Is Reg Barclay on the spectrum?

[Mojochi]

But what are they seeing? From their perspective he's just coming in late and slacking off a lot. By the time it gets to a head, the matter is addressed correctly. What more could be asked? No one said Geordi is perfect, and should instantly know how to coach every personality type on his team, especially if he hasn't encountered someone like Barclay before. He shouldn't be criticized when he ultimately handles it well, and it's a pretty far cry from saying everyone treats Barclay like crap.

However, they are literally writing him off. They want Picard to pen swipe the guy off the ship, which I gathered is a pretty rare occurrence, & he refuses to do so, because rightfully so, he realizes there isn't a whole lot of explanation here, beyond "he's difficult to work with", & slack in his duties, which no one ever stops to think might be related, except probably Picard.

What are they seeing? Not enough to make final judgements like that imho

He's socially awkward and gets anxiety around people, but he is still an adult, an academy graduate, and an officer

Yes, he's an adult... who is different, requires different interraction to understand, & if he were a Benzite or Klingon, you'd clearly know that dealing with interaction issues might require a more involved approach, but being Human, Barclay is a victim of prejudicial expectation

So to Geordi, Barclay's immediate supervisor, Barclay might seem a little socially awkward, but he would seem a lot of lazy. Perhaps working on the Enterprise, Geordi has never encountered a person with Barclay's personality type, so he has his own learning curve, which is part of what might make the story more compelling.

Yeah, but Geordi encounters people of widely varying personality types all the time. They just aren't human most of the time, or someone like his friend Data, who he's more tutoring in how to be his type of human, & not the other way around, or reciprocatingly, which would more likely have to be how he'd handle other different personality types

I'm not saying Geordi should be perfect in interracting with his crew. Lord knows he has his own socialization issues. I'm saying he should know he isn't, and endeavor to include that factor in his assessment of others. He shouldn't have to be begrudgingly told by Picard to get closer & determine what might be beneath the surface issues of "Difficult & slack"

Invite him to a Data concert or something. Wear some civvies, have a few drinks & dig around for WHY this is happening, with a guy who's been in Starfleet a while. You live with these people. This is a long term assignment issue, not a crisis. You have the opportunity to delve. There's some two-way street dynamic here that Barclay might not have been getting until Picard ordered it, & by then it was already down the rabbit hole a bit, & now it's a thing that needs to be fixed, whereas before it got this bad, it could've just been a thing to address

 

[Skipper]

How the heck he still had a job on the Enterprise after they found he had used his co-workers as masturbatory material on the holodeck is beyond me. We (rightly) criticize Geordie for the Leah Brams affair, still Barkley has a free pass with that?

 

[Prax]

We are unsympathetic when Geordi gets caught because his reaction is to blame and guilt trip Leah Brahms until she feels bad. It's truly bizarre.

 

[Mojochi]

Agreed, we go a little harder on Geordi, not because of his holodeck program, but because of how he treats the real person, like she should be sorry for not being his holodeck fantasy

In truth, there is not one single person who would ever use a holodeck, that wouldn't recreate some real person with it, for any number of reasons, Frankly, on long term assignment, I think I might literally recreate my whole family, and trade programs or even link subspace communiques to the holodeck, so I don't just have to sit there interacting with them on a viewscreen, but could literally interact with them as if it were live & in person.

If I had a kid I didn't see for long periods of time, I'd enjoy playing a game with them, or eating a meal with them etc... The holodeck could let you do that

Edit: And you know, even if I weren't interacting with them live, I might just have them on in the background of my home program, as a way to be less homesick etc...

 

[valkyrie013]

For the coworker models in the holodeck .. That should be a computer lockout rule thing.. If ur just interacting talking etc that's fine, but when you want to ..go further.. The computer says.. Nope... That action is not allowed.

But Barclay is a holo expert.. He should have his personal holo emiter in his quarters

 

[Mojochi]

For the coworker models in the holodeck .. That should be a computer lockout rule thing.. If ur just interacting talking etc that's fine, but when you want to ..go further.. The computer says.. Nope... That action is not allowed.

But Barclay is a holo expert.. He should have his personal holo emiter in his quarters

Sooo…… it's not like they caught him mid-thrust, drilling Troi. It's not even suggested that they think he has been, albeit, from the nature of the flirtiness in the fantasy interactions we saw, it's probable that if he could, he is, but like you suggested, there is nothing stated to stop us from saying he isn't allowed to go that far with a crewmate recreation, or even that he knows himself such a degree would be wrong, on what is essentially a workplace device/public utility, & has never taken it that far by choice

Now Leah Brahms suggested pretty bluntly that she thinks Geordi took it that far, though there's no evidence to say he did either. In fact, the only program Leah saw, was the tail end of the replay from Booby Trap. It's possible, though unlikely, there was nothing else. People like to imagine there was more, but we don't know that, nor for Barclay

I actually don't think it's such a bad thing for Barclay to have recreated coworkers anyhow. The only issues are that he's doing it on a work device/public utility, & that the nature of it is ultimately doing him no good

I can imagine an application where someone like him uses the holodeck as a social exercise simulator, the same way Worf uses it as a combat sim. If Barclay struggles with interacting in a staff briefing for example, why shouldn't he go there & practice how to handle it, so the real thing goes smoother for him?

