EMH Mark 1s.... influenceable?

[c0rnedfr0g]

The EMH Mark 1s are apparently mining dilithium. Now, we know that The Doctor's program is supposedly so complex that there can only be one stored on Voyager. So, I'm assuming that in order to maximize efficiency in the mines, every piece of "superfluous" programming would be removed.

So it seems that these EMH Mark 1s that were reassigned to the dilithium mines may be nothing more than mindless drones, or at least lacking in what made The Doctor realize his existence.

Would these EMHs really be able to understand their "existence" and treatment, as Doc hopes with "Photons Be Free?" Would it be a non-issue if these have been reduced to the simplest of holograms? Or do the Mark 1s have an inherent sense of existence at their core?

Conversely, consider if the sense of existence is a mere matter of programming complexity. If these Mark 1s, when first introduced with full programming were to be considered individuals after the fact, would the stripping of them of a lot of their programming (dumbing them down) be considered a type of murder?



and yes, influenceable is a word http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=influenceable

 

[jgdst]

That's an interesting question... I'm guessing because the majority of EMHs aren't activated, or at least used for any prolonged period of time, they never actually become self aware like Voyager's EMH.

Given that it was already a done deal by the time the Doctor learned of the Mark 1's fate, and that Starfleet hadn't really discussed the holographic rights of the EMH at that point, they didn't think it was any more callous than reprogramming any other piece of technology.

Seeing as though the miners actually start passing round Photons Be Free, it suggests that there is a glimmer of self awareness in there, so it does seem kind of cruel to inflict that fate on them. They may not just be stripped down holograms. If they were, then obviously there's no issue putting them to work as essentially automated slaves.

 

[c0rnedfr0g]

true, but the "amount of time alive vs. self awareness" issue was already dealt with in Tuvix, and it was determined that Tuxix was a live and a unique individual

 

[Bonzo the Fifth]

Don't forget the events of "The Swarm", either. That put an initial upper limit on the amount of 'experience' an EMH could rack up before having a buffer overflow, or some other kind of BSOD...

 

[nx1701g]

Would these EMHs really be able to understand their "existence" and treatment, as Doc hopes with "Photons Be Free?" Would it be a non-issue if these have been reduced to the simplest of holograms? Or do the Mark 1s have an inherent sense of existence at their core?

We did see in the same episode as Photon's Be Free being announced that the dilithium miners did seem to understand the story and the premise. The EDMH told the other EDMH to have the engineer play it during his maintenance cycle.

 

[Hermiod]

The whole EMH's as miners idea struck me as a bit daft. Why not just create a far more simple holographic miner program ?

 

[Jeri]

^ ^ Yeah, I just didn't get that. If you don't want to use some hologram, just turn it off.

 

[Deks]

The Doctor was fully aware of who/what he was the first time he was activated.
What happened with the EMH's Mark 1's working in the mines is that they were not given an opportunity to grow.
I mean think about it.
In the first season, the crew treated the doctor as nothing more than a piece of equipment.
Kes was the one who really treated him as an equal at first and prompted others to pay more attention to him.
I'm sure if it wasn't Kes, someone else would have done the same, but the biggest issue I had with the crew was them treating the doctor as a piece of equipment.
Sure he was a computer program, but effectively programmed to be as much of a human as Zimmerman was.
He was responsive, conversed as if a flesh and blood individual was there.
So given how the Trek humans of that era were supposed to behave, it was strange seeing only Kes as an outsider to treat the Doc as 'real'.

Basically, I don't think that majority of SF personnel never really thought of the EMH's in that retrospect (apart from the specific minority) which is why SF considered them a failure.