The "Outrageous Okona" Falsehood

[Who is like God arbour]

I have a question:

It is known that beams of light as well as all other electromagnetic-radiation, consisting of photons, is bended in the vicinity of a gravity source.

That phenomen, called Gravitational lensing for example distorts the image around a black hole:

• • • • 

The mass of the black hole is causing a space-time curvature.

What relevance has the kind of electromagnetic-radiation?

Would x-rays be bend in the same way and magnitude as normal light beams?

Would a Laser, which is basically only light with certain properties, be bend in the same way and magnitude as normal light beams?

Would there be a difference between a strong laser and a weak laser?

[Jedi Master Spock]

What relevance has the kind of electromagnetic-radiation?

Well, as with most distortions, if the wavelength is large compared to the obstacle, the interference will be minimal.

Would x-rays be bend in the same way and magnitude as normal light beams?

Yes.

Would a Laser, which is basically only light with certain properties, be bend in the same way and magnitude as normal light beams?

Yes.

Would there be a difference between a strong laser and a weak laser?

No.

[Who is like God arbour]

OK, I think we all have already heard from the following dialogue from "The Outrageous Okona":

• • • • Worf:
      "Captain, they are now locking lasers on us."
      
      • Picard:
      "Lasers?"
      
      • Worf:
      "Yes, sir."
      
      • Picard:
      "Lasers can't even penetrate our navigation shields. Don't they know that?"
      
      • Riker:
      "Regulations do call for yellow alert."
      
      • Picard:
      "Hmm, a very old regulation. Well, make it so Number One. And, reduce speed... drop main shields, as well."
      
      • Riker:
      "May I ask why, sir?"
      
      • Picard:
      "In case we decide to surrender to them, Number One
      • [...]
      They could fire 'till their lasers ran dry; they wouldn't hurt the Enterprise."

That lines has created much heated and not always reasonable and friendly debates between pro Star Trek debaters and pro Star Wars debaters.



Some pro Star Trek debaters have argued that that lines indicates that no laser can penetrate navigation shields. And because Star Wars is using lasers - in the form of turbolasers - their weapons couldn't penetrate the navigation shields of Starfleet ships. Some are even gone so far to claim that even the main laser of the Death Star couldn't damage a Starfleet vessel with navigation shields.
It's obviously that they are wrong - at least regarding their second and third conclusion. Although the weapons are called lasers in Star Wars, its obviously that they can't be lasers. A laser is not visible from the side but only at the point where it hit something. A laser in atmoshere for example can't really be seen from the side - as many are claiming. Only the molecules of the atmosphere, that are hit by the laser, can be seen. In vacuum, where aren't even such molecules, a laser and its path would be invisible.
But the turbolaser and blaster bolts in Star Wars are all visible. That's why they can't be real lasers and why the conclusion that they can't penetrate navigation shields - regardless how strong they are - is fallacious.



But there is still the first conclusion: Can it be true that no laser can penetrate navigation shields - regardless how strong they are?



Pro Star Wars debaters are arguing that the quote from Picard has to be interpreted another way. They argue that Picard has known the size and power of the ship and could therewith conclude that the lasers of that ship can't be powerfull enough to penetrate the Enterprises navigation shields.

To be honest, that is not convincing to me: The fact is that Worf hasn't given any specifications from that ship. Picard, who clearly hasn't know them before - otherwise he would have known that they are only armed with lasers - couldn't therfore know how much energy these ships can produce and how much energy they have available for their weapons. They could had have for example some kind of batteries or akkumulators in which they have stored the energy that is needed to power up mighty lasers.
Indeed, the line that "they could fire 'till their lasers ran dry", seems to indicate that he is imagining a similar power system for their lasers. Because if the lasers are only powered by the energy the ships reactors are providing continuously, and assuming that these ship reactors are able to provide energy over an indeterminably long period, the lasers wouldn't ran dry. Only if they would use already stored energy to power up their lasers, could they ran dry when this energy is exhausted.
That's why he couldn't really know how powerfull their lasers could get.
And that's why his claim seems to me more plausible interpreted, that he really means that a laser - regardless of its power - isn't able to penetrate the Enterprises navigation shields.