The problem is that he's doing the opposite of that. His creations are play things that offer no real time resistance. He needs to up the difficulty level, & then using coworker sims might actually be useful to him, beyond just mental masturbation... possibly worse, again, if we assume it can or does go that far, which I don't, because those are just fan theories

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I would have hoped that as part of Starfleet regs, people on board a starship could not be simulated by someone else without giving permission.

I mean, you'd want to know if somebody was simulating you and doing God knows what, wouldn't you? I sure as hell would.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I mean, you'd want to know if somebody was simulating you and doing God knows what, wouldn't you? I sure as hell would.

I'd be flattered

 

[Skipper]

I don't believe that in the episode Troy and Crusher were "flattered"

 

[lurok]

Yes. No. Maybe.

He was Reg Barclay.

 

[Skipper]

Let us suppose that on a carrier they find that a sailor enjoys his spare time with two / three inflatable dolls with photos of some of his comrades on their faces. Would everyone be flattered and no one would have problems with that?

 

[Mojochi]

Let us suppose that on a carrier they find that a sailor enjoys his spare time with two / three inflatable dolls with photos of some of his comrades on their faces. Would everyone be flattered and no one would have problems with that?

If they had several rooms where every sailor used their own inflatable dolls? Not as much I'd think

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I might not like it but I wouldn’t think it’s any of my business. I think Dax had it right in If Wishes Were Horses. It’s the technologically advanced version of drawing someone.

Barclay should have been reprimanded for skipping work but then the childish name calling was unbecoming of an officer.

There’s no reason to think Geordi continued seeing Leah in the holodeck. Geordi’s social issues only apply to dating, not to platonic friendships.

 

[Prax]

He was sent to counseling for his holodeck activities. He's probably lucky they didn't check all his other programs.

 

[valkyrie013]

Just a quick aside.. Why don't every room have a holo emiter in there quarters? or atleast ensign and above? I'll create a new thread for this.. doesn't belong in this thread.

I blame the writers for not being consistant, or just doing things for story wise.. I would thing Geordi, the guy who approved Barclay's transfer to the D, would have read about his habits from his resume, and would have known going in he was ecentric.. and would have given him some time to know him etc. but was portraied on screen as him being saddled with a moron and not working it out..
In the end everyone is different, and everyone needs to learn that, and not pigeon hole/label others

 

[Nakita Akita]

Just a quick aside.. Why don't every room have a holo emiter in there quarters? or atleast ensign and above? I'll create a new thread for this.. doesn't belong in this thread.

I blame the writers for not being consistant, or just doing things for story wise.. I would thing Geordi, the guy who approved Barclay's transfer to the D, would have read about his habits from his resume, and would have known going in he was ecentric.. and would have given him some time to know him etc. but was portraied on screen as him being saddled with a moron and not working it out..
In the end everyone is different, and everyone needs to learn that, and not pigeon hole/label others

Lol.
How about the scenario as it would be in real life.

Barclay's supervisors were more than happy to be rid of him. Sooooooo, they wrote a review for Geordie or whomever, to read which was glowing with accolades
For Barclay. Lol, you know like real life when the person that Fecks up get promoted and a raise.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Just a quick aside.. Why don't every room have a holo emiter in there quarters? or atleast ensign and above? I'll create a new thread for this.. doesn't belong in this thread.

In Discovery they do. But they glitched on the Enterprise so Pike had them removed and... ummm somehow that explains why no other ships had them

Also I'm pretty sure an early Next Gen episode shows Riker watching a Star Wars-ish mini hologram in his quarters?

 

[JirinPanthosa]

The Discovery holograms were light only, no forcefields. Yes, they used the hackability of the holograms as a stated reason to stop using them for communication.

I don’t think Reg is on the spectrum, the more I think about it. He doesn’t seem to have any problem interpreting nuances of facial expressions or picking up social norms. He just has crippling anxiety and lack of social confidence.

 

[F. King Daniel]

The Discovery holograms were light only, no forcefields.

Not in "Battle of the Binary Stars" where Sarek leant on a desk, or "Calypso" where Craft danced with Zora. Maybe the directors got carried away and they weren't supposed to be solid but they sure looked it to me.

 

[XCV330]

Not in "Battle of the Binary Stars" where Sarek leant on a desk, or "Calypso" where Craft danced with Zora. Maybe the directors got carried away and they weren't supposed to be solid but they sure looked it to me.

I'd have to replay the bit with Sarek but I've rewatched Calypso a number of times, and it seemed as if Craft was just dancing Astair's bits mirror perfect after practice, and obviously Zora was a machine perfect projection, and moved in kind. On the other hand if she did have some kind of physical manifestation (and being hot for Craft, I suspect she must have been coming up with something..) she had had almost 1000 years to work on it, if needed, not to mention if she has been digesting sphere data as well during that time.