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[EndlessSky]

My take:

-The pokeball turns matter into data, the pokedex scans the pokemon data to identify genetic traits, species family, etc.
-Makes estimate of habitat from the Morphology of the pokemon
-Cross references with local region folklore, studies and academic data on the internet
-Compiles Pokedex entry based on all of this.

This is probably the best answer. Though the question why the people of that world can only turn pokemon matter into data and not all matter will probably never make sense.

 

[Nepenthe]

Here's some context that gets forgotten.

Oak INVENTED the Pokedex. It was blank in the first game because there was no such thing as a Pokedex. The first game, as I said above is you going out and compiling factual and folkloric in one place for the very first time.

Post gen 1 and 3, yeah, makes less sense.

That makes sense.

But my issue then is how is it compiling the folkloric information? I can understand if it were only recording the physical details of Pokemon via scan or something, but the actual written Dex entries only make sense if they were written somewhere else, and if they were written somewhere else, then that means there already has to be an existing Pokemon encyclopedia it's pulling the info from.

EDIT: On top of it, what are the odds the entire world of Pokemon has gotten to the equivalent of modern day with all of its technological accomplishments without the scientific world recognizing the importance of cataloguing species?! I mean, we're talking about Pokemon here, creatures that are inextricably a part of everyday life. And this is seriously the first time anyone's done this? Was there no Pokemon version of Charles Darwin? I call bullshit. =P

 

[Eumi]

I'm pretty sure the original implication is that as you catch the Pokemon, you yourself are writing the dex with what you discover.

The anime and future games instead make the dex just a preset encyclopaedia. You catch a Pokemon, scan it, and the dex accesses information about it. It's more a checklist than a tool.

 

[Vital Tundra]

The professors are fucking with the trainers for laughs. All the entries were made by them but they sent them on a quest anyway.

 

[The Adder]

That makes sense.

But my issue then is how is it compiling the folkloric information? I can understand if it were only recording the physical details of Pokemon via scan or something, but the actual written Dex entries only make sense if they were written somewhere else, and if they were written somewhere else, then that means there already has to be an existing Pokemon encyclopedia it's pulling the info from.

You're filling it out as you go. That's information you've compiled in your journey. It only shows up when you catch them as gameplay mechanic. But the information on, say, Victreebel eating a researcher comes from your character at some point hearing about it from someone and recording it in the 'Dex

 

[Ahasverus]

I accepted that Pokemon lore is unrecoincileable and I sleep better at night now.

It's flawed since gen 1, as there's no way for other regions pokemon to remain unknown to the others.

 

[xRaizen]

What about in the gen 1 show, when the pokedex automatically knew the names and information of every pokemon Ash encountered on his journey?

 

[SomedayTheFire]

Not everything in the pokedex is gospel. A lot, and especially legendaries, can be taken as myths and urban legends spread through the world.

 

[PSqueak]

EDIT: On top of it, what are the odds the entire world of Pokemon has gotten to the equivalent of modern day with all of its technological accomplishments without the scientific world recognizing the importance of cataloguing species?! I mean, we're talking about Pokemon here, creatures that are inextricably a part of everyday life. And this is seriously the first time anyone's done this? Was there no Pokemon version of Charles Darwin? I call bullshit. =P

The pokedex is not the end it all source of pokemon knowledge.

The pokedex is a glorified Wiki.

 

[Regiruler]

Wailord is justified because it's the float whale pokemon. It's mostly air.

 

[Zen_Arcade]

There are books and stuff in the Pokemon world that also contain information about Pokemon. I just assumed your Professor fills in entries from data they've seen in books and they unlock when you actually catch them.

 

[Gigarator]

Nanomachines, obviously.

 

[veloxStrix]

The Pokemon world has a metric dick ton of people running around fighting and stuff. Compare this now to the handful of people who actually do science. Now I imagine that each Professor is sitting here looking at all this (probably poor) data and wondering, "How full of shit are all these people?" So he sends your dumb ass out to go verify all this data he receives just to make sure he isn't wasting his time.

It's pretty simple, guys. You are literally a kid with no qualifications being sent out on a mission. Pretty sure you aren't doing anything too hard.

 

[LordRaptor]

Though the question why the people of that world can only turn pokemon matter into data and not all matter will probably never make sense.

You can literally give your pokeymans any old shit you have lying around in your backpack to hold, and they'll still be holding it when you upload them to the PC though.

 

[PSqueak]

Why can you teach Pokemon new abilities by feeding it a CD? Maybe they're some kind of

Digital... Monster....

The pokeball turns matter into data, data you can store in a pc, the CD is just contains the move's data, you boot up the CD [personally i always assumed on the Pokedex itself] and select the data of the pokemon you want to teach it, a program executes to inject the move's data into the pokemon and purge the data of the previous move, so when you send the pokemon out (and thus the pokeball turns the data back into matter) the pokemon will know the move.

As to why TMs used to be one use only? Well, DRM!

This is probably the best answer. Though the question why the people of that world can only turn pokemon matter into data and not all matter will probably never make sense.

Gen 1 allowed to store items on the PC too.

Pokeballs are designed to be used only on pokemon, supposedly if you were to try to catch a human into a pokeball it would not recognize the data as valid and would instead "fix it" into the closest pokemon data it resembles. They expanded this on Moon and Sun in which they explain Beast Balls are configured to detect specially Ultra Beast matter and thus they have and absurdly useless catch rate on normal pokemon (because it doesn't detect them as UBs) and vice versa.

 

[LordRaptor]

I like to imagine TMs are like Norton Ghost backups of some pokeyman that spent their life learning how to do a move, and you just overwrite your existing pokeymans memories of sitting doing fuck all in a PC box all day with a lifetime training instead.

Like that movie Dark City

 

[PrinnyBomb]

I imagine that when you register a Pokemon the Professor of the region basically gets to analyze the Pokemon in your box/party and enters the Data. Just for the sake of the "game" it's done automatically. But I think it's the professors analysis after you catch them. That's why if you *don't* catch them, and only *see* them, the entry is empty.

It's also why each region has sometimes similar entries, because the professors analyze similar things, but sometimes maybe a different professor studies something different.

I've always gone with this assumption

 

[sixteen-bit]

And how do Pokemon fit inside those little balls?

 

[ZeroMaverick]

I've always imagined that the entire conceit behind your journey in Pokémon and how every professor always asks you to fill out the pokedex is like a rite of passage for this culture. All of that information is already widely known, and you're only meant to think you're the first to catalogue these Pokémon. The Pokedex and going through the elite 4/gym battles are only meant to teach young children about the world around them.

 

[Spukc]

they probably just torture the pokemons for information

Oh hi PETA

 

[foltzie1]

A Star Trek related quote,

"They work just fine, thank you."

 

[Spukc]

The professor is a goddamn liar. It's all just to get you out of the house so he and your mom can get it on

Thanks for destroying my childhood.

 

[Slamtastic]

Why can you teach Pokemon new abilities by feeding it a CD? Maybe they're some kind of

Digital... Monster....