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How would McCoy regard the EMH if they met?

Why would it being "fake" make a difference? Data would relieve Hobson of duty if he didn't comply; Hobson's career would be correspondingly stained. If there was any difference to a situation where the CO was human, it's this: were Hobson to try a mutiny of some sort, he would not only get booted out of service and sent to one of 'em brainwashing camps, he'd probably have to hobble there on a broken ankle after having been duly subdued by the physically superior, mutiny-proof android, all within the limits of regulations. The tone of Data's voice simply wasn't relevant to the issue.

Timo Saloniemi
 
Well, Bones was horrified at the sight of 20th Century Medicine, so he doesn't come as the type who would dislike such a technological improvement in relation to the tools he used back in the day.

However he had problems with some certain logical green blooded Vulcan... And Holograms are computer programs after all. However, we know EMHs are not the most "logical" beings in the Universe. My guess is that Bones would headbutt with the EMH when the EMH had a more self-conscious mood about the fact that he was a collection of subroutines after all. I can imagine Bone's fury when the EMH starts throwing statistics around.

When the EMH went with moods that spiked traits of the "nice" personality of Doctor Zimmerman, however... Bones and the EMH would surprisingly get along well.
 
McCoy meeting the Doctor wold be such a wonderful scene!

Old Man McCoy hobbles around the Doctor a couple times, scrutinizing him without saying a word. The Doctor watches him uncomfortably. Finally McCoy turns away from the Doctor and says, "You people have to be out of your God damned minds."

The Doctor: "Pardon me, but-"

Old Man McCoy: "You gave him a voice, too! For heaven's sake, we're all doomed."
 
I think I would love a scene in which the very old admiral and the EMH get into an fierce argument about the merits of computerized doctors, and that in the heat of it, they simultaneously shout to one another 'I'm a doctor, not some cranky old Admiral!'
 
Actually, it wouldn't surprise me if a good chunk of the EMH's orneriness comes from McCoy's psyche profile (a lot is Zimmerman, obviously, at least in the EMH Mk I, but the Mk II isn't patterned on him and is still snarky).
 
O_Kav said:
Well, Bones was horrified at the sight of 20th Century Medicine, so he doesn't come as the type who would dislike such a technological improvement in relation to the tools he used back in the day.
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He doesn't want the tools to eliminate observation and touch, though. Bloodless tools like stethoscopes, otoscopes, etc, he might tolerate for the sake of getting a personal look at something, as opposed to skull saws and leeches.

Could the EMH pass his photons through a person and scan them quickly that way? Like walk through you like a ghost and know what was wrong with you?
 
Laura Cynthia Chambers said:
Could the EMH pass his photons through a person and scan them quickly that way? Like walk through you like a ghost and know what was wrong with you?
Click to expand...

That certainly seems plausible. But I think it would have to be dependent on the hardware of his holographic emitters. If they are just bare-bones holo-emitters, they wouldn't have the sensor support to be able to scan the patient and relay the information into the EMH matrix. But that probably wouldn't be hard to add into a more advanced EMH holo-emitter, given that tech is already small enough to fit inside a tricorder.

This could open up a lot of advanced EMH usages. If the EMH had a full sensor suite tied into his matrix he wouldn't even need to pass through the patient. With sickbay's sensors the patient could be scanned as soon as they were brought in and the EMH would have that information instantly available, completely cutting out the 'scanning' step that bio-doctors have with the tricorder. In fact, I could imagine that an EMH with this capability would be able to pass his hand into a patient, guided by sensors in the operating bay (the way the medical arches are used), manipulate his forcefields from the inside and actually hold onto a patient's organs and make incisions with targeted lasers from his other hand and do the non-invasive surgeries we sometimes see in the novels. He could quite literally perform surgeries with his 'bare hands.'
 
matthunter said:
Actually, it wouldn't surprise me if a good chunk of the EMH's orneriness comes from McCoy's psyche profile (a lot is Zimmerman, obviously, at least in the EMH Mk I, but the Mk II isn't patterned on him and is still snarky).
Click to expand...
Just means the Mark II is based on a snarky doctor. In my head canon, the Mark II is the same as the LMH that Dr. Bashir was originally meant to be the template for, which Dr. Zimmerman was going to make as a replica of Bashir's personality.
 
