Yes, Voyager’s writers take this position, but I think it’s nonsense.

Holograms are programs that run on a computer. They have no physical form, they are force fields and light being projected from a piece of hardware bolted to the wall to convince you they have form, but their true “self” is just data in a computer like any other program. Their experiences are database entries. They can be deleted, copied, transmitted, paused and restarted like any other program. They are incapable of doing anything that the computer they’re running on can’t do.

Like the EMH miners that pass along Photons Be Free - total bullshit. Why simulate that much intelligence when you’ve already installed devices all over that are capable of scanning and mining ore without physical form or the capacity for misery? Just let the computer do the work.

Or the Hirogen holograms. They’re simulating pain, and it’s fucked up the Hirogen want it that way, but does that make it unethical to hunt them? After all, when you hurt them, you’re just updating a data structure in a computer that calculated the trajectory of your phaser fire, determined it was a hit and decided to relay that information back to you as simulated damage and pain. It could just as easily make the holograms impervious to all damage.

The Doctor can be special to the crew and they can want to keep him intact and running without pretending he’s more than a simulation - he’s designed to create rapport and they’ve bonded with him. But holograms in general? You might as well be concerned about being nice to a replicator or a navigation array, or an NPC in a videogame.

My God… Is the fact that boomers think '60s weed was mind altering proof of time incursions from the dank future???

Either interpretation could be correct, but it needs to be consistent.

To me, the holograms aren’t people. People can’t be reset, copied, or restored from backup. Holograms have no body to damage and no nerves to register that damage. The computer is recognizing that a humanoid would be damaged by whatever action and making its avatar express that in a way intended to be understood by other humanoids. That’s all.

This is different from say, Data, because even though he can be manipulated and is inhuman in some of the same ways he is independent from any other computers and, importantly, his processing of pain is a real condition. He can be harmed, and even though he may say “Ouch!” to mimic humans, the real pain is his physical response to that damage, the reality that he may be less capable than before, and the need he has for repair.

I like the Doctor, I would treat him with respect, but if it was between him and a biological in a life or death situation, I’d choose the biological every time. I can always spin up another EMH mk. I from disk.

I actually just watched those episodes. Don’t think it’s her worst decision. The Hirogen had already taken Voyager and had everyone at their mercy, Janeway had to make a deal or die.

However, I will also say I think Voyager kinda flubbed the whole holograms-are-real-people-too idea. Holograms are just visual representations of what the computer is doing with force fields. When the holograms feel pain, it’s simulated - they have no nervous system and they have not actually been harmed. The more sophisticated the AI the more realistic their reflection of “pain” but it’s not real. OR it is real, and everything you do with a holodeck character is unethical.

I’m a little late to the party, but this episode is everything I wanted from modern Trek.

I’m loving that the cadets are competitive but ultimately supportive of each other. I love that we spent an entire episode focused on Jay’den’s backstory and the Klingons, without any tedious martial arts or (real) space battles but the stakes were still plenty high. I found the resolution, and the message (not letting go of the past, but letting the present in) to be excellent Trek.

Caleb is also proving to be a bit more of an academy-era-Picard style character (great at a lot of stuff, but arrogant) rather than the sort of troubled genius vibe in the first bit of the show. I am looking forward to seeing him, and the other cadets, developed further.

Holly Hunter is doing great, bringing her own style. Loved she had a history with the Klingon guy and advocated for her student. I get why she’s rubbing some the wrong way, but she is masterfully handling the people around her, leading with empathy, and has been very effective.

Also love we got some classic Klingon music from the movies, it was a nice nod.

Overall, I think this show is finally taking real advantage of the far future timeline. It is a little silly that major diplomacy is being effected at the Academy but because the Federation is still finding its feet again and the fact that the world has been mixed up from 90s Trek, it makes the Academy a much more interesting lens on the world than it would have been if it was set in the TNG-VOY timeframe.

Academy has been good so far, way lower stakes, but you have to get past the first ten minutes of episode one. It sets up the main plot, but it’s way more… Discovery style bad shit happening and baseless action, than the rest of the show. IMO they should have filled it in as backstory later in the ep, after they’d established more of a tone, but otherwise it gets good quick.

I’m with you for the moment. I may get deeper into the episode at some point but I put it on hoping for some Trek optimism and it instantly shat on me. I get enough miscarriages of justice and jackboots beating people up in the real world, thanks.

I have done literally nothing with my printer except print parts and benchies so they’re all just PLA black. Wish I could help!

Haha, I might have to dust off my Ender for this.

Just used this as an excuse to setup a monthly donation. I love this little instance…

It did say I would get Jamaharon included though? I assume my Horgon is in the mail?

I have a wife stuck in the Adobe-verse and yeah, going back that far should work great. It didn’t become a huge hassle until they started being insane with the licensing.

Star Trek is just a setting at this point. Lower Decks proved you can do funny and respectful of the fans at the same time. I agree some of SNW’s campiness is a bit over the top, but I’d rather a show spend time trying to do something different like a musical than be totally reliant on drama/action like Discovery (a show that was actually good on the rare occasion the cast could take a break from universe ending peril).

I have this setup with Plasma, and it is probably easier to do this at the Linux level. I added this to my kernel command line: drm.edid_firmware=DP-1:edid/lg-ultra.bin video=DP-1:3840x2160@60e

Where that EDID file I dumped from a spare monitor using a method I got here.

Anyway, it can be tricky to pick the right device, but I can confirm Sunshine sees it and works properly, and it can be managed like a normal monitor.

I have been a user since around 2000, I work in Linux every day, and I get where you’re coming from - but in the context of gaming Linux has really only recently come into its own.

Like, could you imagine, circa 2010, telling a naive user that practically their whole Steam library would work with one click? Wine has always been a minor miracle, but at some point there was an inversion between being surprised when it worked, and being surprised that it didn’t work…

I burned a Blu-ray a few years back just to supplement some of our encrypted Google Drive backups with copies that would be more accessible in case of my demise, or physically grabbable in case of disaster. I know they won’t last forever, but if Drive shut down on the same day my local copies failed at least I have an option.

Otherwise, I haven’t used physical media in years. I got the 4K LOTR set when it came out and tried to use it, but it ended up being easier to just pirate the rips like anything else.

To be clear, I just mean release as in B42 becoming available as default. Their long term plans are great though, I look forward to playing them in 2030 haha.

I haven’t played multiplayer, but Build 42 is really shaping up. Game is getting more survival-y in that you can make a lot more stuff from components (ore, clay etc.) and there is real wildlife/ livestock to make more food craftable from renewable post-apocalyptic sources. The lighting has been overhauled, some older areas have been revamped to be more realistic, buildings can be much taller. They even added a bit of randomness to the map with random basements. I’m really hopeful this patch gets guns right too, they’ve improved previously but still take way too long to become viable IMO.

They must be pretty close to official release, it’s really getting there.

Eh, I dunno. The opening seasons are usually weak (TOS is an exception) but looking at Encounter at Farpoint/Emissary/Caretaker and even Broken Bow they all do a pretty good job introducing the show even if the cast hasn’t found its feet yet.

Honestly, Vulcan Hello / Battle of the Binary Stars is spot on for how the rest of Discovery behaves. Pay lip service to science and exploration and, at the first opportunity, trash that and turn into an action drama.

Yeah, I got started in silicon thinking cheaper, faster, more power efficient chips would be a net benefit to the world… Then we became a social media surveillance state and AI dogshit is just the icing on the cake.

Now I drink to forget we’re boiling the oceans to ruin society. One day this capitalist hellscape will end.

So traditional it’s like a Norman Rockwell painting.