Pro Star Wars debater object against the notion, that the navigation shield could be able to withstand all lasers, regardless how powerfull, is completely impossible.

Mr. Wong has argued:

• • • • Everything has limits. Science is largely based on finding those limits. But if we don't know what those limits are, how reasonable is it to conclude that they must not exist at all? It is unscientific, unreasonable, and has absolutely no basis in logic whatsoever. There is one obvious reason that Kennedy subscribes to this ridiculous myth about navigational deflectors being godlike in their immunity to lasers: he wants them to be, because he thinks that Star Wars weapons are lasers. No one with a remotely rational mind would assume that since Picard didn't elaborate on his statement, he must have meant that it was a universal law. No one with any grasp of logic or science would assume that in the absence of a known upper limit, there must not be any upper limit at all.

And Mr. Saxton has "argued":

• • • • STvsSW threads are notoriously capable of devouring human energy and time, but I am tempted today to take a dip in the stagnant pool and address the silliest Trekkist fallacies.
        
        • [...]
        
        What a peculiar fixation! A particular kind of shield immune to a particular kind of weapon, regardless of power? Regardless of whether the weapon power exceeds the dissipative capacities so carefully stated in the TrekTech manuals?
        
        Consider this dialogue:
        
        • • ST:
          My skin is immune to butterflies.
          
          • SW:
          How do you know?
          
          • ST:
          A butterfly blundered into a collision with my nose yesterday. I am unharmed.
          
          • SW:
          But if you are hit by 10^40 butterflies simultaneously moving in the same direction, you'll be knocked off your feet.
          
          • ST:
          [Voice becoming shrill as her faith is challenged.]
          Utter nonsense! It's all butterflies! It doesn't matter how many butterflies hit me or how energetic they are! It's all just butterflies! You know nothing about physics!
          
          • SW:
          I see.

Similar arguments are made by many pro Star Wars debaters - although most of them are only repeating what these two have said.



The question now is, if it is possible that a laser - regardless how powerfull it is - can't penetrate a Starfleet navigation shield. I think, that it is theoretical possible.
Fact is, we don't know exactly how that navigation shield is supposed to work. We know only - and I'm not sure if that is confirmed by accepted canon - that the navigation shield is supposed to clear the flight path of a ship at high speeds from space debris, asteroids, microscopic particles and other objects that might collide with the ship. How it is doing that is unkown.
That's why we can try to find an explanation that fits to the known facts - for example that no laser - regardless its power - can penetrate it.
And only if we have to conceed that it is absolutely impossible to find an explanation for that ability, we can consider if Picard was maybe wrong or if our interpretation of what he has said is maybe wrong. But even than we have to consider that in Star Trek many things are shown, which should be impossible according to the understanding of science from today. But it happens in Star Trek nevertheless, so that we have to assume that either our understanding of science from today is wrong (only for the sake of that debate - it wouldn't be much left over if all what is shown in Star Trek and is scientifical impossible, would be treated as not-possible) or that they have found somehow a way to compensate the one or other scientifical law (the Heisenberg compensator comes to mind for that route).



But back to the first question: Is it absolutely impossible to find an explanation for the ability of the navigation shield to let no laser penetrate it?

If the navigation shield works for example with gravity or is able to curve space in another way, the power of a laser, that is not absorbed by the shield, but deflected, is irrelevant. Deflect means to bend down or turn aside, especially from a straight course or fixed direction. It doesn't mean to absorb energy.
A flight path of a laser - regardless of its power - is bend by a gravitational source always in the same way and magnitude. The cause of that is the curvature of space and time which is what we sense as gravitation. A laser - regardless of its power - is always following the geodesics in space-time. Thats why only a certain amount of energy is needed to curve space-time but the power of the laser is irrelevant.
That the navigation shield is graviton-based is supported by the facts that Starfleet possess the ability to artificially create gravitation and even anti-gravitation. We know that their shields are operating with a graviton field output [1].
And we know from the episode "Silikon Avatar" that they can send graviton beams with a velocity faster than light. Such beams send in the flight path could be used to steer space debris, asteroids, microscopic particles and other objects, that might otherwise collide with the ship, out of the flight path of it. And they could be used to create gravitational lenses that would deflect a laser beam.



