a dead thread.

Batman · Post by **Batman** » 2005-07-11 07:08pm

I want it on record that this time it wasn't me.

Srynerson · Post by **Srynerson** » 2005-07-11 10:40pm

Old Plympto wrote:"Commander, do you have an explanation as per why there is blatant thread necromancy here?"

To be fair, the PST board is so slow these days that there are posts over a month old on the first page. It seems odd to start a new thread and then link it to a "dead thread" just a few lines further down.

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Bio-Neural Gelpacks, what good are they?

Bio-Neural Gelpacks, what good are they?

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