Artificial Life Rights

[Monroe]

So I was watching Voyager on Spike TV today and they had an episode I had forgotten about in which the Doctor was fighting for rights for holograms.

I got to thinking isn't Data an artificial life form that creates his own works of art? How come Voyager never even used Data's situation for their case to give holograms equal rights? Certainly Data is just as much of a a machine as a hologram?

And then I got to thinking about the pandora box that treating holograms as people would open up. You'd have to cross the line somewhere. A hologram that's sole purpose is to die in a holodrama can't have the same rights as the doctor. But then again in Voyager episodes in the past the villains have discovered they're really holographic. So does this mean they can't delete their programing because it'd be killing a sentient life form? Is creating a pleasure hologram the same as creating a sentient sex slave?

I just thought the whole concept of the show opened up a lot of problems in the Federation and coud lead to a lot of unrest and over political correctness. It could also lead to the fall of the holodeck as the chief entertainment device.

[Mikey]

Excellent point. I think for each hologram which had attained sentience, there was a definite point at which one could say that it happened. In other words, segregating the simple holograms from the actual, sentient holographic people wouldn't be as difficult as it might sound.

[Teaos]

These questions are impossible to answer really.

When you look at all we saw and know about the Doctor he really does seem to be an independant intelligent life form. Sure someone created him but mour perents created us.

But as you said where do you draw the line?

As for Data they may consider his case rather different as he is closer to human. He is limited physically like we are although his limits are higher. And importantly he can die were as the doctor really cant so long as there is a back up somewhere.

[Monroe]

Excellent point. I think for each hologram which had attained sentience, there was a definite point at which one could say that it happened. In other words, segregating the simple holograms from the actual, sentient holographic people wouldn't be as difficult as it might sound.

But don't some people think that a cluster of cells in a uteris counts as a human being?
Would a non-advanced holographic life form have the same rights as an unborn child?

[Teaos]

There are many "tests" to use to find out if something is sentient but no one agrees on which ones to use. And you could probably program a hologram to pass them with out making them truely sentient.

[Enkidu]

This is where the superiority of TNG really shows. They explored Data, and the ethics of his position as an artificial sentient being quite thoroughly. Voyager (Though I enjoyed it and the character of the Doctor) seemed to paint itself into a corner by creating an ever more powerful Doctor, without much thought about what would happen when they got back.
I'm not making my point very well, but I'm feeling at least half asleep, and the brain not good working......

[mwhittington]

.[/quote]But don't some people think that a cluster of cells in a uteris counts as a human being?
Would a non-advanced holographic life form have the same rights as an unborn child?[/quote]
We know from experience that an unborn child will eventually become sentient. However, there is no way of knowing whether or not a basic hologram will evolve into a sentient lifeform, unless it has been programmed with that ability. The doctor had the ability to learn new surgical and medical techniques, in essence expanding and improving his programming. But if you remember the episode in Voyager where the renegade holograms made by the Hirogen tried to liberate other holograms, the first ones they liberated were extremely basic in their programming. They didn't even have the ability to understand they were "free" from their biological masters.

[Mikey]

But don't some people think that a cluster of cells in a uteris counts as a human being?
Would a non-advanced holographic life form have the same rights as an unborn child?

Excellent point. However, a zygote will become a sentient human unless acted on by an outside influence. A hologram will NOT become a sentient life form unless acted on by an outside influence - holodeck malfunction, usage beyond design parameters (as in the Doctor's case,) etc.

And I agree with Enkidu. The issue would have been treated much more intelligently, and probably poignantly, in TNG.

[Jordanis]

Excellent point. However, a zygote will become a sentient human unless acted on by an outside influence. A hologram will NOT become a sentient life form unless acted on by an outside influence - holodeck malfunction, usage beyond design parameters (as in the Doctor's case,) etc.

This is the key distinction.

[sunnyside]

For holodecks you could create "worry free" holograms by simply having the computer place limits on how much their programming can change. And sometimes this may be the case.

The trick with the Doctor is that he seems to have been given unlimited room to grow in order to adapt to whatever happens. It seems they had some idea this could lead to sentience and is probably why they don't use them routinely despite the fact they're probably better than most human doctors.

[Sionnach Glic]

Whoo! Sunnyside's back!

[Monroe]

For holodecks you could create "worry free" holograms by simply having the computer place limits on how much their programming can change. And sometimes this may be the case.

The trick with the Doctor is that he seems to have been given unlimited room to grow in order to adapt to whatever happens. It seems they had some idea this could lead to sentience and is probably why they don't use them routinely despite the fact they're probably better than most human doctors.

The argument against that is every time Voy's doc meets other EMH's they seem just as advanced but uneducated and with a lack of experience. He tells them about his sexual explorations and they talk about wanting to see the holoplay he made. It seems that the EMH was sentient from the beginning, not from the result of learning past his programing.

[sunnyside]

True. Part of the problem is that even the most basic hologram can pass a touring test, even if it posses no self awareness. And again the Doctors seem to be a system that is known to be very close to achieving a form of sentience.

Also in theory you could get around the issue for individual holograms a little by having them run by the computer. (I.e. it's a separate AI working the puppet strings). And that may be how many or all holodeck AI's work.

[Mikey]

THIS is why it's nice to have you back.

So, to expand on your theory, it would be possible to limit the extent to which a hologram could acheive sentience by placing a constraint on the computer's rein?

[Captain Picard's Hair]

The "problem" of a hologram's human appearance for the purposes of a Turing test can be resolved by conducting the test in such a way that each side cannot see the other. The question of sentience would be based on the responses of the hologram (program). The question of whether a particular hologram is capable of sentience comes down to a matter of hardware/programming, somewhat simplifying the question of whether a particular hologram is or is not sentient.

There are additional constraints on a hologram if the mobile emitter technology cannot be duplicated (or, at least, until the time that it can be) in that it would have limited mobility. The Doctor also seems to have less direct control over his programming than Data, and can more easily be reprogrammed. The analogy is to creating a life destined to live in a prison