Is the holodeck really "relaxing"?

[Zaku]

(sorry for my terrible english )

It seems that the characters in Star Trek use the Holodeck to rest, but sometimes it seems just the opposite. After a hard day's fighting the Kazon, your only desire is to go in a Holodeck to fight the enemies of Captain Photon?!?! Or after you re-create the Battle of the Ardennes, are you really ready to beam down on an unknown and dangerous planet? At least you would not be tired (and unfit)?

I think the concept of shifts exists to allow the crew to rest to be ready for their duty. But what if they do in their spare time the same things when they are in active duty, changing only the background? Maybe the captain should ask his/her people not to exert themself in their spare time?

What do you think?

ps In theory, how many consecutive hours a crew member spend into holodeck..?

 

[Admiral Shran]

It all depends on what you find relaxing.

We saw that Picard liked to relax on the holodeck with a Dixon Hill murder mystery, or sometimes a nice gentle trot though the countryside on a horse.

We've seen that Dax liked to use the holosuites to get massages and spa treatments and that Kira sometimes uses them to meditate. Paris uses them to spend some quite time in an Irish village or to work on a muscle car.

Bashir and O'Brien, on the other hand, enjoy a good planefight in the skys of Britain, a James Bond adventure, and having their asses kicked at the Alamo.

To each their own.

 

[The Wormhole]

Holodecks are pretty much just like video games today. You can be a sports star, soldier, rock star, Lego man, race car driver, knight, alien, whatever the hell World of Warcraft is...

 

[Mirror_Barclay]

I think the frequent malfunctions, usually including the safety protocols, would tend to make it less relaxing.

It's probably exciting though.

 

[stonester1]

Holodecks are pretty much just like video games today. You can be a sports star, soldier, rock star, Lego man, race car driver, knight, alien, whatever the hell World of Warcraft is...

Except showing much more variety and flexibility.

 

[Rush Limborg]

I believe...Spock brought up this oddity in non-Vulcan nature best:

"On my planet...to rest is...to rest--to cease using energy. To me, it is quite illogical to...'run up and down on green grass', using energy...when one should be conserving it."

 

[Rush Limborg]

Holodecks are pretty much just like video games today. You can be a sports star, soldier, rock star, Lego man, race car driver, knight, alien, whatever the hell World of Warcraft is...

That would be a Night Elf Mohawk.

No, I've never played the game, but--hey. If Mr. T says that's what it is...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV0DtmxYFuE

..well, that's good enough for me.

 

[Y_O_D_A]

The holodeck isn't real. So it can't have a physical feeling associated with it.

 

[Myasishchev]

Holodecks are pretty much just like video games today. You can be a sports star, soldier, rock star, Lego man, race car driver, knight, alien, whatever the hell World of Warcraft is...

It's kind of a valid point, though. Holodeck games are a lot more physically demanding than playing a sweet round of Halo. If I wanted to actually run around like a moron shooting people, I'd play paintball, or become a spree killer, both of which would require a lot more calories and generally higher level of fitness.

 

[M'Sharak]

I believe...Spock brought up this oddity in non-Vulcan nature best:

"On my planet...to rest is...to rest--to cease using energy. To me, it is quite illogical to...'run up and down on green grass', using energy...when one should be conserving it."

That would be Spock not getting the "human concept" of recreation--not getting human concepts was often his function as an outside observer in many episodes--and I think "recreation" better describes the intended purpose of the holodeck than does "relaxing" (though an individual may end up being more relaxed as a result of taking some recreational time and blowing off steam or otherwise focusing on other things for a while.)

 

[Start Wreck]

Depicting characters relaxing in quiet would be boring on TV, so they only show us the ones having fun and exciting adventures.

 

[plynch]

Life on a starship is probably pretty routine - manning some console on third watch in some subsytem room, whatever. Like many jobs in a navy. So excitement might be needed, not relaxation.

I'm a sit-n-read kinda guy, so my friends who are extreme adventure/exercisers -- I don't get it, but they sure like it.

 

[Tora Ziyal]

The holodeck isn't real. So it can't have a physical feeling associated with it.

Your own actions there are real, so of course you would still have physical (and emotional) feelings.

 

[Ra'min]

holodecks are very interesting concept, but the way they were displayed is not very credible.

I can admit that it can imitate objects.
But how can it simulate such a large space.
In "Take Me Out to the Holosuite" the holosuite creates a baseball field, sisko watches the others playing while sitting on the arena.
I seems the real people in a holoprogram can be 50 meters from one another, perharps much more. While the same holosuite, when turned off, is only ten meters or so wide!
I really cant think of how that is possible.

Second, how did they not improve the safety. In at least half a dozen occasion, a holosuite problem put the whole ship in jeopardy.
Realistically, starfleet would either improve the safety greatly or remove the holodecks from ships.
What navy in the world would tolerate a reacreationnal technology that occasionnaly endangers a ship ? Then again, it's not only recreationnal, it's also a training ground for about anything.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Kira sometimes uses them to meditate.

Curious...when was Kira in a holosuite to meditate? I thought she didn't like holosuites, and that she thought if something was worth doing, it was worth doing for real.

(Doesn't mean it didn't happen. I'd just be curious to see it, if she did.)

 

[Michael]

Kira sometimes uses them to meditate.

Curious...when was Kira in a holosuite to meditate? I thought she didn't like holosuites, and that she thought if something was worth doing, it was worth doing for real.

(Doesn't mean it didn't happen. I'd just be curious to see it, if she did.)

Well, I can think of at least one instance of Kira meditating in the holosuite. From His Way ...

 

[T'Girl]

"On my planet...to rest is...to rest--to cease using energy. To me, it is quite illogical to...'run up and down on green grass', using energy...when one should be conserving it."

Looking back at The Balance of Terror and Arena Spock isn't much of a runner.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Thanks, NCC--I'd forgotten about that! Makes sense considering it's later Kira, not the earlier Kira.

And I actually think I'd do something similar if I had access to a holosuite--being able to have total control over one's meditation/prayer environment would be very nice.

 

[Rincewiend]

Kira sometimes uses them to meditate.

Curious...when was Kira in a holosuite to meditate? I thought she didn't like holosuites, and that she thought if something was worth doing, it was worth doing for real.

(Doesn't mean it didn't happen. I'd just be curious to see it, if she did.)

Well, I can think of at least one instance of Kira meditating in the holosuite. From His Way ...

Dax also got Kira to get along with her for some holo-programmes...

 

[Kpnuts]

holodecks are very interesting concept, but the way they were displayed is not very credible.

I can admit that it can imitate objects.
But how can it simulate such a large space.
In "Take Me Out to the Holosuite" the holosuite creates a baseball field, sisko watches the others playing while sitting on the arena.
I seems the real people in a holoprogram can be 50 meters from one another, perharps much more. While the same holosuite, when turned off, is only ten meters or so wide!
I really cant think of how that is possible.

Second, how did they not improve the safety. In at least half a dozen occasion, a holosuite problem put the whole ship in jeopardy.
Realistically, starfleet would either improve the safety greatly or remove the holodecks from ships.
What navy in the world would tolerate a reacreationnal technology that occasionnaly endangers a ship ? Then again, it's not only recreationnal, it's also a training ground for about anything.

It's best to skip over the actual science and technology behind how the holodeck works.

I can believe warp drive, torpedoes, even transporters and replicators... but the holodeck with it's 'treadmill' effect is just ludicrous. Especially if there's more than 1 person in it.