The Doctor Is In Your Device

Star Trek was ahead of its time in many ways, and not just because the sci-fi franchise portrayed a future several centuries after the series first aired in the 1960s.

The cult classic TV show/films imagined what life might be like in the 23rd century, when humankind could be hurtling on spaceships through unknown universes. Much of the show was fantasy, of course, but the series has been heralded for foreshadowing the future.

Dozens of articles have appeared on the topic, even one in the venerable Scientific American. Many tech writers have credited the show with anticipating and even inspiring the advent of myriad modern technologies, including iPads, flat-screen TVs, Bluetooth headsets, sliding doors and chatbots like Siri that can answer our questions and complete tasks.

But perhaps no technology imagined by Star Trek has enticed more international interest than the medical tricorder. The device, which resembled a clunky transistor radio on the original show, included a small, detachable scanner that Dr. McCoy, Spock or other Enterprise crew member could use to instantly diagnose health.

The magical medical tricorder then pushed the patient’s clinical information to a master databank, allowing intergalactic doctors to learn more about all life to help further hone the technology. As I’m about to explain, we aren’t as far off from this scenario as you might think!