5 Times Star Trek Quietly Predicted Real Technology

When the original "Star Trek" series premiered in 1966, viewers got their first glimpse at what would become one of the greatest science fiction franchises of all time. The show spawned movies, comics, cartoons, video games, and much more in the years that followed, but it also had an incredible impact on the world through its imagined, futuristic technology. One of the best aspects of "Star Trek" is that it uses real-world scientific theories to create technological devices that make sense to the viewer and aren't entirely out of the realm of possibility. In this way, the series has influenced real-world technology in the decades since its debut.

One fascinating example is the USS Enterprise's warp drive, which is a seemingly magical piece of technology that couldn't possibly exist, right? Well, it technically can. The theory behind it is based on Einstein's equations, and studies conducted by Mexican physicist (and long-time Trekkie) Miguel Alcubierre have found that a warp drive is theoretically possible, though building one is unrealistic at this time. However, other technologies that do exist today have been inspired by (or are very similar to) devices seen in "Star Trek" productions. This isn't unique to "Star Trek," though it's the sci-fi series that's had more influence on modern technology than any other, as it's based in real science as much as possible.

These five technologies were all quietly predicted by "Star Trek."

A ubiquitous piece of "Star Trek" tech is the communicator, which has taken different forms over the years. When "Star Trek" premiered, these were small, handheld devices that flipped open, allowing for two-way communication between Starfleet members on an away mission and the USS Enterprise in orbit around the planet. At the time, two-way communication over relatively long distances was possible via walkie-talkies and CB radios. However, these were neither capable of contacting a vessel in orbit, nor did they have the necessary range. The "Star Trek" communicator was an awe-inspiring piece of technology, as it represented the dream of complete wireless communication. It took a long time for such tech to become commonplace, but by the 1990s, cell phones were in the hands of tens of millions of people.

These days, it's much harder to find someone without a cell phone. By 2017, there were over 7.7 billion cell phone provider subscriptions – Earth had 7.6 billion people at the time, meaning more than a few of them had multiple cell phones (to be more precise, that's 103.4% of the world's population). Of course, the modern cell phone is essentially the "Star Trek" communicator with a bunch of extra features — you never saw Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) playing "Angry Birds" on his. Martin Cooper, the inventor of the mobile phone, got the idea after watching Kirk call for help when Spock (Leonard Nimoy) got injured. So, there's a direct correlation between the communicator and the invention of the cell phone.

Computers have been around since the earliest days of "Star Trek," when they were often described as infinitely more advanced than computers of the era. When the first series aired, electronic computers were still in their infancy, and most were still quite large. "Star Trek" made them smaller, smarter, and more capable. In the universe of the show, the standard computer used isolinear chips and had a voice-activated interface by the 24th century. Gone were the days of typing mechanically, as you could simply tell the computer what you wanted it to do and it would do it.

This type of technology has actually been in development since the early 1950s. Still, it took a long time for speech and voice recognition to become functionally usable. These devices were still largely unreliable and mostly non-commercial by the time "Star Trek: The Next Generation" debuted, featuring the conversational voice of Majel Barrett Roddenberry's computer, which she performed in multiple "Star Trek" films and shows going back to the original series.

Voice recognition has finally become commercialized, so if you have a Google or Amazon device, you likely interact with it often. On many, you can set the wake word as "computer," emulating "Star Trek." Of course, if you've ever had to yell, "Alexa, stop," you know the tech could still use some work. When Google first created its voice recognition tech, it called the project "Majel" in honor of the Enterprise's computer and the actor who voiced it, showing just how closely the tech is related to the franchise.

When "Star Trek: The Next Generation" premiered in 1987, a common piece of technology was the Personal Access Display Device (PADD). Technically, they appeared in the original series, just less prominently. In "The Next Generation," you could often see Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) looking over a PADD, and they were sometimes piled up on his desk. One interesting aspect of PADDs in "Star Trek" is that they come in a myriad of forms. Some have more than one screen, and some come with minimal manual interface options.

Most notably, they all have some form of touchscreen, with the PADDs featuring buttons becoming less common over time. In the 24th century, PADDs can be found on a variety of Starfleet vessels as well as those outside the organization. Cardassians and Klingons also use PADDs, so they're pretty much everywhere by this point in the timeline. Of course, the obvious real-world tech they helped inspire is the tablet computer. Thin, handheld computers with touchscreens were the stuff of tech dreams for years, and the first tablet was introduced two years after "The Next Generation" premiered.

It wasn't until 2010, with the introduction of the iPad, that technology in the real world caught up to the ubiquitous handheld devices of "Star Trek." In the years since, tablet computers have become exponentially more powerful with capabilities mirroring or surpassing what's been featured in "Star Trek." Perhaps in an attempt to compensate, the PADDs featured in "Star Trek: Discovery" — which ends in the 32nd century — evolved into the holoPADD.

One of the most desirable technologies in the "Star Trek" franchise is the replicator. These were introduced in "The Next Generation," making it look like living on the USS Enterprise would be better than living anywhere else. All you have to do is walk up to a replicator, tell it what you want, and it converts the ship's energy into matter in seconds. It can then reverse the process, making doing the dishes a thing of the past. Larger replicators can fabricate almost anything the ship requires, eliminating the need for complicated logistics during long missions. 

Replicators are truly magical devices, and while we have no way of converting energy into a chocolate sundae, we do have replicators, of a sort. These days, you can purchase commercial 3D printers and produce nearly anything you desire from a variety of filaments in a multitude of colors. The technology isn't as new as you might imagine, as it dates back to the early '80s, though the tech has improved considerably in the decades since. 

There are even 3D food printers now, which can produce a variety of foods, one layer at a time. And, while many home 3D printers are used to create small, fun, and often useful items, the technology has actually been used in space exploration: In 2014, NASA emailed a file for a ratchet wrench to the International Space Station. Astronauts were then able to print the tool on the station. This, of course, is significantly quicker and cheaper than physical delivery.

The very essence of "Star Trek" involves space exploration, but that comes with a big problem: How does one communicate with an alien species? This has been done in several ways, including employing Starfleet members with unique abilities to learn languages. On the tech side, Starfleet can rely on universal translators. Initially, these were handheld devices, but over time, they became incorporated into Starfleet combadges and other equipment.

Universal translators are one of the many questionable things we ignore in "Star Trek" because they don't make a ton of sense and aren't consistent. For example, they ignore a ton of Klingon words for some reason. Regardless, the tech is an easy way to explain how people can communicate in a franchise that includes hundreds of different species, and it wasn't technologically possible in 1966. Folks had to buy a guidebook of common phrases or even employ a human translator when traveling abroad. These days, you can translate almost any written or spoken word with nothing but your cell phone.

Google Translate and other apps can utilize your phone's camera to translate a restaurant's menu, street signs, or anything else. There are even earbuds designed specifically as translators that produce in-ear, near-real-time translation of over 150 spoken languages. Much of the tech that's classified as a "universal translator" is a misnomer, as they can't translate absolutely everything. Still, they make traveling the world a lot easier, and there's no denying their utility. With time, the technology will advance to have faster processing and include more languages.