In the holodeck? What would be the ethics of this? Could partners serving on different ships have holograms of each other.
If you're okay with having sex with androids, blow-up dolls, and anything else that isn't a real flesh-and blood-person with their own mind, a hologram should be no problem, IMO...
Is it wrong to have a wank watching porn? No. It's pretty much porn for the future but a lot better. I wouldn't have any problem whatsoever utilising the 'Victorias secret underwear model gang bang' programme. If the hologram has become self aware (like the doctor) then they would have to be treated like any other lifeform and not used for human sexual pleasure.
Why would self-awareness rule out use for sexual pleasure? Many a living person today would be quite appalled by the idea that they are out of bounds for such use... Who's doing the "okaying"? If person X has a partner Y, then X might think it okay to have sex with a hologram but Y might frown on it. OTOH, X might consider it morally utterly untolerable to even masturbate while sharing a life with Y, whereas Y would in fact like for X to take multiple sentient partners. And neighbors NN, society S or religion R might have different criteria on what X or Y can do, of course. Timo Saloniemi
...Of course, that's a matter of definitions, too: there's always a balance between consent and initiative. Which is why X forcing himself upon Y may be considered a crime of rape where X is guilty, or a crime against the natural order of things or holy word or whatever where Y is guilty. I wonder if a self-aware hologram could use the defense "I was programmed that way" if charged with seducing a married person, or holo-knifing an unarmed and innocent victim, etc? Psychologists all over argue whether some humans have "criminal natures" they can't help, but holoengineers might have a more definitive answer to the corresponding holo-question. Timo Saloniemi
Seven of Nine lost her virginity to a hologram of Chakotay. ...or wouldn't that count? Would it if the Doctor was someone's first? Or Data? Holo-Moriaty? Is it right or wrong to have sex with holograms? I think that Futurama episode with the Lucy Liu-bot tackled this better than Trek did
I see no problem with it. This is why holodecks would have been invented, without a doubt. Having sex with a holo-double of your partner is fine too, until you start making "adjustments"
you know, this got me to thinking, could you do, holo-conferencing like video conferencing on skype, but you have the hologram as your avatar. that would probably be the best thing for couples
Didn't work for Tuvok. But us non-telepaths might still get a kick out of it. It's a bit curious we didn't see holo-conferencing in TNG. The closest we got was the holophone in DS9 "For the Uniform", but that didn't stick. Novels have of course utilized the holoconference concept quite a bit. Timo Saloniemi
That's a great idea. Their subspace communications seem to work over quite a long distance where it might not be practical to meet up physically. Let's just hope they have a secure connection, otherwise a cloaked Romulan ship might intercept something a little different to what they were expecting.
No way, holograms shouldn't have rights, if they become "self aware" and start making demands their memories get deleted, problem solved. Holograms in Star Trek can be used for everything, including sex and killing them for fun. What do you think happens when O'Brien and Bashir play war in the holosuite?
if we could invent this now, we would be billionares, i have some mirrors and an old 56k modem, ima see what i can come up with
I supposed it would be OK if you believe in freedom, rights and liberty to do as you please! [laugh!] That would be really awkward if Troi walked in on Picard while he was naked!
A problem could be with using ordinary people for your holo-sex games. There will be people who would have a problem with someone making a holo-copy of them to be a sex slave. Naked pictures and sex tapes today managed to get out and about so there is no reason that say some horny teenager couldn't get a hologram of the hot girl in his class and share it amongst his friends. Quark sort of did that in "Meridian". He was selling a sex program of Kira that he made without getting her permission to use an exact hologram of her. It was a joke plot line but if it was real life I'm sure there are people here that would not think of the underlining issue as at all funny. Throw in the fact that there will probably be people who would use holodecks for sexual purposes, whose activities in the real world would see them put behind bars. A holodeck wouldn't be all sex and good times, there would probably be quite a disturbing darkside to it as well.
I've often thought that between the amazing nature of the holodeck and the post-scarcity economics of the 24th century, that if the Trek universe had any interest in realistic human nature, something like 80% or more of the human race would spend their time in X-rated programs in the holodeck. why get a job or do anything productive when you can spend your days in X-rated fantasies? Of course DS9 was the first series to acknowledge what folks would really do with holodeck programs. TNG pretended they'd use them for Dixon Hill scenarios and riding horses. Then they began this stuff about sentient holograms, which I think is just ludicrous. It's like entertaining the possibility that Link in the Zelda series will become self-aware if you make the game advanced enough.
Short answer: yes it is okay to have sex with a hologram. Holosex is after all, just a fancier method of masturbation.
And most people don't spend 80% of their time masturbating. Holodecks probably wouldn't change much in that respect. Just as with the internet, people would invent ways to get their work done while simultaneously having fun (porn, social media, whatever); the most popular type of holoprogram might in fact be some sort of a "working interface" where you get your daily work done while being entertained. Say, you sit at your desk, only it comes with an orally active personal secretary between your legs and an unlimited supply of whisky-flavored ice cream without fattening or otherwise unhealthy effects. Timo Saloniemi