The EMH and romantic desire.

[GalaxyX]

Sexual pleasure is a strictly physical things. The emotions that go along with it play a part but are different things.

A machine should not be able, nor care to have the physical portion of it. So I agree, the EMH should not have been sexualized.

I think the writers were basing this on fan's acceptance and fascination with Data's "fully functional" capacity. While that annoyed me as well, at least with Data we never got the idea that it was true enjoyment, but rather more like "imitation" of human behaviour.

 

[The Grim Ghost]

Sexual pleasure is a strictly physical things. The emotions that go along with it play a part but are different things.

A machine should not be able, nor care to have the physical portion of it. So I agree, the EMH should not have been sexualized.

I think the writers were basing this on fan's acceptance and fascination with Data's "fully functional" capacity. While that annoyed me as well, at least with Data we never got the idea that it was true enjoyment, but rather more like "imitation" of human behaviour.

Why shouldn't he enjoy it? He was capable of feeling the physical pain inflicted by Henry Starling so why shouldn't he be able to experience pleasure as well? It's all about how sophisticated the programming is.

 

[GalaxyX]

Why shouldn't he enjoy it? He was capable of feeling the physical pain inflicted by Henry Starling so why shouldn't he be able to experience pleasure as well? It's all about how sophisticated the programming is.

I hated that scene because it made no sense. A computer should not be able to feel pain. There are no nerve systems to carry it, and there certainly isn't an organic brain wired for either pleasure or pain.

 

[Brit]

Well think of it this way, there are no wires but I can send data from my laptop to my wireless printer.

And besides "What is pain anyway?" or pleasure for that matter, and I'm not speaking philosophy?

Brit

 

[Jaespol]

They definitely made the EMH too human.

 

[The Grim Ghost]

Why shouldn't he enjoy it? He was capable of feeling the physical pain inflicted by Henry Starling so why shouldn't he be able to experience pleasure as well? It's all about how sophisticated the programming is.

I hated that scene because it made no sense. A computer should not be able to feel pain. There are no nerve systems to carry it, and there certainly isn't an organic brain wired for either pleasure or pain.

Well you can say a computer shouldn't be able to think for it self, shouldn't have any desire to expand itself but the Doctor did all of those things and more.

I refer you back to my post on the 1st page. With all of the fantastic things going on in the Trek universe, why is this one point so hard for people to accept? I seriously don't get it.

There is a lot better chance in the future REAL WORLD that we will have thinking and feeling computers than ever meeting a race of aliens with pointy ears and mental powers.

 

[GalaxyX]

Well at the moment science doesn't understand how the brain feels pleasure and pain. So I don't know.

To me the whole purpose of machines is that they are efficient. Giving machines the capability to feel pleasure and pain is seriously undermining the whole point of a machine. You would be giving the machine a serious disability in terms of efficiency.

 

[Brit]

Well understand or not, what is obvious is the the Doctor would have to have some tactile perception just to do his job. In other words he has to have the the sensation of touch to simply feel for someones pulse as an example. He couldn't be a Doctor, even a Holographic Computer Generated one without that ability.

So if that can be programed, the rest of it can.

Brit

 

[GalaxyX]

There's a difference between a machine being able to calculate the grip pressure to give someone a handshake for example. Something like 10 PSI is a very soft handshake. 40psi is a firm one, 100psi is a bone crusher, etc etc.

However, to actually feel hot or cold, or the nuances of touch would require something radically advanced, and not necessary for an efficient machine.

 

[The Grim Ghost]

Well at the moment science doesn't understand how the brain feels pleasure and pain. So I don't know.

To me the whole purpose of machines is that they are efficient. Giving machines the capability to feel pleasure and pain is seriously undermining the whole point of a machine. You would be giving the machine a serious disability in terms of efficiency.

At the moment we don't have warp drive, holodecks or transporters either.

I actually do see what you're saying, but do you see what I'm getting at? With Trek Tech, I don't find the idea of sentient feeling computers ludicrous.

And you're right, it could affect their efficiency. It certainly affected the Doctor's at times.

 

[freak]

Exodus: you indeed bring out a great question..one I've been pondering as well. But I see the Doc as a person, even if he IS just a trick of light. He also wanted to be more than his program was meant for him to be and that's what made him the most fun character in all of Trek. I really REALLY enjoyed the Doc's character throughout the whole series cause every single week he did something silly to make me laugh so hard! And in Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy, he cracked me up in the very beginning. That was a great episode! Anyway, the Doc in the beginning of the series seemed really dry and had a terrible bedside manner, but that was Zimmerman as well-he was the one who had the terrible bedside manner, and it showed in his programs! The Doctor didn't want to be just a hologram..he wanted to be more..so he expanded his program and spread his wings so to speak. If it hadn't been for Kes' encouragement on being a full fledged member of the crew, I don't know what would have happened to his program later on down the line!