Why does the sonic screwdriver have a light?

[Purple]

You might make a good Doctor DW Who writer!

Thank you. And that with barely ever watching the show. This said, for the rest of this conversation I would ask you to keep that fact in mind and not take it too much against me if I say something completely idiotic in terms of observed effects.

That being done...

Can you attest to the complexity of the mechanism? For one thing, how complex is the voice thought recognition system? We have computers today that can do that to more or less complexity. For all we know the thing might only accept input along predefined parameters such as thinking or saying the exact or near exact name of the type of operation required like say: "Barbed wire cutters, strength 3 beam width 4mm" or something. Is there evidence to say that it's not like that and more like Star Trek computers that just improvise and always guess what you want. (consider my final point before giving a reply to this)

Also, I am surprised no one here considered the option that the buttons are there as a safety measure. Like, you might need to push the button to activate the mind reading mechanism before you can select an option with your thoughts. That sure would come in handy to stop you from thinking about wire cutters and finding out that you now have a hole in your pants.

Finally, from what I recall a lot of the doctors equipment was more or less held together with duck tape and string (figuratively) and had been the subject of numerous jury rigged repairs over the many, many years of non linear time travel existence. So any inconsistencies with the design or things that by all logic and sanity should be included into a user friendly interface might well have been there at some point in time just like the Tardis camouflage system used to work right...

[FaxModem1]

Well, he has gone through a number of the things. In the movie, he has a whole drawer full and the 11th Doctor's screwdriver was provided to him by the TARDIS itself.

[Eternal_Freedom]

You want to know why it's called a screwdriver? Because that's what it was originally. Fury of the Deep, IIRC, Two uses it to unscrew a pipe.

And then in The War Games, he uses it to unscrew part of a German officer's revolver to prove his story.

Didn't the whole "screwdriver/probe" thing come up in "The Girl that Waited" when Amy built her own?

Heck, Sarah Jane had a sonic magic wand but that was a lipstick.

[Molyneux]

You want to know why it's called a screwdriver? Because that's what it was originally. Fury of the Deep, IIRC, Two uses it to unscrew a pipe.

And then in The War Games, he uses it to unscrew part of a German officer's revolver to prove his story.

Didn't the whole "screwdriver/probe" thing come up in "The Girl that Waited" when Amy built her own?

Heck, Sarah Jane had a sonic magic wand but that was a lipstick.

Pretty much. She's quite insistent on the terminology, at first.
I think that calling a sonic screwdriver for much the same reason that we call a Swiss Army knife a "knife" holds true. It can do a hell of a lot of other things, but screws were apparently its original function - though I still don't know quite how it's supposed to sonic them.

[Purple]

Maybe it has some sonic component to it self, like say using sound waves to loosen burned in screws (you know the ones that get stuck from all the dirt and stuff and you just can't pry them open) or something?

[SilverWingedSeraph]

Maybe its original function was just as a screwdriver, and it worked via soundwaves, and then the technology was upgraded and built upon over time so it was no longer using soundwaves and no longer just a screwdriver, but the name stuck because that's what everyone had always called it? Kinda like how a cellphone fifteen (or so) years ago was a clunky brick which just did one thing and one thing only, and how a cellphone now serves hundreds of different functions and works in quite a different way, but is still called a cellphone?

That probably doesn't make much more sense, but honestly, who cares?

[Eternal_Freedom]

Actually, that's pretty reasonable IMO. Still calling things by an old name because you've always called them that is pretty common. I would imagine it would be even worse for someone as old and as well-travelled as the Doctor.

[Broomstick]

I think that calling a sonic screwdriver for much the same reason that we call a Swiss Army knife a "knife" holds true. It can do a hell of a lot of other things, but screws were apparently its original function - though I still don't know quite how it's supposed to sonic them.

^ This.

My "pocket knife" I use at work, in addition to having a knife blade, also has two screwdrivers (phillips and slot), pliers, wirecutters, saw, fish scaler, and some pointy/jabby things. I just sort of thought that the word "screwdriver" operated in sort of an equivalent manner for Gallifreyans.

If you don't like that example - my "phone" also incorporates an address book, calendar, schedule, calculator, notepad, camera....

[Batman]

Heck by now the ability to actually make phone calls is almost an afterthought for modern cell phones

As for the light, not only is it showing the thing is on a perfectly valid explanation, my DVD player has a LED showing that it's on standby. My rodent has a LED showing battery status (though it took me a while to find that out). Valen, my PC speakers have LEDs around the front of the casing and the actual speaker membranes purely for looks. There's a ton of perfectly sensible explanations for both the name and the lights.

[Molyneux]

Heck by now the ability to actually make phone calls is almost an afterthought for modern cell phones

As for the light, not only is it showing the thing is on a perfectly valid explanation, my DVD player has a LED showing that it's on standby. My rodent has a LED showing battery status (though it took me a while to find that out). Valen, my PC speakers have LEDs around the front of the casing and the actual speaker membranes purely for looks. There's a ton of perfectly sensible explanations for both the name and the lights.

Wait, wait, wait. Back up a minute there.
Your rodent has a LED light? I wasn't aware that small fuzzy cyborgs were common as pet animals.

[Batman]

Mice are rodents, you know. And one of the most popular devices for controlling your PC is...?