According to Memory Alpha, Latinum cannot be replicated. What is the reason for that?
-
1524th century DRM. ;-)– user11521Commented Jan 23, 2015 at 5:44
-
2I remember George O Smith's Venus Equilateral series where they came up with identium which explodes when replicated.– user70160Commented Aug 13, 2016 at 21:37
-
The five Principal Exceptions to Gamp’s Law of Elemental Transfiguration? :)– K-H-WCommented Aug 5, 2020 at 16:41
Add a comment
|
9 Answers
According to several sources, including the TNG novel "Balance of Power", latinum is described as being so dense and complex that the replicators are unable to restructure matter into a form that duplicates it. In its natural state, latinum is a liquid which is mined from certain types of nebulae. It is pressed into gold in order to make it more usable as a means of currency.
Of course, the explanations came later. Originally it was simply a story element created as a means of having non-credit monetary transactions in a universe where a replicator could create anything you want.
-
8
-
40@John: Yep...but don't worry, the Federation is still the communist paradise. They don't use filthy, filthy lucre.– JeffCommented Sep 2, 2011 at 13:59
-
4
-
20As far as I know, the technical term for the Federation is a "post-scarcity economy". Commented Dec 18, 2013 at 20:58
-
8@ApproachingDarknessFish I've met the occasional bit of organic matter that claims it is intelligent but is really incredibly dense.– JaydeeCommented Jan 6, 2015 at 16:40
I think you're coming at this from the wrong direction. The question shouldn't be 'Why can't you replicate latinum', it should be "Why is latinum used for currency?"
The basis for currency is something that can't be easily created, can be easily transported, and is limited in quantity. Obviously, the Ferengi chose Latinum because it fit the criteria. It obviously isn't perfect - latinum, as BBlake pointed out, is a liquid. Liquids are horrible for currency - easy to lose portions of them, difficult to transport, hard to exactly measure, and hard to obtain (typically - you can't usually mine for liquids).
If there had been a solid that fit better, I'd bet anything the Ferengi would have used it instead. Instead, they go with latinum, pressed into small gold bars. The only good reason they could have for choosing latinum is that it isn't possible to make via replicator.
-
4They also used the gold bars because we as viewers already associate it with wealth. Though I remember Quark saying that the gold itself was as worthless as plastic or somesuch.– KalamaneCommented Sep 2, 2011 at 23:42
-
11This is begging the question. When asking "Why can't you replicate latinum?" the question "Why isn't latinum easily created?" is implied.– user366Commented Sep 4, 2011 at 3:50
-
8What, now I'm not allowed to ask my own questions any more? ;-) j/k– ThomasCommented Sep 5, 2011 at 2:02
-
12"you can't usually mine for liquids" -- Tell that to the oil companies. Commented May 13, 2013 at 22:43
-
8Actually, today the basis for currency is something which can be very easily created in any quantity you like... Commented Oct 8, 2014 at 22:09
Ignoring for the moment the entire question of how a replicator would work in the real world (this is fiction after all), the problem with latinum not being replicable is non-trivial.
We have been told that replicators can't handle some kinds of radioactive materials - which makes a kind of sense since the material being replicated would changing continuously - except that's an argument for why some materials can't be transported. It would also mean that latinum is constantly decaying into something else - and that would make it a terrible form of currency.
The whole problem stems from a core problem with ST science - the writers don't seem to fully grasp what's an element, a chemical, a subatomic particle and so on (don't get me started on that horrifying stupid 'omega particle' rubbish introduced in Voyager - or worse, 'red matter' in the first new ST movie... A chemical way to create black holes? Really?).
Latinum seems to be an element (like gold). In fact, it kind of has to be by reduction: if it's a chemical, it's made of elements and we're back to elements (same argument for alloys or amalgams). That implies then that there's a non-radioactive element that's not replicable.
Thing is - no matter how complex (which can only mean 'large') an atom gets, it's going to operate on the principles of quantum mechanics which are predictable. Any process which can take energy and essentially squeeze it into electrons and quarks and then glue quarks together to make protons and neutrons is already going to have more than enough power and precision to make any atom, no matter how complex.
Sooooo... @neilfien's answer is basically dead on, and @BBlake's answer has the reason.
@Jeff's answer while technically correct is putting the cart before the horse and isn't so much answering the question as justifying it. :)
-
Can you cite a source on radioactive material? It sounds right, but I can't remember any specific examples.– DrewCommented Aug 14, 2014 at 15:48
-
2Not canon, but I suppose replicators could be limited to the elements below the "Island of stability" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_of_stability with Latinum being in or above the IoS.– JaydeeCommented Jan 6, 2015 at 16:47
-
2Red matter is a reference to the well known red mercury hoax en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_mercury– GaiusCommented Jan 10, 2015 at 7:41
-
"Any process which can take energy and essentially squeeze it into electrons and quarks and then glue quarks together to make protons and neutrons is already going to have more than enough power and precision to make any atom, no matter how complex." -- Where in Star Trek canon is it said that replicators can do these things? The TNG Technical manual says they use stored "raw material" which is rearranged to make food, and it refers to the "energy cost of molecular synthesis", which gave me the idea that the replicator builds structure at the molecular level and higher out of a stock of atoms. Commented Jan 16, 2015 at 21:53
-
What if, due to the way some critical function of a replicator works, that the "raw material" used for replicators is actually required to be liquid latinum? That would certainly answer every single question about the subject. Commented Jul 12, 2015 at 22:27
Latinum being radioactive would make a heckuva lot of sense. It would be the reason why Mourn's hair fell out from holding the latinum in his second stomach, and it would also be the reason why it is encased in gold.