That provokes the question, why we are able to see a ship, if all light is bend around it. But the answer to this is simple. Not all light is bend around a ship by the navigation shield.
The navigation shield identifies threats to the ship like space debris, asteroids, microscopic particles and other objects and deflect them. That doesn't mean that the navigation shield is creating a constant field which is active even if there is no such threat. That would be inefficient. It would be far more efficient if the navigation shield effect only that object, that are identified as a thread.
Normal light is no thread to the ship. But a powerfull laser could be a thread. And when the navigation shield is detecting such a laser, it creates a gravitational lens and deflect the laser beam away from the ship. For that it has enough time, because a laser propagates only with lightspeed. But the sensors of Starfleet are much faster than light.



That provokes a further question: Why could we see that normal electromagnetic radiation could endanger the Enterprise and its crew? But the answer to this is also very simple. Such a radiation is diffuse. It's far more difficult to deflect such diffuse radiation that is coming from all-around than a single beam that is coming from only one direction. The navigation shield may not be able to hide a ship in a space pocket, what would be necessary to protect it from such from all directions coming radiation.



A further question could be, why phaser and other Star Trek weapons are able to hit a ship and are not deflected the same way. We know from these weapons that they have some weird characteristics. For example can we observe that they have different speeds. Sometimes they are clearly slower than light, other times we see how they are faster than light and are fired even at warp speed. Alone that ability indicates that such weapons don't operate like normal electromagnetic radiation, which always is propagating with light speed. It could be that they aren't affected by gravity so much as electromagnetic radiation or don't follow the geodesics in space-time like electromagnetic radiation. After all, the heavy space-time distortions of the warp drive don't effect the path of these weapons.



Are there any objections, notes or additions? Is that not reconcilable with what was shown in Star Trek? Or are there events, I haven't regarded, that are contradicting the results of my considerations?

[TheRedFear]

I aint gonna weigh in on whether Turbolasers are lasers. Saxton seems to say they are, but we all know Saxton's a twit.

But size has nothing to do with it. The Defiant'sone of the smallest ships in all of Trek, and also quite possibly the most powerful, militarily speaking.

Birds of Prey consistantly contribute against all manner of Starship, despite being comparable in size to the Defiant class ships.

Hell, we've seen Federation shuttles and runabouts hold up surprisingly well in battle against much larger ships.



Also, in every single encounter Federation shields have had with laser-weilding opponants, the opponants were considered a non-threat. The episode where that human boy was being riased by those guys who's ships were armed with "High energy X-Ray Lasers" were outmatched. Completely. The main source of concern there seemed to be that they might start a war with this combative race, who didn't seem inclined to back down from a fight despite technological inferiority. Also, they DID have Tri-Cobalt warheads which might be effective.

Then there was the episode where that alien tried to convicne the Enterprise D that they were at war with a vastly technologically inferior race. In that instance, when they went toward the HUGE Space Station, armed with several laser cannons, they still had that station completely outclassed. One torpedoe was said to be enough to take out that station, which dwarfed the Enterprise.

So size is not an indication of power in Starships. Not Trek starships anyway.

[Praeothmin]

W.I.L.G.A wrote:

Pro Star Wars debaters are arguing that the quote from Picard has to be interpreted another way. They argue that Picard has known the size and power of the ship and could therewith conclude that the lasers of that ship can't be powerfull enough to penetrate the Enterprises navigation shields.

To be honest, that is not convincing to me: The fact is that Worf hasn't given any specifications from that ship. Picard, who clearly hasn't know them before - otherwise he would have known that they are only armed with lasers - couldn't therfore know how much energy these ships can produce and how much energy they have available for their weapons.

I think the Pro-Wars debaters are right in this instance.
We have seen many instances in ST where a sensor sweep assesses the power of an enemy ship.
Where that same sensor sweep had either Data or Worf state that the ship in front of them was more powerful.
If they are able to sense the power levels of more powerful ship, they surely can assess the power level of less powerful ships.
Especially if the ship has powered all weapons and is threatening the Enterprize.

