The Genesis Device

[Blackstar the Chakat]

For an alternate explanation, first we have to consider that this is a civilian project. Then it's not unreasonable to assume that all the data on the genesis device was only on Regula 1 and as we know the prototype and the data was taken from Regula 1 to avoid it from falling into Starfleet's(actually Khan's) hands. Then we know Khan beamed up the device and the data and the data would have been destroyed when the device was activated. With a lot of key members being killed they may not have been able to rebuild it.

Now having all the data in one place would be stupid, but these are civilians not Starfleet. Even massive corporations are idiots when it comes to data storage. One teacher told me a horror story about a company whose techs created 6 main databases, which is ridiculous because there's only supposed to be one main database, hence why it's called Main. This is to illustrate how stupid the average civilian is with data storage.

Anyway, it's hardly a stretch to assume that the Genesis scientists never created backups of their data to be stored at a location they couldn't guard. The death of key members would make it all the more difficult to recreate it, and that's assuming that they could ever make it work because of the Protomatter which was described as unstable.

[Graham Kennedy]

Ian works on scientific studies which collect a great deal of information over a long period; they are pretty hardcore on information security, with backups both on site and in remote locations precisely so that they can maintain all the info even if their main building burns down or something (though some of their main site backups are in fireproof safes).

As I understand it that kind of backing up is pretty routine in the scientific world now.

Also, Carol Marcus was apparently the brains behind the project; David did say she was the one whose name would be remembered for it after all. Even if all the data was lost, she should certainly have known enough to get things aimed in the right direction again.

Also, in a more general sense science doesn't really work by giant leaps that nobody could ever recreate. Typically for any scientific advance you care to name, you find that while one person may be famous for it several others turn out to have been working on similar or even identical lines. It's not so much a flash of great and unparalleled insight as an idea whose time has come. I find it incredible that the Genesis technology could not be recreated within years, or decades at the most.

[Blackstar the Chakat]

Well...then maybe carol didn't want to recreate because of all the deaths caused over it already or some other reason, and being a civilian there's nothing Starfleet could do to force her to work on it.

I find it incredible that the Genesis technology could not be recreated within years, or decades at the most.

Well, David said that he only got it to work because of the protomatter which was unstable and resulted in the genesis planet's destruction. He also said that without the protomatter it might never had worked. Maybe they never stabilized the protomatter problem?

[Mikey]

Maybe they never stabilized the protomatter problem?

That seems more likely; the idea of giving it up because of either the first full-scale prototype not working exactly as envisiones, or because someone forgot to write their notes down is inconceivable.

[Graham Kennedy]

I think it's likely that they never beat the protomatter problem. But the cave seemed stable even without it - though in the novelisation of ST III they revisit the cave and find it's falling apart.

Even if it was a failure as a terraforming device it would still make a great weapon, though. Not that there's any shortage of such weaponry in Trek; the Klingons used a plasma reaction to destroy a biosphere down to the last cell in a matter of minutes in The Chase, achieving much the same result as a Genesis device would.

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

The Genesis Planet tore itself apart in a grossly short perios of time, and I believe David said that nothing else besides proto-matter would've worked. There's also the huge stink with the Klingons, and yeah. In the SFS novel, the cave itself is going through sped-up evolution and decay.

A flawed project from the beginning, through the middle to the end.

[Blackstar the Chakat]

I think it's likely that they never beat the protomatter problem. But the cave seemed stable even without it - though in the novelisation of ST III they revisit the cave and find it's falling apart.

That would make sense. It did take some time before the Genesis planet fell apart, and we don't know how long the cave had been finished, or how long it takes to destroy itself like the genesis planet did.

Even if it was a failure as a terraforming device it would still make a great weapon, though.

It was probably banned in that capacity, much like how subspace weapons were banned by the Khitomer accords.

[KuvahMagh]

It was probably banned in that capacity, much like how subspace weapons were banned by the Khitomer accords.

Subspace Weapons were banned because they were unpredictable, Genesis is fiarly predictable but likely banned and information suppressed as much as is possible as to how the thing works...

[Reliant121]

I think the problem with the Genesis device was it was attempting to speed up too much. the cave was sped up in development yes, but it also sped up teh decaying process.

And with the klingons, i think one of the things that stuck to them is that anyone who was "killed" by a genesis torpedo, was not technically killed. Every ounce of their matter was still there. Just reorganized. They cant be the honoured dead because they didnt die.

[Captain Seafort]

And with the klingons, i think one of the things that stuck to them is that anyone who was "killed" by a genesis torpedo, was not technically killed. Every ounce of their matter was still there. Just reorganized.

What's that got to do with whether they're dead or not?

[Reliant121]

You miss the point. The klingons might see it as being a dishonourable way of death, being scrambled into a plant.

[Captain Seafort]

I was refering specifically to this bit:

They cant be the honoured dead because they didnt die.

If they're scrambled into a planet they're pretty dead. In any event, Kruge was specifically looking for Genesis to use it as a weapon, and they've never seemed too picky about how they died, so long as it was in battle. They've certainly used some pretty nasty weapons of their own on occassion - the bioweapon in "The Chase" already mentioned being one of the nastier ones.

[Reliant121]

True.

[Mikey]

Agreed. I don't think the cause of death matters to themn so much as the circumstances; I'm sure every Klingon would prefer being "genesised" in battle to dying of old age at home.

[Reliant121]

again true.