• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Is it ok to have sex with holograms?

. . . Now, I know that when the computer first came out, it was large and expensive as well. But the nature of the holodeck requires at least walk-in closet sized space to function properly. Unless they eventually beam the holodeck fantasy directly into the brain...
In which case we’re not talking about a holodeck but something more akin to The Matrix or eXistenZ.

I could have used German children for an analogy but I would've been violating Godwin's Law.)
No, you would have been proving Godwin’s Law. :)
 
People who are going to kill someone always show some kind of signs that they are not right in the head early on in their lives. People like this love torturing animals and depict violent scenes in drawings when they are young. They're egomaniacs...! Like I said...killing people just doesn't happen. People just don't easily kill and rape people...dismissing and devalue them as object of rape, torture and murder.
 
Look, I wasn't advocating that we jail everyone of those cases. I wasn't even advocating that we ship everyone of them off to a mental hospital. I was making a simple case that there should be a system in place where people who are more knowledgeable and specifically trained can be brought in to evaluate the situation.

:techman:

I have stated previously in this thread that the person who is being evaluated doesn't even have to know that it is happening. Because at the end, it might very well be harmless and nobody else needs to know about it. But at least due diligence was done.

Do we even agree on that? Because if we don't, then we will simply have to agree to disagree.
I think anyone being evaluated needs to know that they are under surveillance.

The government is a blunt instrument unfortunately... and I doubt their ability to handle something like this with any type of care that is necessary.

For me it still all comes down to a case by case basis.
Government is a very blunt instrument, and the use of medicalization of issues as a means to circumvent civil liberties is a bad way to go. That was used during the days of eugenics to justify sterilizing folks with IQs too low for their own good as well as a host of other horrid legislation in the US and elsewhere. Experts quietly watching us to see whether we fit some imagined state of acceptability or wellness is a recipe for disaster.
 
Look, I wasn't advocating that we jail everyone of those cases. I wasn't even advocating that we ship everyone of them off to a mental hospital. I was making a simple case that there should be a system in place where people who are more knowledgeable and specifically trained can be brought in to evaluate the situation.

:techman:

I have stated previously in this thread that the person who is being evaluated doesn't even have to know that it is happening. Because at the end, it might very well be harmless and nobody else needs to know about it. But at least due diligence was done.

Do we even agree on that? Because if we don't, then we will simply have to agree to disagree.
I think anyone being evaluated needs to know that they are under surveillance.

The government is a blunt instrument unfortunately... and I doubt their ability to handle something like this with any type of care that is necessary.

For me it still all comes down to a case by case basis.
Government is a very blunt instrument, and the use of medicalization of issues as a means to circumvent civil liberties is a bad way to go. That was used during the days of eugenics to justify sterilizing folks with IQs too low for their own good as well as a host of other horrid legislation in the US and elsewhere. Experts quietly watching us to see whether we fit some imagined state of acceptability or wellness is a recipe for disaster.


true, and also the way they used involuntary commitment to mental asylums if someone expressed an opinion society didn't like or for all sorts of reasons.
 
The funny thing is that the United Federation of Planets does exactly that, send people to mental hospitals if they behave outside the legal norm.

And the funnier thing is that it seems to work: there never are repeat crimes, yet the treatment doesn't appear to take the spark out of the criminal, either (witness Harry Mudd, Kasidy Yates, or Garak. Or Tom Paris, in all likelihood).

Timo Saloniemi
 
The funny thing is that the United Federation of Planets does exactly that, send people to mental hospitals if they behave outside the legal norm.

And the funnier thing is that it seems to work: there never are repeat crimes, yet the treatment doesn't appear to take the spark out of the criminal, either (witness Harry Mudd, Kasidy Yates, or Garak. Or Tom Paris, in all likelihood).

Timo Saloniemi

I disagree, you're talking about a few select individuals and I don't count Harry Mudd as we see him back to his old ways in The Animated Series. Plus, we have no idea how Tom Paris does once back in the Alpha Quadrant and on his own since we never saw those adventures.
 
The funny thing is that the United Federation of Planets does exactly that, send people to mental hospitals if they behave outside the legal norm.
That’s been a science-fiction trope for decades -- the notion of “reforming” criminals through medical treatment, by giving them a pill or a shot of something, or re-arranging their brain cells. It’s just a more futuristic version of prefrontal lobotomy, and just as abhorrent to anyone who values personal liberty and free will.
"Goodness must come from within. Goodness must be chosen. If a man cannot choose, he ceases to be a man."
 
The funny thing is that the United Federation of Planets does exactly that, send people to mental hospitals if they behave outside the legal norm.
That’s been a science-fiction trope for decades -- the notion of “reforming” criminals through medical treatment, by giving them a pill or a shot of something, or re-arranging their brain cells. It’s just a more futuristic version of prefrontal lobotomy, and just as abhorrent to anyone who values personal liberty and free will.
"Goodness must come from within. Goodness must be chosen. If a man cannot choose, he ceases to be a man."

I disagree with this.
I don't think it's comparable to a pre-frontal lobotomy. Treatment that cured violent criminal tendencies(emphasis on violent) would be FAR preferable to keeping criminals in jail, if as you say you value "personal liberty." (not to mention the money you'd save)


Better a pill than a prison, I say.



(though none of this has to do with sex with holograms)
 
I have a feeling that if holodecks were the norm in society, you would have establishments such as Quark's in every major town/city. Prostitution does and has always existed since people like easy sex. What difference is a holodeck?
 
Well, you know.... They don't always advertise it...! And, do you really think the police can keep tap on everyone, so they know exactly who is going to kill? It's like trying to find out what everybody is doing.... [chuckle]
 
People murder for a number of reasons. Crimes of passion, gang activity, etc. Not every killer is a sociopath or otherwise mentally ill.
 
I think anyone being evaluated needs to know that they are under surveillance.
Well there is something called the observer-expectancy effect, most people will change their behavior when aware of being watched. Unless you're a complete psychopath, you're likely aware that your little perversions are outside the norms of the society you find yourself in. If notified that you will be placed under surveillance, and that there was an anticipation that said surveillance wouldn't be permanent (there's a scary thought), the majority of people could temporary "clean up their act."

Captain Robau, step to the side.

...............

We might be slightly fixated on the holodeck itself, the Voyager pre-mobile emitter doctor shows that you could have a holo-character in your home (or where-ever) without the necessity of a full holodeck. A emitter in any room could easily provider you with a partner or a victim.

People have brought up the possibility of "hacking" around any type of protection program that would prevent you from engaging in what society would consider aberrant fantasy adventures. But what if the hacking was from outside? If someone were to so hack into say your holo computer, they could reprogram your innocuous common fantasy, and subject you to a rape experience, or a saw movie-like torture, or even (if the safeties were removed entirely) murder you in your own home .. all while they (the hacker) watch with enjoyment in their own holodeck.

oo
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top