The hirogen space station network thingy

[Captrek]

Better yet, why just hit "copy & paste" instead of "cut & paste", thereby sending the Doctor and yet also keeping him on Voyager? He's a computer program, after all.... it's all one and zeros in the end.

Your assumption that “it’s all ones and zeros” is rooted in a 20th-century understanding of computers. Voyager’s holograms in the 24th century may not work the same way. If it depends on quantum states, it may be impossible to copy it without destroying the original.

 

[Eleanor_zhDarjel]

^ Yeah. Why not send DaVinci? Or that lecherous guy from the pool hall?

In the time they had, they barely got the Doctor through. They (conveniently) wouldn't have had time to reconfigure a holodeck character to know the objectives etc.

Meh. I don't now. It was a matter of installing a few sub routines in an already existent holo character. They didn't have to create one from scratch. It woul have been the save way and that is the problem. The lady does not know how to play save...

 

[BlobVanDam]

^ Yeah. Why not send DaVinci? Or that lecherous guy from the pool hall?

In the time they had, they barely got the Doctor through. They (conveniently) wouldn't have had time to reconfigure a holodeck character to know the objectives etc.

Meh. I don't now. It was a matter of installing a few sub routines in an already existent holo character. They didn't have to create one from scratch. It woul have been the save way and that is the problem. The lady does not know how to play save...

Sure it would have only taken a few minutes to get a basic holocharacter together with the objectives, although by the fact they had literally seconds left by the time they got the Doctor in there, it was clearly just a plot contrivance to stop us wondering about such possibilities.
And to be realistic, if they had sent a basic hologram, it wouldn't have been complex enough to handle the unexpected Romulan situation, so it worked out for the best.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Better yet, why just hit "copy & paste" instead of "cut & paste", thereby sending the Doctor and yet also keeping him on Voyager? He's a computer program, after all.... it's all one and zeros in the end.

Your assumption that “it’s all ones and zeros” is rooted in a 20th-century understanding of computers. Voyager’s holograms in the 24th century may not work the same way. If it depends on quantum states, it may be impossible to copy it without destroying the original.

Yet they had a backup of the Doc in "Living Witness"

 

[Timo]

...Centuries after "Message in a Bottle", to be sure.

He's a computer program, after all.

When our action hero runs out of gas, why doesn't he whip his horses some more and catch the guy he's chasing? He's in a car, after all. Sometimes in a sedan or more often in a cabriolet. Those by definition have horses in front of them.

...Never mind it's the 19th century definition of "car", "sedan" and "cabriolet".

Cars of the 24th century may look and behave much the same as our cars. Computer programs of the 24th century, however, represent a technology with much more potential for evolution, and great precedent for evolution already. You couldn't copy-paste the programming or data of ENIAC; OTOH, you can't repair the logical operator amplifiers of a modern computer.

"It's a computer program, after all" is among the least realistic views one can hold on science fiction; odds are that even people from Kirk's time couldn't make heads or tails of Picard's computer programs, understand their capabilities or limitations, or exploit their features.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[exodus]

Better yet, why just hit "copy & paste" instead of "cut & paste", thereby sending the Doctor and yet also keeping him on Voyager? He's a computer program, after all.... it's all one and zeros in the end.

Your assumption that “it’s all ones and zeros” is rooted in a 20th-century understanding of computers. Voyager’s holograms in the 24th century may not work the same way. If it depends on quantum states, it may be impossible to copy it without destroying the original.

Yet they had a backup of the Doc in "Living Witness"

I always assumed that was the incomplete one Harry made in "Message in a Bottle".

 

[Deks]

Your assumption that “it’s all ones and zeros” is rooted in a 20th-century understanding of computers. Voyager’s holograms in the 24th century may not work the same way. If it depends on quantum states, it may be impossible to copy it without destroying the original.

Yet they had a backup of the Doc in "Living Witness"

I always assumed that was the incomplete one Harry made in "Message in a Bottle".

We saw that the version Kim created was effectively overloaded and self-destructed.


Although, that doesn't exclude the possibility the crew found a way to backup the Doctor after the events of 'Message in a Bottle' and before 'Living witness'.

Realistically, the backup module would likely be hooked up to the computer at all times and download new information the Doctor accumulated and shaped him into a 'person' he became by that point.

When the Kirians decided to steal Voyager's backup module, the backup Doctor would have no memories of what happened after that event.

 

[exodus]

Yet they had a backup of the Doc in "Living Witness"

I always assumed that was the incomplete one Harry made in "Message in a Bottle".

We saw that the version Kim created was effectively overloaded and self-destructed.

Hey, I said "assumed".

I assumed that because he had the Doc's personality but was unsure if he contained any medical knowledge. I assumed that based on the fact that I think the real EMH would have rushed out into the bombing to help any of the injured and the one in "Living Witness" didn't have that concern. I that's why I thought it might be the incomplete back up Harry made.

 

[Eleanor_zhDarjel]

And to be realistic, if they had sent a basic hologram, it wouldn't have been complex enough to handle the unexpected Romulan situation, so it worked out for the best.

Now that is true. All is well that ends well.

I can wonder though