Did anyone else like the exocomps?

[Danoz]

TheSeeker said:
I liked the idea of the exocomps and it was an intriguing story but they could have looked a lot better. I think the story would have been easier to take if they'd looked a little slicker. Hmmm, sounds like a good idea for a TrekArt contest!

Ohhh... agreed.

 

[Mitty]

I would like to have seen that guest woman person killed. She was possibly one of the most annoying characters ever on Trek, next to that one in "Ethics" who did Worfs dumb spine operation. In fact maybe they were the same person, the seemed almost as stupid as one another.

 

[Delta1]

The Old Mixer said:
^Really? It seems like VGR made a bigger deal out of holgraphic rights than any other series.

Not until the holograms got uppity and made it an issue. Before then, they had few or no problems giving holotech to the Hirogen as prey for hunting, intruding on the Doctor's private thoughts, erasing his memories, creating self-aware Irish stereotypes and transforming them into cows, etc.

By contrast, on DS9 they had Vic Fontaine acting as a self-aware hologram with free will, but treated the matter very casually, never getting caught up in the subject of his sentience and rights.

Exactly. In the Voyager era, which includes DS9 and the TNG films, no one philosophized about "holographic" rights. They pragmatically ignored the issue until the holographic AIs started causing trouble, then granted them minimal concessions to keep them happy and functioning, or at least not homicidal. Only the Holodoc really broke this mold, when he was permitted to leave the ship and sing for the planet of math geeks. (Math geeks who don't know the difference between an expression and an equation, but that's beside the point.)

A philosophically oriented society, one truly interested in the rights and duties of sentients, would probably place constraints on the creation of sentient AIs and make their creators responsible for the AI's happiness and development as a person. Different kinds of intelligences or organisms would be recognized under the law and provided protection from cruelty and aggression. The Voyager era's treatment of holographic AIs was not grounded in any system so much as putting out fires where they pop up.

 

[RAMA]

The excocomps are celebrated here:

http://www.trekbbs.com/threads/showflat....&PHPSESSID=

 

[Tralis]

Kegek`s Corpse said:
This episode brought up an interesting side question: What if the artificial life was a toaster?

We'd kill them at every opportunity we had. They nuked Caprica!

 

[WillsBabe]

^ Damn straight! Although we all know someone would just get friendly with one of them and start having babies...