Holodeck interactions? How realistic would they really be?

[Gingerbread Demon]

How realistic would holodeck interactions be say with famous people or in general?

Say for example Tom Paris and that French pool room / bar run by Sandrine. Sure the pool table, cues, and balls would be real objects as the holodeck can make real objects for use and then destroy them later. But what about Sandrine herself and the other French women in the room. Could you interact with them in a more intimate manner and what would that actually be like considering that they are projections of light and force fields? I mean skin texture, would it feel like actual skin to hold someone's hand or kiss them?

Would it feel odd and off putting to interact with these creations or would the users of such a device get used to it?

 

[C.E. Evans]

One aspect of 24th-Century technology could be that forcefields could be manipulated to feel like any stored pattern with adjustable, pinpoint precision. Holodeck objects probably would be indistinguishable from the real thing as far as weight and texture. It'd certainly be a technology far more advanced than anything we might come up with in the next couple of centuries, IMO.

 

[Mytran]

Or maybe, once the computer realises that you are going to touch something (be it a pool ball, towel, or waitress) it replicates the external surface and layers it over the underlying forcefield.

Forcefields with textures seems overly complicated - it's just a light wave, after all, how could "feel" like anything it isn't?

 

[Ithekro]

The only one that seemed to complain about the intimate interaction in the holodeck was Tuvok, and that's more due to not having the actual mental connection with his wife.

Localized replicated skin?

I see to recall that the crew in TNG were quite amazed at just how real everything was, even the people. Only Mrs Troi had a minor issue (which she enjoyed) about not being able to read their minds...since they were from the computer.

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

The forcefields must be pricise down to a micrscopic if not molecular level to feel real.
On an atomic level the real world is forcefields anyway... Sort of.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

The forcefields must be pricise down to a micrscopic if not molecular level to feel real.
On an atomic level the real world is forcefields anyway... Sort of.

Sorry to be OT in my own thread but I have to say I love your avatar. That was a fantastic episode....

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Localized replicated skin?

Eeeeeewww..

Well I mean if the holodeck or computer can replicate skin like that why can't they replicate dead people or historical figures?

You'd have to wonder if it can do that why can't they ever use that in dire situations?

 

[Mytran]

We know they can replicate body parts to a medical grade standard (TNG's Ethics) but you wouldn't need anything so sophisticated here.

So, we have a replicated skin or skin-like substitute, wrapped around a shaped forcefield understructure.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

We know they can replicate body parts to a medical grade standard (TNG's Ethics) but you wouldn't need anything so sophisticated here.

So, we have a replicated skin or skin-like substitute, wrapped around a shaped forcefield understructure.

That's still very icky

 

[T'Girl]

As I understand it, one of the early ideas for the holodeck was that the "people" would basically be replicated meat puppets. Tractor beams and forefields would move them about.

And speaking of forcefields, what happens when you get between the forcefield generator and the textured forcefield?

Like if you are dancing, could the computer really switch between generators that fast, and that smoothly? While you're holding the "person."

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

As I understand it, one of the early ideas for the holodeck was that the "people" would basically be replicated meat puppets. Tractor beams and forefields would move them about.

And speaking of forcefields, what happens when you get between the forcefield generator and the textured forcefield?

Like if you are dancing, could the computer really switch between generators that fast, and that smoothly? While you're holding the "person."

Geez guys "meat puppet" now that's even more gross..

To think Riker must have boned Minuet.. Eeeeeeewwwwwww

 

[Richard Baker]

...or Barkley letting his inhibitions run wild with his holodeck fantasies...

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

...or Barkley letting his inhibitions run wild with his holodeck fantasies...

That is even more gross.... If they really are animated meat puppets that'd be like being with a dead person.. Eeeeeeek!!!!

 

[Mytran]

This thread is pure class

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

This thread is pure class

Hmmmmmm All that talk of meat puppets makes me think holodecks are not that great after all.

 

[Ithekro]

As mentioned, there seemed to be no real complaints about the people holograms in terms of their physical likeness (or abilities). Most compaints were about personality traits or if the individual needed adjustments in appearance to satify the user.

 

[Gaith]

Realistically, the only way to enter into an entirely convincing artificial reality with any degree of real-world plausibility is probably The Matrix's jacking a feed directly into your brain. Granted, from our current perspective, having a digital program interact with a meat brain is a form of magic, but it's just one form, whereas TNG-style holograms require several levels of magic in the form of forcefields, replicators, and transporters, all working in perfect and invisible unison.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

But if the thing about meat puppets is valid then that raises questions about things like Moriarty and whether he was actually now a sentient being.... I raised those questions here..


TNG Thread covering Moriarty

 

[Mytran]

That's why the holodeck meat used to make people is only ever referred to using the more comforting euphemism "holomatter"

 

[JirinPanthosa]

That's actually less gross than what some people do in the 21st century.

I don't think holograms are replicated meat puppets, I think the only parts with substance are the exterior and the interiors aren't even filled in. It's not that difficult to imagine having temperatures and heat feedback with forcefields or seamless distributed processing. The only part we can't do now is actual tactile feedback.

For recreating historical figures, I think the only problem would be getting their behavior accurate. And most people wouldn't want their behavior to be accurate. Historical figures acting accurately would probably be jerks to you.