With post-Voyager technology, would it be feasable to man a crew (whole or in part) with holograms? We've seen the Prometheus has holo-emitters all over the ship...it stands to reason most newer starship classes would have the same.why not man several posts with holograms? Danger zones would be better manned by a non-lifeform. The Doctor proved it could be done. Hell, a holographic representation of Bones McCoy could man sickbay...the options are endless. If the Doctor's portable emitter was reverse-engineered, it might be possible to have an entire crew of holograms. yes, I realize this is extremely unlikely, just a thought. The Captain's knocked out and only junior crew is manning the bridge? Turn on file #2335, and Captain James T. Kirk assumes command in the interim... Just thinking...
Posted by David Templar (Member # 580) on :
Just think, Star Trek wouldn't be about people anymore, but a bunch of lights and forcefields pretending to be people.
Posted by Balaam Xumucane (Member # 419) on :
Oooh, ooh... but they don't know they're holograms... (why does this seem so familiar all of a sudden?)
Posted by Ryan McReynolds (Member # 28) on :
Why not just have all of these crew members be "virtual" in a computer core and save the space? Moriarty's entire world is in a little box. Strap that to a warp core and there's your ship. There's no need to actually "project" the holograms.
Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
Exactly. The point of having manned starships is not just about what's safest or most efficient. It's about actually sending people out there.
It may be possible, and certainly holographic crew members could possibly serve a useful purpose, but I doubt Starfleet will ever start manning ships with holograms only.
Posted by David Templar (Member # 580) on :
quote:Originally posted by Aban Rune: It may be possible, and certainly holographic crew members could possibly serve a useful purpose, but I doubt Starfleet will ever start manning ships with holograms only.
I dunno about that. My first thought was to use holograms for potentially dangerous situations, HAZMAT stuff, repetitive labour, whatever. But then, you'd just end up with an episode about how the holograms are tired of being treated as "expandable" and given demeaning jobs, and how they're just as "sentient" and "alive" as the rest of the crew.
If you use one as a counselor (since no one is going to need help 24/7; we hope), you're going to end up with an episode about how people are tired of talking to resequenced photons and how the resequenced photons gets offended because people consider it as a mere assortment of resequenced photons.
This is what happens when you have the uncontrolled proliferation of AIs as plot devices. Can you imagine a sentient phaser? "No, I'm not going to fire, because it is against my moral and code of ethics to harm another lifeform. Even if that lifeform is a 10 foot tall canivorous beast with razor-sharp claws and teeth and coming right at you. Maybe it will change its mind and stop before it reaches you..." *loud scream, sound of flesh being torn apart, something wet hitting the ground, bones cracking, something being chewed on* "Well, guess not, sorry."
Now, instead of holograms running on AI, maybe something more like Geordi's getup in "Interface" (?), where instead of the probe we use holograms.
Naw, let's just stick to the probes.
Posted by OnToMars (Member # 621) on :
Cuz sentient computer programs take up a FUCKLOAD of space? A whole crew of programs as sophisticated as the Doctor would require too a miracolous amount of computer space. Voyager's infinite computer core not withstanding.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
"My first thought was to use holograms for potentially dangerous situations, HAZMAT stuff, repetitive labour, whatever. But then, you'd just end up with an episode about how the holograms are tired of being treated as 'expandable' and given demeaning jobs, and how they're just as 'sentient' and 'alive' as the rest of the crew."
Yes. They called it "Author, Author".
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
If the holograms are sentient, like the Doctor, then you gain no benefit from crewing a ship with them exclusively, anymore than you would by filling a ship with humans or Vulcans or what have you. Sentient lifeforms aren't expendable.
If they aren't sentient, they wouldn't be a good replacement for a living crew. Useful backups, certainly.
But then, is there any reason why an Emergency Engineering Hologram would have to be humanoid? It makes sense for a medic, who has to interact and psychologically comfort patients. But an engineer doesn't need a bedside manner. It doesn't even need a face or a body. You could get more use out of the forcefields and mini-tractor beams directly, without the flashy interface.
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
Hmm...
Then you get to the point where you have an artifically intelligent ship that has the ability to take human(oid) form.
Andromeda.
Posted by Jb (Member # 724) on :
So basically we could end up with a ship that repairs itself, because you don't even need to see the holographic engineer that is repairing a conduit or somesuch... Who needs a real Engineering crew anymore? Ain't that a bitch?
Posted by OnToMars (Member # 621) on :
Then of course the noncorporeal genius ship develops an ego the size of the Borg Collective and thinks it's infallible. Then, when it fucks up, it has no other choice but to kill what little crew remains (which would probably be something along the lines of two guys with a few more in hibernation) to cover up it's mistake.
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
Hey, now that's not fair. It wasn't HAL's fault. Remember what Chandra said? "HAL was told to lie, by people who find it EASY to lie."
Posted by David Templar (Member # 580) on :
Daisy.... Daiiiisy.......
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
His mind was going. He could feel it.
Posted by CaptainMike (Member # 709) on :
Shatner's books have an armada of top-secret science vessels crewed by holograms. The Pauli, the Schrodinger and one other.. supposedly for top-secret high security invasion priority multidimensional research vessels. Commanded by a hologram named Commodore Twining. No one is really who they say they are, but both undercover Preservers and Section 31 have been running around interacting with stuff and there is Mirror Universe doubles everywhere, so its not clear whats all goin on there. Just thought id mention it I know it sounds unlikely (as does a lot of stuff the Reeves-Stevens have ghost-written for Shatner) but it was actually a fascinating chapter of the book. I find that J&G Reeves Stevens write great tech and outlandish situations, the only problem is that the circumstances of their books are just tedious to read through.. lots of depression, violence and horror.