Gold is a decent radiation shield, and since there is not a lot of latinum in each brick/bar/stick/slip compared to the amount of gold used, it's safe to say that it is sufficient enough to shield the radiation that the Latinum produces.
It would also explain why it can't be replicated, if replicators can't replicate certain radioactive materials (as someone above me posted).
-
2According to Memory Alpha, the 102nd Rule of Acquisition is "Nature decays, but latinum lasts forever." (DS9: "The Jem'Hadar") - this would imply that latinum does not decay... maybe it has a millions-of-years half life or something, but the decay would still probably have to be measureable (?) Commented Aug 30, 2019 at 14:40
I'm gonna take a shot at this. Remember that even the food and alcohol the replicators make are not exact to the real thing. It's a synthetic version. I would venture to say that seeing how difficult complex metals and organisms can be from raw material, it probably just can't produce anything over a certain technical rating. You can tell the replicator how make it, But it will only do so much thus the synthesised title. You could then scan to see if the latinum had these "cheat" atomic shortcuts and then know if its fake or real.
-
Synthehol is to alcohol like artificial sweetener to sugar. It tries to mimic the taste and sensation but no drunkenness. No drunken brawls allowed on a Starship.– user96439Commented Apr 14 at 22:52
The answer from a material physics position of why Latinum can not be reproduced by the replicators is as follows:
- You can not make matter from nothing. Takes matter to create matter.
- To make anything with a replicator, it requires mass equal to or greater than the end product. Can not make Gold for example just from Hydrogen atoms. See: Star Trek Next Generation: S4-EP17 Night Terrors. It is explained that certain items can not be replicated based on materials on board.
- Latinum is explained as the most Dense and heavy substance in the Universe. For this reason, the Replicators would need something just as dense atomically or greater to replicate. Which is impossible. You have to have Latinum to create Latinum. Thus, not economically viable thus replication not really possible.
-
1This is a really nice first answer! It could be improved if you edited in the supporting quotes though!– TheLethalCarrot ♦Commented Oct 1, 2019 at 6:05
-
I thought they used energy in replicators? Not pre-existing matter.– DKNguyenCommented Aug 5, 2020 at 23:04
-
@DKNguyen replicators rearrange atoms from a feedstock. They’re like really fancy and quick 3D printers - but you need to plumb in a feed line. Source: Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual > In order to minimize replicator power requirements, raw stock for food replicators is stored in the form of a sterilized organic participate suspension that has been formulated to statistically require the least quantum manipulation to replicate most finished foodstuffs (See: 13.5).– user96439Commented Apr 14 at 22:50
Due to the molecular structure being unstable during the replication process
As others have referenced before me, the TNG novel, Balance of Power, by Dafydd Ab Hugh, references this as part of the plot.
Riker stared at the display, rubbing his beard in agitation. "Data, do you understand the implication of this? You know why latinum is the standard currency of all three known quadrants, don't you?"
Data nodded. "Yes, sir; it is because it is one of only a few materials that cannot be replicated. The molecules of gold-pressed latinum are arranged in a nearly crystalline pattern that depends upon the precise orientation of eighty-eight 'fractal legs' of atoms. When the replicator attempts to duplicate the pattern, the second fractal leg induces a spontaneous reorientation of the first. Thus each fractal leg recursively reorients its predecessor--"
"And you end up with chaseum, not latinum, in the replicator," concluded Riker. "It's like squaring a positive or negative number; either way, you end up with a positive square. But if you can alter the appearance of common chaseum to make it pass perfectly as latinum, then you hold the fate of the galaxy in your hand. Without latinum, there's no trade; and without trade, there is nothing to hold together the fragile alliances that prevent total war from breaking out."
-Balance of Power by Dafydd Ab Hugh
This, while not strictly canon, provides some insight into a possible reason why Latinum is not able to be replicated.
It is a delicate molecular structure, and the replication process destabilizes it, producing a different allotrope at least, and a different formula at most.
My understanding is that it cannot be replicated because part of the molecule extends into subspace. This would, of course, make it impossible to use the transporter on it, but don't tell the writers.
-
1
-
Tell it to the writers. That's a better explanation than some of the crap they come up with. Commented Oct 8, 2014 at 15:20
-
1
Answer on this question can be done by cross-search of items which can not be replicated. And it quite clear from my point of view that issue lies in low resolution of replicator. I guess latinum has molecular structure which contains some particle with low size. For example: It can be stable neutrino matter as it was showed in Solaris.
-
1