Author, Author
- Episode aired Apr 18, 2001
- TV-PG
- 43m
The Doctor writes and publishes an incendiary holonovel that defames the crew, Paris' tampering offends the author, and The Doctor's rights fall into question.The Doctor writes and publishes an incendiary holonovel that defames the crew, Paris' tampering offends the author, and The Doctor's rights fall into question.The Doctor writes and publishes an incendiary holonovel that defames the crew, Paris' tampering offends the author, and The Doctor's rights fall into question.
- John Torres
- (as Juan García)
Storyline
Did you know
- Trivia600th live action episode of Star Trek produced.
- GoofsSeven of Nine's aunt claimed she had visited the aunt's home at age six; however, in Dark Frontier (1999) the EMH claimed that Seven of Nine was four years old when her parents departed on their Borg research mission.
- Quotes
The Doctor: [from his introduction] You're about to take part in a thrilling first-person narrative. You will take on the role of an Emergency Medical Hologram, the Chief Medical Officer aboard the Starship Vortex.
Tom Paris: "Vortex?"
The Doctor: As our story begins, an anomaly has hurled your ship thousands of light years across the galaxy. Your mission: to uphold your medical and ethical standards, as you struggle against the crew's bigotry and intolerance. Persons with vascular disorders should consult a physician before running this program.
- ConnectionsReferenced in Treksperts Briefing Room: Author, Author (2021)
I will only comment on the depths of disgrace to humanity I felt in reaction to the serious premise of this episode and the claims made at the trial.
To claim that a holographic simulation of a person (the original human doctor) is also a sentient being with rights is an insult to human-kind and a logical absurdity.
If one were to cut a few hundred outtakes of Humphrey Bogart from many of his films and create a program to splice together words and movements, and combine those with a program cataloging and indexing it all, today's technology could create a simulation of Humphrey Bogart reacting to new situations and "making" creative decisions in reaction to the rest of the screnario of a new film.
Now admitedly there could be quality issues since you were "slpicing" together old clips - but the principle should be clear.
What the supposed holograms like the doctor are made of are simply original high-quality simulations of the original doctor's body, mannerisms and voice. This, combined with a huge multi-thousand line program can convincingly simulate the original doctor - though today's technology would only succeed to a limited degree.
But even if the database and program were enlarged to millions of lines of code and data about the original doctor, any actions the holgram did - even creativity - would be nothing more than a SIMULATION of a person!
Such a program can have the hologram display emotion - even act upon emotional algorithms - BUT the fact will always remain that the duplicate doctor is:
* a subset of the original, in range and complexity * a photonic display of a simulated person - having no body or other "place" in which to FEEL anything * the entirety of the holgraphic doctor's "actions" will be the direct simulation and projection of the scenario computed via lines of computer code - executed in electronic circuitry - NOTHING MORE.
The offense I experience at the absurd negation of humanity by such episodes is boundless. Allowing human perception of non-living simulations (just like TV and films) to create political movements to recognize "rights" of non-living creations is nothing less than a psychotic break from reality.
If only the above was the sole negative effect. Unfortunately, this blurring of reality and fantasy has begun erasing both logic and morality, and has started humanity down a slippery slope where feelings are no longer connected to life but are a subjective self-involved world where one cries about a movie (or hologram) and yet finds human life and machines to be equivalent.
- loyalcitizenship
- May 11, 2020
Details
- Runtime43 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
- 4:3