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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxn!ihnp4!qantel!hplabs!sdcrdcf!lwall
From: lwall@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Larry Wall)
Newsgroups: net.startrek
Subject: Re: the controls
Message-ID: <2150@sdcrdcf.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 15-Jul-85 20:17:49 EDT
Article-I.D.: sdcrdcf.2150
Posted: Mon Jul 15 20:17:49 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 19-Jul-85 03:16:07 EDT
References: <1783@aecom.UUCP> <344@ll1.UUCP> <418@moncol.UUCP>
Reply-To: lwall@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Larry Wall)
Organization: System Development Corp. R+D, Santa Monica
Lines: 15
Summary: 

You guys are missing the obvious explanation.  Any self-respectingly flexible
system will have dynamically labeled buttons.  Probably some sort of
holographic projector built into each button--a set of phased array lasers
might do rather nicely.  Since the labels have to continue to work on
emergency power, they should consume minimal energy.  Therefore they only
broadcast light in the direction of someone's head.  The movie camera
doesn't look like someone's head to the buttons, so we don't see the
inscriptions on film.

In fact, with that much control of directionality it'd be a cinch to put
3-dimensional icons onto the buttons.  That'd make it even easier for
Klingons to take over the ship.   =-O

Larry Wall
{allegra,burdvax,cbosgd,hplabs,ihnp4,sdcsvax}!sdcrdcf!lwall