Those "laser-wielding" civilizations seemed to be much less technologically advanced then the Feds, so it is reasonable to assume that although they have Warp Drive, it is probably limited and primitive, and that since they are still using lasers, perhaps they haven't found a way to power those lasers using their Warp engines.

TheRdFear wrote:

I aint gonna weigh in on whether Turbolasers are lasers. Saxton seems to say they are, but we all know Saxton's a twit.

Just because you don't agree with his analyses and his conclusions doesn't mean he's a twit.

We keep saying, on this site, how we hate it when people on sites like SDN or SB call people names when they don't agree with them.
If you arrived at that conclusion after careful observations or analyses, please share them.
If its just an insult devoid of evidence to back it up, please refrain to do so in the future.

[Who is like God arbour]

Pro Star Wars debaters are arguing that the quote from Picard has to be interpreted another way. They argue that Picard has known the size and power of the ship and could therewith conclude that the lasers of that ship can't be powerfull enough to penetrate the Enterprises navigation shields.

To be honest, that is not convincing to me: The fact is that Worf hasn't given any specifications from that ship. Picard, who clearly hasn't know them before - otherwise he would have known that they are only armed with lasers - couldn't therfore know how much energy these ships can produce and how much energy they have available for their weapons.

I think the Pro-Wars debaters are right in this instance.
We have seen many instances in ST where a sensor sweep assesses the power of an enemy ship.
Where that same sensor sweep had either Data or Worf state that the ship in front of them was more powerful.
If they are able to sense the power levels of more powerful ship, they surely can assess the power level of less powerful ships.
Especially if the ship has powered all weapons and is threatening the Enterprize.

Those "laser-wielding" civilizations seemed to be much less technologically advanced then the Feds, so it is reasonable to assume that although they have Warp Drive, it is probably limited and primitive, and that since they are still using lasers, perhaps they haven't found a way to power those lasers using their Warp engines.

I have considered that objection. But as I have said, it's not convincing to me:

Worf or Data have not given any specifications of that ship to Picard (on-screen). They haven't said how much energy its reactors are continuously providing nor if there are any batteries or akkumulators, which could have stored energy to power up its armament. If they would have given such specifications, they would also have told Picard, that the ship is only equipped with lasers. But Picard was surprised that the ship has locked lasers on the Enterprise. That shows that he wasn't told specifications of that ship (off-screen). Thus, Picard couldn't know how strong their lasers could get.

Alone the fact that the lasers have been locked on the Enterprise should result in his assumption that the crew of that ship may be thinking that their weapons could do damage to the Enterprise. And if only powerful lasers could do damage to the Enterprise, one would assume that the ship has lasers powerful enough. Because usually no one compos mentis would lock a useless weapon on someone who could by that act feel threatened but is able to annihilate one at once - unless he is bluffing.

• • • • I, for one, would assume that the weapon, someone is directing at me, can to damage to me if that someone has to reckon that, if I would feel threatened, I could kill him. And if I know that that person knows that a weak weapon wouldn't be a threat to me, I would assume that that person is directing a weapon at me, which is powerful enough that it can do damage to me. To direct a weapon at me, that is no thread to me, if I would be able to kill that someone, is very dangerous. That act could provoke a vindicative action for my part.
        • • • • Ask one of the many pitiable police officers who have killed a child that has directed a toy weapon on him and was killed because the officer couldn't see that it was only a nonhazardous toy weapon.
                Or imagine you would be a robber with a fake weapon and a police officers is coming. Would you direct your fake weapon at him, knowing that he, not knowing that you have only a fake weapon, would feel threatened and could shoot at you and kill you?
                Or if you would be the police officer and the robber would have directed a for you not visible weapon (he has it in his mantle-pocket) at you, would you execute vindicative actions and kill him before he could shoot at you - although you have a bullet-proof vest that a small calibre bullet couldn't penetrate - "only" because it is possible that the robber has a big enough weapon to penetrate your bullet-proof vest, what would kill you?
        Sure, I would consider it possible that it is only a bluff and the weapon can't do damage to me, but I wouldn't take that risk and act accordingly if I have no further indications for that possibility.

