Why would an EMH be the first holographic crewmember?

[at Quark's]

Ever wonder how the EMH even manages to stay in place when he's fit to the mobile emitter? Since he has no mass, the slightest wind should blow him away.

Nope, never wondered about that. Although I've it always thought a strange (but not paradoxical or so) idea that the mobile emitter first 'generates' the EMH, who then 'carries' around the emitter.... so essentially the emitter carries around itself...

However, I have wondered how the 'internal transporter node' system from the "29th century drone" would work.... I mean, in order for the drone to rematerialise at another location without external transporter there probably would have to be part of the internal transporter nodes that can't be dematerialised themselves at that instant, but must be transported slightly earlier or slightly later, right ?

But that's another topic

 

[Ithekro]

Isn't 29th century tech basicly TARDIS gear? It is bigger in the inside and thus can be heavier than it looks, or suppress its mass in other dimension. Also time travel.

 

[kirkfan]

Wind can't blow light.

The force of the hologram projectors projecting is equal to normal atmospheric behaviour.

Joe should be able to rend steel in his bare hands, and it takes a great deal of patience and math for him to not to do that.

It can blow a forcefield. The doctor wouldn't be able to do his job if the wind went through him, he needs to hold things.

 

[kirkfan]

Ever wonder how the EMH even manages to stay in place when he's fit to the mobile emitter? Since he has no mass, the slightest wind should blow him away.

Nope, never wondered about that. Although I've it always thought a strange (but not paradoxical or so) idea that the mobile emitter first 'generates' the EMH, who then 'carries' around the emitter.... so essentially the emitter carries around itself...

You mean like an automobile? Wow, uncanny!

However, I have wondered how the 'internal transporter node' system from the "29th century drone" would work.... I mean, in order for the drone to rematerialise at another location without external transporter there probably would have to be part of the internal transporter nodes that can't be dematerialised themselves at that instant, but must be transported slightly earlier or slightly later, right ?

But that's another topic

It can be done with two transporters, IOW a double transporter. First you transport transporter A to a location using transporter B. Once A is materialized, you use it to transport transporter B plus the drone to the location and voila.

 

[Melakon]

Wind can't blow light.

The force of the hologram projectors projecting is equal to normal atmospheric behaviour.

Joe should be able to rend steel in his bare hands, and it takes a great deal of patience and math for him to not to do that.

It can blow a forcefield. The doctor wouldn't be able to do his job if the wind went through him, he needs to hold things.

Is this a supposition, or is it stated somewhere in dialogue? If wind can alter the placement of a forcefield, they must be pretty useless for containing explosions.

The EMH has control over which parts of his image can be enhanced with forcefields, which allow him to pick up a pin from the floor, avoid physical attacks, and to slap Paris' face.

 

[at Quark's]

You mean like an automobile? Wow, uncanny!

The difference being that the primary purpose of an automobile is transport. Here, we have a device that can transport itself in a very indirect manner. Also, an automobile doesn't dynamically generate its own structural support. As I said, it's not paradoxical but a little bit strange nonetheless.

(Perhaps one day i could write a short story in which the real intelligence is the emitter itself, and the only function of the holograms it generates is so that it can manipulate them in order to get where it wants to be. Oh, and to provide a 'human friendly' means of interaction for the AI encased in the emitter, of course)

It can be done with two transporters, IOW a double transporter. First you transport transporter A to a location using transporter B. Once A is materialized, you use it to transport transporter B plus the drone to the location and voila.

I believe I said about the same myself...

 

[Guy Gardener]

He purposely became immaterial when going up against those Vikings in Heroes and Demons which was seemingly a novel new interpretation of his being unthought of until that moment.

Force fields are solid.

By definition they are fields of force.

Forcefields pushing against everything else proportionately imitates mass and weight.

 

[Taelon]

But the forcefield can't generate a gravitational pull to simulate the weight of an adult human, can it? Grab the EMH by the ankles and lift, and all you're lifting is the weight of the mobile emitter.

 

[at Quark's]

But the forcefield can't generate a gravitational pull to simulate the weight of an adult human, can it? Grab the EMH by the ankles and lift, and all you're lifting is the weight of the mobile emitter.

It's almost a pity there isn't a scene where the Doctor is strolling through the corridor, only to bump into a running crewman just around the corner, sending the Doctor flying off for about 30 meters or so

 

[Guy Gardener]

The sickbay walls are studded with hundreds, maybe thousands of Holoprojectors and forcefield emitters that work in congress to create the illusion of form and substance for the EMH and every other hologram that happens to be in that room.

