Murder one..Danno

[RobertScorpio]

So, if I am correct, both the Holodeck Doctor on Voyager, and I guess Vic from DS9, would be considered life forms? Especially if we use Picard's arguments for Data in Measure of a Man. Did Starfleet ever make an official decision either way?..if not..it would be interesting to bantered about in an starfleet courtroom...Representing Holo Doc/Vic? Alan Shore!!!

Rob
Scorpio

 

[The Wormhole]

Voyager did whole episodes on the issue of holographic rights. Apparently, the Federation doesn't consider EMH programs as applicable to the AI rights laws that protect Data and other androids.

 

[Forbin]

Considering that the Doc is a subroutine of the Voyager's ship's computer, if he is declared sentient, wouldn't that also make the ship itself sentient?

 

[Red Ranger]

Well, I think the point the VOY ep on hologram rights was making was that some prejudices are harder to combat than others, and some groups receive more rights than others, a situation many gays find themselves in, esp. after the Proposition 8 fiasco in California.

To digress a bit and talk about Timo's point, if there is ever another ST series, one of the characters would probably be the ship's computer, a quirky AI. Yeah, I know they did that with the show Andromeda, but I'd make the character more acerbic. Or imagine if the ship's AI was a hyper Robin Williams type!

Red Ranger

 

[Sci]

Considering that the Doc is a subroutine of the Voyager's ship's computer, if he is declared sentient, wouldn't that also make the ship itself sentient?

No. He's not a subroutine of a single ship computer. First off, Voyager has dozens of computers, and the EMH is a program on a dedicated Sickbay computer.

It doesn't make the computer itself sentient, it makes the program sentient.

 

[RobertScorpio]

Considering that the Doc is a subroutine of the Voyager's ship's computer, if he is declared sentient, wouldn't that also make the ship itself sentient?

No. He's not a subroutine of a single ship computer. First off, Voyager has dozens of computers, and the EMH is a program on a dedicated Sickbay computer.

It doesn't make the computer itself sentient, it makes the program sentient.

I agree...so...does is the doctor a living entity? and if so, does he have he same rights as a human being???

Rob
Scorpio

 

[Penta]

Define 'living'. For that matter, define a person.

...That leave you a bit...tonguetied? Yeah, thought it would.

The issues that would be presented by something like an EMH achieving sentience would make the debates over abortion look completely uncomplicated.

Nobody rational would design something like the EMH without safeguards to prevent it from doing what the Doctor did.

 

[Sci]

Considering that the Doc is a subroutine of the Voyager's ship's computer, if he is declared sentient, wouldn't that also make the ship itself sentient?

No. He's not a subroutine of a single ship computer. First off, Voyager has dozens of computers, and the EMH is a program on a dedicated Sickbay computer.

It doesn't make the computer itself sentient, it makes the program sentient.

I agree...so...does is the doctor a living entity? and if so, does he have he same rights as a human being???

Rob
Scorpio

I think that the EMH programs are by definition sentient. You can't have a computer program capable of accurate diagnosis and treatment, all of which requires the use of judgment and creative problem-solving on an incredibly complex level, without it being sentient.

If the Doctor and other EMH programs do not have the same rights as any other sentient entity in the Federation, then that is by definition discrimination under the law.