At this time, it was still not known that the crew of that ship is following some mental notion of honor and is ready to die a futile death.

Picard has had to reckon that the crew of that ship is acting rational.

But when he has learned, that it were only lasers, that were locked on the Enterprise, he was sure that these weren't a thread for the Enterprise - although he hasn't know how strong they could get and - if only a powerful laser could do damage to the Enterprise - would have to reckon that they are powerfull enough.

Conclusion: No laser, regardless its power, could penetrate the navigation shield.



But how these lines could be interpreted wasn't really my concern. Several interpratations are possible. Otherwise, if that lines would be non-ambiguous, an interpretation wouldn't be possible at all because only that one meaning would be the result. The question is, which interpretation is more plausible.

But here, I wanted to thematize if it is impossible, that no lasers can penetrate navigation shields - regardless how strong they are?

This question should be answered before an attempt to interpret these lines. Because the answer to that question could exclude possible interpretations and influence the plausibility of certain interpretations.

If it is not only not impossible that the navigation shield can deflect any lasers, regardless how powerful they are - but even very probably, my interpretation would be more plausible as if only in the first case would be true.

I aint gonna weigh in on whether Turbolasers are lasers. Saxton seems to say they are, but we all know Saxton's a twit.

Just because you don't agree with his analyses and his conclusions doesn't mean he's a twit.

We keep saying, on this site, how we hate it when people on sites like SDN or SB call people names when they don't agree with them.
If you arrived at that conclusion after careful observations or analyses, please share them.
If its just an insult devoid of evidence to back it up, please refrain to do so in the future.

I second that.

Besides - as far as I know - Saxton has never claimed that Star Wars weapons are real lasers.

But if you know, where he has allegedly made such claim, please give me the link to that side.

[TheRedFear]

By all means, correct me if i'm wrong, but isn't Saxton the one who wrote the ICS book that said Turbolasers shoot lasers, and the visible "bolt" is just a tracer?

Seeing as this flies in the face of all heretofore witnessed visual evidance(As does alot of the twittish crap he put in the ICS book) I stand by my description of him. May not be terribly polite, and truly, I shudder to be compared to even the most moderate SDNer, but regardless, i'll have to stand by my description of him. His obviously pro-wars Biases, and his collaboration with the absolute worst SDN has to offer(And his description of "Trekkists" provided in the quote several posts up, assuming that was an accurate quote) invalidate any claim to non-twittery the man wants to make.

I'm TheRedFear, and I approved this message.

[Mr. Oragahn]

From the E2:ICS:

Energy Weapons

Energy weapons fire invisible energy beams at lightspeed. The visible "bolt"
is a glowing pulse that travels along the beam at less than lightspeed... The
light given off by visible bolts depletes the overall energy content of a
beam, limiting its range. Turbolasers gain a longer range by spinning the
energy beam, which reduces waste glow.

By all means, beams of photons.

[Who is like God arbour]

Assuming that Dr. Curtis Saxton really holds a degree in Astrophysics from the University of Sydney, he should know how a laser operates and that a laser beam doesn't produces a visible bolt that travels along the beam at less than lightspeed.

That in his description the light given off by the visible bolts depletes the overall energy content of the beam shows that in his explanation, there is a correlation between the bolt, that travels along the beam and the beam itself.

If the bolt would have nothing to do with the beam, it wouldn't limiting the range of it, that should, if it would be a laser beam, be unlimited.
The bolt would have a limited range, but not the beam on which the bolt is travelling along.

No, from that quote, I have to assume that he is not speaking of a laser beam but another kind of energy beam.

I see no indications in that description, that he means a laser beam.



By the way, a "beam of photons" isn't necessary a laser. Light consists of photons and each light beam could be described as a "beam of photons".

