"Tea, Earl Grey, Hot"

"Tea, Earl Grey, Hot". Captain Jean-Luc Piccard ordered his classic beverage in the same manner in practically every episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG). The events takes place in the 24th century, specifically during the latter third of that century, roughly from 2364 to 2370. The tea comes from a replicator. Obviously, the black tea flavoured with oil of bergamot has maintained its popularity. TNG aired between 1987 and 1994. The futuristic fantasy isn't the replicator in itself, which is basically an office coffee machine with warm water facilities. It's the voice-control. It's hard to take in today, but 30 years ago this was mindblowing. Nowadays, it has replaced human contact. Voice-controlled automation refers to using speech recognition technology to perform and automate tasks. In the early days of voice-control, the technology was not fully developed. An artificial voice replied "Sorry, did you mean X". You said no and made a new try. "Sorry, did you mean Y", and this could go on forever. Today, voice-control is more accurate. In later years, voice-control has moved into smartphones. Google Assistant and Siri are two popular voice assistants. I don't use any of them. I make my own tea.