Ghosts in the machinery - holodeck thought

[The Laughing Vulcan]

The reason why it never happened is fairly obvious, Red Dwarf would have sued!

But the idea of recreating the deceased on the holodeck surely would have crossed people's minds in the 24th Century, and beyond the historical figures used in recreation programs.

Would those grieving their loss, unable to cope be tempted to create holodeck versions of their loved ones, in an attempt to hold on to what they have lost. It surely wouldn't be healthy, but given a good enough programmer, such recreations could be uncannily accurate. Maybe there is legislation against it in the future.

Taking the thought one step further, we've seen all sorts of mind swaps and technological enhancements in the future. Barclay and Picard have had their consciousnesses inhabiting the Enterprise computer, and Bareil was turned into a cyborg before he died. It seems with enough computing capacity and effort, a machine can be made to hold a human soul. Would those with the wherewithal and desire for immortality arrange for their souls to be transplanted into machines, opting maybe for android bodies like Sargon did, or maybe Starship sized computers only to manifest as holograms. Would such holograms be seen as recreations, or a continuance of the corporeal existence? Could such hologram lifeforms be afforded the same rights as biological lifeforms?

The technology was obviously there in Star Trek, spread across various stories, but put all together it could happen. Would these existences be technological ghosts?

 

[jamestyler]

with Federation morality and a better acceptance of death, I doubt it would become common practice - but I'm betting someone would do it just as much as they would create a holographic love slave of the hot ensign who snubbed them

 

[Myasishchev]

I suggest that the technology isn't there, really, just prototypical methods like Graves' and ultra-future-tech like Sargon's. Otherwise it would almost certainly be used. There are a few isolated TNG S1 statements to the contrary, but almost everyone in Trek does seem to fear and avoid death just as much as we would expect a naturally selected lifeform to do, even the Klingons. Only the Jem'Hadar seem to really lack a healthy respect for nonexistence.

However, the Vulcans do appear to on-and-off practice something similar to what you're talking about, by copying and pasting at least important aspects of their consciousnesses into other Vulcans (and the occasional wayward human). This begs the question of how regulated katra downloading is, and what kind of capacity the Vulcan brain has. We can, however, judge the connection speed at around several hundreds of terabytes per second, even with a human.

 

[Sephiroth]

I think that people in trek are just better at accepting death, they greive, and think fondly of and miss the departed, but they also don't dwell on the past for too long

 

[Timo]

However, the Vulcans do appear to on-and-off practice something similar to what you're talking about, by copying and pasting at least important aspects of their consciousnesses into other Vulcans (and the occasional wayward human).

To be sure, these assorted examples of katra transplanting have all been temporary measures. In ST3, it was indicated that the final destination of a Vulcan katra is not in the cranium of a close friend - and the novelization's take on it, that some katras are stored in vaults for posterity while others are dispersed in the winds at a ceremonially appropriate site and moment rather than at the banal site and moment of the actual death, is at least consistent with canonical evidence.

Downloading of full personalities doesn't seem to be a common technology, no. But creating of reasonable facsimiles seems quite practical: Soong could program the particulars into an android, and a skilled holoprogrammer could no doubt do the same to a hologram. It would be quite difficult to conclusively prove that the imitation doesn't 100% match the original - but OTOH, it would be very difficult to drive through the sort of legislation that granted the rights of the original to a reasonable facsimile. Where would the incentive be for that?

Sure, we might argue that a person who suffers a gruesome death but is resurrected in robotic or holographic form would wish to retain control of his or her former possessions. But such cases would probably best be settled on a case-by-case basis, as it's unlikely that there would readily be numerous facsimiles contending for the said possessions, and the person could have prepared for his or her death and return by making a will that allows for repossession under specific circumstances. This could and should be standard practice after resurrection (by any means) becomes viable...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[MyCylon]

I think it's one of those instances where Trek simply didn't go as far as it could have. Maybe because the whole idea brings up questions that are difficult to answer on a moral level, maybe because nobody thought of it.
Other hindrances might be such banal problems as storage space. IIRC DS9 was barely able to store the memory of five (was it five?) people back in "Our Man Bashir".
Then again, the super rich could probably afford that kind of capacity, so one might assume some of them are preserving their existence in a similar fashion (without having to live out holodeck fantasies, that is ;-)).

I think the whole idea is similar to the constructs from Neuromancer, btw. That's possibly where Red Dward got it from as well, I guess.

 

[cultcross]

I've felt since they were introduced as near-perfect simulators on TNG, that a society with holodecks is a doomed society.
Obviously, I suspend that disbelief for enjoying the show, and accept that the crew of the Enterprise only use the holodecks for an hour a week to play at being Sherlock Holmes.
But if such technology existed in reality, I would see it as being the beginning of the end for civilisation. A great many people would think - 'why should I face the horrible, gut-wrenchingly cruel real world, when I can be God in a world that responds to my every whim, and can show me anything I want'
Now obviously the falseness wouldn't appeal to some people, but I think enough people would descend into holoaddiction that real society would fall apart as people spent their lives in holographic simulations.

 

[Timo]

Why would the society fall apart just because its members live in fantasy realms, though? Today, people read books and watch TV and still get stuff done - indeed, these false realms inspire and assist them in shaping the real world, in addition to creating more of these false worlds.

Immersing oneself in fantasy realms would indeed be a major additional step towards divinity - quite possibly followed by an increased drive to reform the physical uniform to one's liking, too. Or at least to weaken or remove the distinction between the real and the unreal.

Timo Saloniemi