Have you never played with magnets?

Invisible forces of repulsion and attraction.

It's really cool shit.

It feels like the magnets are pushing against each other with something substantial like a hand or a pie, but it's just cosmic forces.

 

[Guy Gardener]

But the forcefield can't generate a gravitational pull to simulate the weight of an adult human, can it? Grab the EMH by the ankles and lift, and all you're lifting is the weight of the mobile emitter.

It's almost a pity there isn't a scene where the Doctor is strolling through the corridor, only to bump into a running crewman just around the corner, sending the Doctor flying off for about 30 meters or so

What about that time he was punched in the face 40 times during Futures End?

 

[Melakon]

But the forcefield can't generate a gravitational pull to simulate the weight of an adult human, can it? Grab the EMH by the ankles and lift, and all you're lifting is the weight of the mobile emitter.

With dynamic forcefields, you can't pick him up by the ankles unless he wants you to. The illusion of weight can probably be simulated through those same forcefields by controlling air pressure surrounding the projection.

 

[at Quark's]

What about that time he was punched in the face 40 times during Futures End?

But those were punches by 20th century post-industrial barbarians! Computer savvy as they might have been, they didn't necessarily understand the finer points of holo-engineering (or simple impulse conservation laws for that matter), and hence that he should have been sent flying on his merry course... I think the EMH surrepetitiously took advantage of that ignorance

 

[kirkfan]

The sickbay walls are studded with hundreds, maybe thousands of Holoprojectors and forcefield emitters that work in congress to create the illusion of form and substance for the EMH and every other hologram that happens to be in that room.

Have you never played with magnets?

Invisible forces of repulsion and attraction.

It's really cool shit.

It feels like the magnets are pushing against each other with something substantial like a hand or a pie, but it's just cosmic forces.

Why would you push with a pie?

 

[kirkfan]

But the forcefield can't generate a gravitational pull to simulate the weight of an adult human, can it? Grab the EMH by the ankles and lift, and all you're lifting is the weight of the mobile emitter.

It's almost a pity there isn't a scene where the Doctor is strolling through the corridor, only to bump into a running crewman just around the corner, sending the Doctor flying off for about 30 meters or so

What about that time he was punched in the face 40 times during Futures End?

Yeah, and Rain saw it, even though she was completely out of sight and running away from it.

 

[Darren Mooney]

But the forcefield can't generate a gravitational pull to simulate the weight of an adult human, can it? Grab the EMH by the ankles and lift, and all you're lifting is the weight of the mobile emitter.

With dynamic forcefields, you can't pick him up by the ankles unless he wants you to. The illusion of weight can probably be simulated through those same forcefields by controlling air pressure surrounding the projection.

That makes a great deal of sense, although now I'm laughing at the image of the Doctor being throw back and forth by a mild breeze on away teams!

 

[hux]

Why would you push with a pie?

Wait, I know this one.....Is it because he was a cunning linguist

 

[kirkfan]

Why would you push with a pie?

Wait, I know this one.....Is it because he was a cunning linguist

That's colonel Linguist, he's a well known member of StarFleet. He speaks in tongues.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Like yourself I'm guessing, he's effluent in many languages.

 

[Tiberius]

This morning, I was rewatching part of the pilot 'Caretaker'.

In this episode, it seems that Starfleet technology and design philosophy is just beginning to augment and support the crew with artificially intelligent holograms, which is a great idea. The EMH seems to be the first step in that development.

But then it hit me: why start this process with an EMH? Why not with, say, an EEH (emergency engineering hologram)? Instead of still having to use conventional technology like tricorders like the EMH has to, in order to scan humans, such a hologram could be tied in immediately with the ship's systems, being able to react to critical failures like impending warp core breaches far quicker than any human could, and with a far completer array of information about the status of ship's systems at hand than any crewmember could hope to gain in a short time.

Also, a doctor is about as much a 'people' profession as you're going to get-- even if only to understand some of the crew's reaction when under extreme stress or when injured. (This is evidenced by the fact that the EMH doesn't even consider himself a doctor at first, just a short-term replacement). A hologram in Engineering wouldn't need al that, but could be geared to pure efficiency instead. Hence, I'd expect it considerably more difficult to design a good EMH than a good EEH .

So, of all options, why did Zimmerman/Starfleet start with an EMH and not something else? I could understand that precisely because of that challenge, they chose to try it, but even then, they could -and perhaps should- have started with something easier?

So, why didn't they? Or did they, and is it just never shown onscreen ?

Would you want a crewmember created by a wonderful feat of engineering to be your only hope if engineering systems were damaged?