A typical laser emits light in a narrow, low-divergence beam and with a well-defined wavelength (corresponding to a particular color if the laser is operating in the visible spectrum). This is in contrast to a light source such as the incandescent light bulb, which emits into a large solid angle and over a wide spectrum of wavelength. These properties can be summarized in the term coherence.

[Mr. Oragahn]

He says the beam travels at light speed. Since he's been cautious, or not, by only talking about an energy beam, we may be able to fit something in.
That said, it would logically be light. All EM radiations travel at c, and all of them can be physically described as light. What type of EM radiation is another problem, but not really relevant here.

The problem lies in the claim of a weapon which can fire at c.

The amusing note is how your typical wars wanker says that a superlaser is a turbolaser on steroids, and yet, even a superlaser, which range wouldn't need to change, which would not need to be dialed down as far as the DSI was only concerned about blasting worlds, a beam which its target couldn't dodge, and above all, which would not need to be seen at all ("bolt" 200% useless), still travels, in the end, at only a fraction of c (requires several frames to cover roughly 6 planetary diameters).

Yes, his explanation is most stupid. I'd like them to look at ROTJ and provide an explanation as to why some weapons, on Jabba's barge, were destroyed even before Luke's lightsabre cut through them.

... hey, isn't there already a lightspeed turbolaser argument thread or something here?

[Praeothmin]

W.I.L.G.A wrote:

And if I know that that person knows that a weak weapon wouldn't be a threat to me, I would assume that that person is directing a weapon at me, which is powerful enough that it can do damage to me. To direct a weapon at me, that is no thread to me, if I would be able to kill that someone, is very dangerous. That act could provoke a vindicative action for my part.

Just because the Enterprize's sensors are good enough to detect the power level of other ships, doesn't mean that all sensors do.
As I previously stated, the ships in this episode looked particularily less advanced technologically than Federation ships.
So it is also logical to assume their sensors aren't as advanced.
The ship locking lasers may have thought that if it fired while the Enterprise's shields were down, they might damage it.

And since we know, from canon, that lasers precede phasers in weapons devellopment.
It would be natural for someone who knew Federation history to assume that, since the vessel was sporting lasers, they probably weren't advanced enough to damage the Enterprise.


TheRedFear wrote:

His obviously pro-wars Biases

Being biased doesn't make one a twit, else a lot of us here would be... :)

[TheRedFear]

No, but when one allows one's bias to make him reach utterly unreasonable conclusions, and take such a condescending tone as he had up in the quote above, (especially when the tone is completely unjustified) THAT makes one a twit.

[2046]

Gravitational lensing is an interesting thought in regards to the Okona example, but for one small problem . . . we can clearly see shielded ships. Thus, even though Federation shields feature some sort of graviton component to them per Geordi's screen in Generations, it cannot be to the extent of a black hole or other similar singularity-esque level of gravitational distortion.

To suggest otherwise would require some sort of extra doohickey which somehow allows visible light through the shield, which would be interesting but would also make Occam pull out a sharpening stone in preparation.

It would also mean that cloaking devices would be a ho-hum deal, since of course one could simply turn off said doohickey to achieve practical invisibility.

Were a cloak of Trek-esque perfection to be based on gravitational distortion, though, it could indeed allow one to be largely impervious to laser fire.

[Nonamer]

He says the beam travels at light speed. Since he's been cautious, or not, by only talking about an energy beam, we may be able to fit something in.
That said, it would logically be light. All EM radiations travel at c, and all of them can be physically described as light. What type of EM radiation is another problem, but not really relevant here.

The problem lies in the claim of a weapon which can fire at c.

The amusing note is how your typical wars wanker says that a superlaser is a turbolaser on steroids, and yet, even a superlaser, which range wouldn't need to change, which would not need to be dialed down as far as the DSI was only concerned about blasting worlds, a beam which its target couldn't dodge, and above all, which would not need to be seen at all ("bolt" 200% useless), still travels, in the end, at only a fraction of c (requires several frames to cover roughly 6 planetary diameters).

Yes, his explanation is most stupid. I'd like them to look at ROTJ and provide an explanation as to why some weapons, on Jabba's barge, were destroyed even before Luke's lightsabre cut through them.