I think McCoy would have to quickly admit the EMH was far superior in most regards, and he might hate it for that reason. And back in TOS (made in the 60's) they still were short sighted about what computers were or what they could be, so the very concept an EMH or an android could be sentient would be hard to accept. But first and foremost, since he could turn off the EMH, I think McCoy would love it since it would follow his orders and be the best damn "nurse"/assistant he ever had. It's hard to argue with success. And besides, the EMH is not trying to subjugate him or control him or order him around. If anything, they probably share many similar traits as professional doctors and would be excellent colleagues, at least. I suspect he wouldn't enjoy being subordinate to an EMH, but having one at his disposal would be something he would ultimately like, assuming it were 24th century competent. He might like it even more if it were Voyager EMH competent, but you can only get that with far more computer power than NCC-1701 had, and by running the program almost continuously for years. If the Voyager EMH from 7th season went back in time to TOS Enterprise and was stuck there in Sickbay, in that reality, McCoy could even call him friend. Voyager's EHM is a hell of a guy. It might take time to win McCoy over, but I think it would happen. Just as long as the EMH doesn't try to control the good doctor, I think McCoy is ultimately open minded enough to make it work, and scientific enough to respect the EMH's abilities.
 
True. And McCoy would have one less reason to dislike him. Or, maybe one more. McCoy would have to deal with being seriously outclassed by another human, but if knew he was just a computer AI, he might not feel inadequate. I don't take it too hard when a computer mops the floor with me in chess, but I'd feel worse, I think, if my friend beat me every time and might not wish to play that game with them anymore since it wouldn't be a fair contest.
 
JRTStarlight said:
I think McCoy would have to quickly admit the EMH was far superior in most regards, and he might hate it for that reason. And back in TOS (made in the 60's) they still were short sighted about what computers were or what they could be, so the very concept an EMH or an android could be sentient would be hard to accept.
Click to expand...

Perhaps. Then again the quote I started this thread with comes from the TOS episode that introduces the M5, a computer system that actually seems substantially superior to Kirk (or anyone else on board) in terms of Starship command ability- it's just that it's also heavily flawed. Also, it's said to essentially be 'a human mind amplified by the relays possible in a computer' (by engrammatic imprints). Based on that episode, they were already acknowledging that computers might be able to bridge that gap.
 
I think they admitted computers could do many of the same jobs humans did, but I don't think they even hinted this would make them sentient or the equal of humans, deserving of the rights afforded a human or other sentient beings. Just more efficient. In fact, throughout TOS, they came across several computers or AI controlled societies or androids and pretty much always took them out since they were unliving, unworthy, stagnant social orders that were harmful to "real" people. I just never got the feeling they saw the evolution of computers to sentient beings becoming commonplace back in the late 60's. It wasn't until the 90's and the TNG when we had a better idea how quickly computers were evolving that they began to more fully explore the idea AIs could be our equals as sentient beings and introduced Data. Even then, 24th century society was mostly depicted as not believing Data was even truly "alive," let alone their equal. But it was a huge leap forward toward that possibility. And then Voyager made another leap forward with the EMH - this time, the being is all computer program and projected light and forcefields, without even the need for an actual body.
 
JRTStarlight said:
I think they admitted computers could do many of the same jobs humans did, but I don't think they even hinted this would make them sentient or the equal of humans, deserving of the rights afforded a human or other sentient beings. Just more efficient. In fact, throughout TOS, they came across several computers or AI controlled societies or androids and pretty much always took them out since they were unliving, unworthy, stagnant social orders that were harmful to "real" people. I just never got the feeling they saw the evolution of computers to sentient beings becoming commonplace back in the late 60's. It wasn't until the 90's and the TNG when we had a better idea how quickly computers were evolving that they began to more fully explore the idea AIs could be our equals as sentient beings and introduced Data. Even then, 24th century society was mostly depicted as not believing Data was even truly "alive," let alone their equal. But it was a huge leap forward toward that possibility. And then Voyager made another leap forward with the EMH - this time, the being is all computer program and projected light and forcefields, without even the need for an actual body.
Click to expand...


Oh but of course.

We all mourn the deaths of poor Landru, and Vaal. They died in their prime :)
 
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