Who is more Technologically advanced? Star Wars or Star Trek?

@Wrighteous86 said:

Star Trek, obviously. And I'm a Star Wars fan.

I second this, and I also don't hock Trek.

I like both, but Star Trek is wayyyy more advanced

@MrBubbles: The real question here is which universe violates physics more.

Star Wars has all kinds of stuff that is physically impossible: "hyperdrive", magical healing waters, impossible energy outputs from tiny ships, etc.

Star Trek is similar: Warp drive, magical scanners that heal all ailments, "beaming" (which violates so many laws the show had to address it by creating "Heisenberg compensators" as part of the transporter LOL), etc.

So lets compare a limited selection:

• Warp Drive v Hyperdrive: Warp is less impossible than hyperdrive (in that warp is theoretically possible, but totally impossible in the way the show suggests). The idea of warping space is real and could in theory be applied to a ship, but it has nothing to do with whatever dilithium is. Hyperdrive is AFAIK totally made up and violates pretty much all laws of momentum and space-time that I can think of. Advantage: Star Wars
• Magical Healing Waters (Bacta) v Magical Healing Scanners: So this one is pretty close in that both are completely impossible according to any medical science we know of. No kind of waters (unless they are infused with tiny swimming medical robots, which is not the case AFAIK) can repair injuries so this is impossible. Similarly, there is no way I can think of to set broken bones, heal scars or other injuries with beams of light or other waves. This then is also impossible. The question comes down to which ends up as more impressively impossible. I'll give Star Trek the nod here, because I would sure rather be healed by a beam of light rather than having to swim in a tank of some weird magic water. Advantage: Star Trek
• Transporters v Impossibly Tiny Ships: This will be a bit tougher since the two don't line up very pretty like the others have. Star Trek's Transporter is just insane in the idea that it could somehow disassemble you, and then reconstruct you perfectly. This violates numerous quantum laws and poses questions of information storage so large that in order to hold enough info to reconstruct a single human perfectly (assuming that was possible, which it is not due to the previously violated quantum laws) you would need more hard drives than have ever been produced. Clearly, impossible. Star Wars on the other side, has ships which are clearly meant to be analogous to modern day fighter jets that can somehow travel across interstellar distances (X-Wings specifically here). Tiny aircraft like this run into lots of problems in space, mostly that they can't actually maneuver at all. Engines in the back are all well and good until you want to turn or slow down (remember no air in space to provide friction), so a space plane can't maneuver without thrusters or something facing in all directions. (Note: this is why the Apollo Moon mission has such thrusters in various directions to control spin). I've never seen X-Wings do that. Additionally, how such a tiny ship has the same magical space travel capabilities of a Star Destroyer, the Millenium Falcon or the Death Star is mind boggling. Is Hyperdrive just really easy to do? Why doesn't every ship have it, then? So many questions about the small ships in Star Wars, only so much space. I'm inclined to give the nod here to Star Trek because why even have tiny ships if you can just teleport to wherever you want to go? However, this is really questionable because you still have to fly between planets and the Star Wars version of that seems much better. Advantage: None (too close to call)
• The Force v The Q: Battle of the magical, impossible things/beings. The Q from Star Trek are a race of infinitely advanced beings who seem to love annoying humanity because they are afraid of the human spirit or some such thing. Basically gods, the Q can do literally anything. Way beyond all physics they can just do whatever they want, whenever and wherever. The Force, a similarly magical omnipotent connection across the universe, allows instantaneous knowledge of distant events, telekinetic powers, deep wisdom (?), and the ability to communicate with the dead. The big difference here is that the Force can be used by normal humans, where as one has to be born(?) a Q. The Q can grant their powers to humans (they can do anything after all), but it seems all things in the Star Wars universe have some connection to the Force. Calling an advantage basically hinges on whether you think humans having some of this power is cool or whether having actual gods you can interact with is cool. Tough call but either way humans can't be trusted with god-like powers IMO, so I'll keep the god powers in other's hands. Addionally the Q have an unfair advantage of being living/eternal Deus Ex Machinas, since they can do ANYTHING. It's really not fair. No ancient religion can compare =) Advantage: Star Trek

So in this totally scientific and not made up analysis: Star Trek barely edges out Star Wars. Feel free to add your own ideas in and tilt the score how you see fit. Especially given how close it is atm.

EDIT: I have too much free time.

I'd add lightsabers and their blaster weapons to that list of what violates the laws of physics because the amount of power required to contain and control the plasma of the lightsaber and not have it melt your face and arms off while you're holding it. That kind of power (in the electrical sense) seems almost impossible to squeeze into something that literally fits in the palm of your hand which they've had the capabilities to do for well over 4,000 years. The same goes with Star Trek's phasers. I don't know as much about the Star Trek weaponry as I do Star Wars' but i think that would be a good point to touch on as well.

@DoctorDanger99: The Death Star is probably the one thing that Wars has over Trek. I'm a huge fan of Star Wars and at least a passing fan of most Star Trek, but when you compare similar technologies, Trek wins the straight up technology race hands down. For instance...

Faster Than Light Travel

The Millennium Falcon, one of the fastest ships in the Star Wars universe, will "make .5 past light speed." That means it goes one and half times the speed of light. The higher warp factors of the Enterprise (pick any model) go thousands of times the speed of light.

Weaponry

Any given blaster in Star Wars acts more like projectile shooting weapons than actual laser guns. No laser beam should, A. have a discernable beginning, middle and end, B. be dodge-able/block-able (Light speed, remember) or C. do nothing more than punch a small, squib shaped hole in things and not punch ALL THE WAY THROUGH. Star Trek phasers can stun, wound AND disintegrate at the highest setting, even the measly deck of card sized ones in TNG, et. al.

Hologram Technology

Do I really have to say this one? I will, since I brought it up. Leia shows up as a wavy, blue, CRT lined image projected by a trash can. "Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, this hologram blows!" Holodecks in Star Trek are completely realized, three dimensional, tactile worlds that you would be hard pressed to notice are not 100% real.

Transporters & Replicators

Star Trek has 'em; Star Wars don't. 'Nuff said.

Advancing Technology

Star Wars is a huge canon, covering literally tens of thousands of years. However, all the technologies listed above have seemed to be utterly changeless since the time of the Old Republic, about 25,000 years prior to the events of the original trilogy (For you Star Wars geeks, that's 25,000 BBY). Blasters still blast, ships still go at about the same speed (and smugglers still have the faster ships... curious), holograms still suck and transporters are not a common use item. Now look at Trek. In the time of the original series, flip phones were still in use, food came from slots in the wall, ships were a crew of a couple hundred and no one had found the Borg yet. Since then, communicators are badge sized, food is created via transporter technology, huge ships can have thousands of crew members and the Borg made for an awesome eight movie.

I love Star Wars deeply, but in this instance, Trek wins easily. They may not have lightsabers or Death Stars, but they've got enough cool stuff to make up for it. May the Force be with you and Live Long or Die Hard. :P