... hey, isn't there already a lightspeed turbolaser argument thread or something here?

You're looking for this one I think: http://www.starfleetjedi.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=30

[Who is like God arbour]

Gravitational lensing is an interesting thought in regards to the Okona example, but for one small problem . . . we can clearly see shielded ships. Thus, even though Federation shields feature some sort of graviton component to them per Geordi's screen in Generations, it cannot be to the extent of a black hole or other similar singularity-esque level of gravitational distortion.

To suggest otherwise would require some sort of extra doohickey which somehow allows visible light through the shield, which would be interesting but would also make Occam pull out a sharpening stone in preparation.

It would also mean that cloaking devices would be a ho-hum deal, since of course one could simply turn off said doohickey to achieve practical invisibility.

Were a cloak of Trek-esque perfection to be based on gravitational distortion, though, it could indeed allow one to be largely impervious to laser fire.

• • • That provokes the question, why we are able to see a ship, if all light is bend around it. But the answer to this is simple. Not all light is bend around a ship by the navigation shield.
      The navigation shield identifies threats to the ship like space debris, asteroids, microscopic particles and other objects and deflect them. That doesn't mean that the navigation shield is creating a constant field which is active even if there is no such threat. That would be inefficient. It would be far more efficient if the navigation shield effect only that object, that are identified as a thread.
      Normal light is no thread to the ship. But a powerfull laser could be a thread. And when the navigation shield is detecting such a laser, it creates a gravitational lens and deflect the laser beam away from the ship. For that it has enough time, because a laser propagates only with lightspeed. But the sensors of Starfleet are much faster than light.

The navigation shield is not the deflector shield. As the lines above are showing, both are separate systems. The navigation shield is always active, while the main shield is only activated in certain dangerous situations.

There is no reason to assume that both systems are working similar, only because both are somehow manipulating gravitation. The artificial gravity that is created onboard of a ship is also manipulating gravitation and has no similarity to a deflector shield or navigation shield.

My reasoning is that the deflector shield is, as we all know, creating a type of force field that surrounds a starship, space station, or planet to protect against enemy attack or natural hazard. It has a graviton field output. For what they need that, we don't know. Maybe it is used to curve space-time - but not to the extent of a black hole or similar singularity-esque level of gravitational distortion. But maybe it is only used to somhow anchor the shield in space time so that the kinetic forces, that are hitting the shield, aren't transmitted to the shield generator á la Mr. Wong.

• • • 

No "sort of extra doohickey which somehow allows visible light through the shield", would be necessary.

But the navigation shield doesn't create a force field that is constantly surrounding a ship. It is a system, that only sends beams in the direction of noticed hazards. It has not the ability to surround the whole ship by creating a kind of space pocket. And, as I have said already, we know from the episode "Silikon Avatar" that they can send graviton beams with a velocity faster than light - or at least faster than they are flying while at warp. Such beams send in the flight path could be used to steer space debris, asteroids, microscopic particles and other objects, that might otherwise collide with the ship, out of the flight path of it.

• After all, that is exactly what the navigation shield is supposed to do.
  • At high warp speeds, the navigation shield has to reach far further ahead than every deflector shield was ever shown to be able, to have enough time to deflect space debris, asteroids, microscopic particles and other objects, that might otherwise collide with the ship, out of the flight path of it.
    
    Or is it more plausible, that, while the ship is travelling at high warp speed, thus with several million kilometers per second, that the navigation shield is deflecting space debris, asteroids, microscopic particles and other objects, that might otherwise collide with the ship, not until they are only a few kilometers afar? How much time would remain in that case to steer something out of the flight path of the Enterprise and how strong is that something to accelerate that it isn't anymore in the path of the Enterprise, when she is coming only a split second later?

And these graviton beams could also be used to create gravitational lenses that would deflect a laser beam.

And indeed, I have thought that it could be possible, that a cloacking device, that bends light around the ship, could be a kind of advanced navigation shield. It could be able to create a kind of space pocket that doesn't let electromagnetic radiation in it because these would always follow the the geodesics in space-time - and these are going around the ship.