Holodeck
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In the Star Trek fictional universe, the holodeck is a simulated reality facility, generally on starships and starbases.
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[edit] Overview
Otherwise known as a holographic environment simulator, the holodeck is an enclosed room in which objects and people are simulated by a combination of replicated matter animated with weak tractor beams as well as shaped force fields onto which holographic images are projected. Sounds and smells are simulated by speakers and fragranced fluid atomizers. The feel of a large environment is simulated by having the participants suspended on force fields which move with their feet, keeping them in one place (a virtual treadmill); perspective is retained through use of sound damping fields and graviton lenses which make objects, people and sound appear more distant. The effect is ultra-realistic simulation of environments, with which the user can interact.
Most holodeck programs run in first person 'subjective mode', in which the user actively interacts with the program and its characters. The user may also employ third-person 'objective mode', in which he or she is 'apart' from the actual running of the program and does not interact with it (all of the program's characters will ignore the user as if they were not there). The user may then take more time to observe the trappings of the program, and even have conversations with other users, without interrupting the flow of the program itself.
Matter created on the holodeck requires the holoemitters to remain stable and will quickly disintegrate if it is removed from the holodeck - unless working with a mobile emitter.
According to the Starfleet Survival Manual, holomatter can be disrupted using an inverse photonic pulse from a phaser – which destroys the holomatter while leaving real matter unharmed. In theory, this could be used to escape a malfunctioning holodeck by repeatedly firing until the door is revealed. However, this never happened in any Star Trek episode.
User controls for a holodeck are typically located near its door (inside and out); an arch surrounds the exit and can be summoned by a user to start, modify, or stop a simulation. The holodeck includes safeguards known as safety protocols that attempt to protect the safety of the user or users. While it does not entirely shield users from minor injury (such as strained muscles or dislocated joints), it does prevent more serious injuries and fatalities. The protocols were designed so that users could derive maximum use from the holodeck with a high degree of realism and perceived jeopardy. The safety protocols are similar to the first of the Three Laws of Robotics by Isaac Asimov, "A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm."
[edit] Personnel usage and malfunctions
Two of the main purposes of the holodeck are recreation and training. They are also sometimes used to recreate a crime or questionable incident to determine the forensics and logistics of it for law enforcement purposes. However, the technology is also used for morally questionable ends, as the holosuites owned and rented out, often for sexual purposes, by Quark on Deep Space Nine.
Holodecks are vulnerable when damage occurs to the computer controlling the holodeck. Malfunctions have at times resulted in the safety protocols being inadvertently disabled. Some malfunctions have also been known to trap users inside the holodeck. This happened in the first episode featuring a holodeck (The Practical Joker (TAS episode), non-canon, where it was called a recreation room.) This also resulted in the shooting of the ship's historian on board Enterprise in one instance, and several crew members were trapped. In another incident Lt. Worf, his son Alexander Rozhenko, and Counselor Troi were trapped in an 19th century American West adventure with the safety protocols disabled when a computer experiment involving Lt. Cmdr. Data went awry. Worf received a minor gunshot wound when the computer began remaking all the characters as replicas of Data. However he was able to safely play out the story, and once the story ended the trio was able to leave the holodeck. (A Fistful of Datas). The safety protocols can also be disabled in an emergency, In the Holodeck Club scene in Star Trek: First Contact, as the Borg are approaching, Jean Luc Picard disables the security protocols and grabs a tommy gun from a nearby Violin case, shooting, and presumably killing them.
Writing stories and plotlines for the holodeck is an activity pursued by people known as holodeck novelists, and it was the chosen profession of Lt. Tom Paris of the USS Voyager which he pursued when the ship finally returned from the Delta Quadrant in the show's finale.
Despite malfunctions, holodecks are a highly valued technology in Starfleet because of educational and recreational impact, enabling users to partake in scenarios that would otherwise be difficult to enact under normal circumstances.
[edit] Possible Origins
Though Star Trek: The Next Generation was the first television show to prominently feature a reality simulation room, over a decade before TNG premiered, the science fiction Anime space opera Space Battleship Yamato featured a "holographic simulation room" included aboard the Yamato itself. This room used data tapes to simulate specific environments in which the crew could spend their free time.
[edit] Holosuites
Holosuite is another term for a holodecks that is mainly used to describe Quark's pay-to-use holodecks.
[edit] Conceptual Flaws
Several issues have been raised with the realism of Holodeck portrayals in the Star Trek continuity.
One criticism is that characters on Star Trek: The Next Generation are frequently depicted walking into a completely unoccupied holodeck, despite living on a ship with many hundreds of other people, who would presumably be clamoring for such interactive entertainment on long range, deep-space missions. The more likely situation would be one of advance booking for privileges and waiting lists weeks or months long; this sort of holodeck "supply and demand" was illustrated periodically on Star Trek: Voyager.
Another recurring nitpick is the issue of "how physically real" holodeck simulations are. Objects and events are depicted as fully realistic, but frequent reference to the "holodeck safety protocols" indicated that threats might appear authentic but wouldn't harm a user unless command override of the "safeties" were effected. This was superbly demonstrated when Captain Picard used the Dixon Hill holodeck program to effectively kill two pursuing Borg drones[1]. Contradicting this, there were recurring references of characters emerging from exciting holodeck excursions which resulted in minor injuries such as bruises and sprained muscles. Surely ships' crewmen were not all privileged with the ability to disabled the safety protocols on a whim, so how could a holodeck program "know" how much force was "too much?"
There are also moral issues which are poorly addressed in Holodeck plotlines. In several Voyager episodes, simulated beings appear to take on a level of intelligence and self awareness which is at least comparable to the ship's "EMH" Doctor; however, crew members feel no compunction about meddling with or deleting their personalities when they become inconvenient. This behaviour is incongruous in a society which extends principles of understanding and tolerance to even the most apparently malign creatures, such as "The Crystalline Entity."
[edit] See also
- Artificial reality
- Mixed reality
- Augmented reality
- CAVE - Cave Automatic Virtual Environment
- Methods of virtual reality
- Narrative environment
- Simulated Reality
- Virtual retinal display
- Volumetric display
- Omnidirectional treadmill
- Haptic
