Leckford (leckford) wrote,
Leckford
leckford

Measure of a holgram

One of my cable channels is showing Voyager’s last series—which I never bothered watching before. One ep is ‘Author, Author’, which turns on a pseudo-legal hearing as to whether the doctor is a person or not. They had a similar hearing 12 years years ago in ‘Measure of a Man’ but seem to have learned nothing. In fact it is outrageous that the Federation does not have any systematic test or criteria for personhood; their position that a talking meat creature is a person whereas a talking mechanical or electronic construct is not could be viewed as deeply bigoted.

The story closes with a scene of holograms digging away at a mine, literally with pickaxes and baskets to carry ore around in. Even pre-industrial miners had better equipment than this. Marooning the doctors there seem more like punishment than mere slavery.

It is also unfortunate that the writers of Trek seem determined to demonstrate that future culture is incredibly trashy.
Tags: star trek
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