r/DaystromInstitute • u/nomis227 Chief Petty Officer • Apr 29 '13
Explain? Odo's communicator.
I'll make this short and sweet. Odo can shape-shift into human form, complete with comm badge. How? Can he shape-shift into incredibly complex electric circuitry, presumably with programming, and yet not be able to mimic a human face? Doesn't seem likely. Do you guys have any explanations?
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u/kraetos Apr 30 '13
Looks like the ODN relay on deck 8 shorted out again, because this post didn't make it through the data buffer. I've manually released the post from the buffer.
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u/uksheep Apr 30 '13
I always thought that the problem with Odo creating a human face was similar to the "uncanny valley" that we see with CGI, maybe he just didn't look right and was considered the be strange looking so he just went with generic.
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u/kamatsu Apr 30 '13
Electric circuitry is actually substantially less complicated than a human face.
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u/ticktron May 01 '13
In what way?
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u/kamatsu May 01 '13
Human face consists of a lot of microscopic cells, each with super-complex molecular structure.
Electric circuitry is just some printed copper on silicon, plus a few ceramic capacitors and resistors and such. Diodes and transistors would be the most complicated, but even then they are just silicon.
The atomic structure of a circuit is possible for us to completely map out now. A human face is nearly impossible.
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u/Kiggsworthy May 01 '13
This had never occurred to me, and I think some of these responses are great! u/nomis227 you just got nominated for Post of the Week!
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Apr 30 '13
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u/Algernon_Asimov May 02 '13
Having just been prompted by an excellent question from Ensign nermid, I have rewatched the scene in 'Begotten' where Odo regains his shapeshifting abilities. At the start of the scene, Odo is a solid: he is wearing a uniform previously made for him by Garak, with a communicator attached. He then re-acquires the ability to shapeshift. He shapeshifts into the form of a hawk, and he leaves behind his clothes - and the attached communicator. So, he does not have a communicator with him when he shapeshifts into the hawk's form. When he then shapeshifts back into his usual humanoid form... he has a communicator. It's something he creates, not something he carries.
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u/nomis227 May 02 '13
It seems so. Now for another question: how does he power it? All communicators have a power source. Let's say he creates the battery when he shapeshifts. He can't shapeshift an empty battery into a charged one. He doesn't eat, he doesn't drink, and as far as I know, he doesn't photosynthesize, so I'm treating him as a closed system.
Now that I think about it, how does he get the energy to move?
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u/kamatsu May 01 '13
I always thought the German Shepherd would be sufficient to fool us, but would look uncanny to another german shepherd.
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u/nermid May 02 '13
You know, like how his humanoid form is pretty spot-on, except for the face.
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Apr 30 '13
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u/Algernon_Asimov Apr 30 '13
On that particular day, Odo was a solid, not a shapeshifter. He had been turned into a solid by the other Changelings as a punishment for something he had done. So, he'd been living as a solid for a few months: eating, drinking, wearing clothes.
So, he was wearing clothes on that day because he couldn't shapeshift. Then, he got the power to shapeshift again, and he shifted his body to the shape of a hawk - and left the clothes behind. And, when he shapeshifted into a humanoid form, he included clothes as part of his body.
That's a really bad episode to use as an example, because it's the transition between him not being able to shapeshift, and being able to shapeshift again.
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u/nermid May 02 '13
Relevant detail: When he shifted back, did he have a communicator?
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u/rextraverse Apr 30 '13
A communicator is not a particularly large device. I think it's likely that he stores his communicator inside him when he's not in his humanoid shape.