Today’s gadgets: They started with the funny pages

I’m going to date myself here. Dick Tracy’s watch: Remember the canary yellow-coated and -hatted detective talking to his wrist? The timepiece contained a two-way radio connecting Dick Tracy to the police department.

The concept fascinated fans of the comic strip. It was decades ahead of its time.  Its influence no doubt led to the now iconic smart watch displayed on millions of wrists worldwide in the 21st century.

Star Trek inspired the development of several of today’s everyday items. The trigger-nozzle spray bottles used for numerous cleaning products these days were originally designed as props in Dr. Bones McCoy’s sick bay. I have no doubt Uhuru’s communications earpiece gave birth to the idea of earbuds. Then there’s Star Trek’s original communicators. Cue up the flip phone as cellular phones’ first popular design. The computer that spoke and interacted with the crew … Alexa. OK, and Siri for you Apple people. But Alexa has captured the voice-operated smart home functionality, independent of being commanded from one’s phone.

I’ve heard rumors that Star Trek’s transporter, a mechanization that beams scrambled molecules and reassembles them back into their previous organization on a nearby planet or another ship, is being developed. At least theories for such a device are being explored. Likely, it’s a skunkworks project, uber top-secret.

I’d be more interested in a replicator. You know, Captain Picard’s “Earl Grey. Hot.” Ta-da! A cup of steaming tea appears in a little compartment tucked into a wall. Awesome! Imagine … Out of thin air (there doesn’t seem to be any inputs, no ingredients compiled and composed beforehand) any item, usually foodstuffs, materializes with just a simple command, though, if memory serves, these are all inanimate objects.

So, you can’t get a bunch of kittens or a faithful collie dog. Nor a plant or a butterfly. But chocolate! Dove Promise chocolates. Oh boy! Hope there’s a function to boost your willpower. Maybe there’s a willpower infusion setting in the shower or whatever system serves to clean your body.

There has to be something to inhibit weight gain from overindulgence. Look at all the thin and fit Starfleet crewmembers roaming the ship. Not an ounce of flab visible in those skin-tight, curve-hugging body suits they wear. Maybe the replicators extract the calories. Yeah, that seems feasible. Your body composition is likely constantly scanned by the ship. So, when you order anything consumable, it’s assembled with components you need to maintain your fitness in the exact proportions you require: protein, carbs, vitamins, amino acids, minerals, medications, caffeine, thermogenic botanicals, hormone stimulators/inhibitors, flavonoids, pre/pro-biotics, on and on. Smart. Really smart.

That’s what NASA should be working on, replicators that instantly dispense tasty individually designed, physiologically advantageous, healthy meals on demand. Though this was in the news in January: “NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover spotted something delightful — a rock that seems to form the delta-shaped Starfleet logo from “Star Trek.” Hmm. Maybe they’re further along with that transporter idea than just a conceptual theory. Those brainy skunkworks scientists are sneaky.