Author Topic: Holodecks about to be one step closer to reality?  (Read 5016 times)

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Offline Katsuro

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Holodecks about to be one step closer to reality?
« on: May 19, 2014, 05:45:20 pm »
So, some UK physicist reckons existing tech could be used to convert light into matter:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-27470034


Which is basically (in a massivley over simplified way) how the holodecks in Star Trek work.  Obviously I'm not expecting Trek level holodecks to be a common device within my own lifetime, but the chance that the technology might soon be a tiny bit closer to being possible is still kind of cool.  Certainly the possibility of converting light into matter at all is pretty fucking awesome.

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Offline Ultimate Paragon

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Re: Holodecks about to be one step closer to reality?
« Reply #1 on: May 19, 2014, 05:48:55 pm »
This would raise a lot of ethical dilemmas.

Offline Witchyjoshy

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Re: Holodecks about to be one step closer to reality?
« Reply #2 on: May 19, 2014, 05:50:19 pm »
This would raise a lot of ethical dilemmas.

How so?
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Offline Ultimate Paragon

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Re: Holodecks about to be one step closer to reality?
« Reply #3 on: May 19, 2014, 05:58:44 pm »
This would raise a lot of ethical dilemmas.

How so?
Like, does a person with true AI created by a holodeck have human rights?

Offline Katsuro

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Re: Holodecks about to be one step closer to reality?
« Reply #4 on: May 19, 2014, 06:00:48 pm »
This would raise a lot of ethical dilemmas.

How so?

If we're talking about holodecks then the only thing that I can think of is making holograms of real, still living people to sleep with and act out any and all sordid fantasies with, coz lets be honest the first thing people are goign to do with such technology is bone it.  But I'm not sure how it's really all that much worse than, say, making a sex doll of a real, still living person (which does happen) albeit perhaps a few times more creepy (assuming it's like a Trek hologram).

If we're talking about just about the act of converting light into matter in generally than I'm not really sure.
« Last Edit: May 19, 2014, 06:17:28 pm by Katsuro »

Offline Katsuro

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Re: Holodecks about to be one step closer to reality?
« Reply #5 on: May 19, 2014, 06:01:45 pm »
This would raise a lot of ethical dilemmas.

How so?
Like, does a person with true AI created by a holodeck have human rights?

Well that's an issue with advanced AI in general, it doesn't pertain specifically or exclusivley to light-to-matter "holograms".

Plus I think that issue is still quite a long way away from being a problem yet, even with the advances being made in AI.  For now I don't see any ethical implciations of converting light into matter in of itself.
« Last Edit: May 19, 2014, 06:06:38 pm by Katsuro »

Offline Old Viking

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Re: Holodecks about to be one step closer to reality?
« Reply #6 on: May 19, 2014, 06:11:43 pm »
Why do we need more matter?   
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Offline Katsuro

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Re: Holodecks about to be one step closer to reality?
« Reply #7 on: May 19, 2014, 06:22:39 pm »
Why do we need more matter?

Are you that kid in school who doesn't consider knowledge and discovery to be reasons enough on their own and constantly moans, "Why do we need to know this?!" lol?

Anyway, I don't think the motivations behind this are because anyone thinks we need more matter.  I mean for one thing creating matter from light could potentially be just the beging.  If we were ever able to choose what form that matter took that would open up a world of possibilities; it'd make 3d printing look like shit.  Although there is that whole issue of it potentially destroying the traditional economic model forever.  But again, I don't think that's a likely scenario for very, very long time if ever.  Even without that it could further our understanding of energy and matter themselves in more general terms - and imo gaining a greater understanding of the universe and the very fabrics of reality, even without much practical application, is more than enough.
« Last Edit: May 19, 2014, 06:26:42 pm by Katsuro »

Offline Cerim Treascair

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Re: Holodecks about to be one step closer to reality?
« Reply #8 on: May 19, 2014, 06:24:12 pm »
This would raise a lot of ethical dilemmas.

How so?
Like, does a person with true AI created by a holodeck have human rights?

They covered this on Voyager, for the record.  And before that with Data and the rights of androids on Next Gen.
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Re: Holodecks about to be one step closer to reality?
« Reply #9 on: May 19, 2014, 07:07:13 pm »
This would raise a lot of ethical dilemmas.

How so?
Like, does a person with true AI created by a holodeck have human rights?

They covered this on Voyager, for the record.  And before that with Data and the rights of androids on Next Gen.

They also touched on the rights of holographic AI in Next Gen, when Geordi accidentally created a "real" Moriarty with a poorly-phrased request. They were acting out Sherlock Holmes and he asked for the computer to create a nemesis capable of outthinking Data.
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Offline Cerim Treascair

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Re: Holodecks about to be one step closer to reality?
« Reply #10 on: May 19, 2014, 07:48:23 pm »
This would raise a lot of ethical dilemmas.

How so?
Like, does a person with true AI created by a holodeck have human rights?

They covered this on Voyager, for the record.  And before that with Data and the rights of androids on Next Gen.

They also touched on the rights of holographic AI in Next Gen, when Geordi accidentally created a "real" Moriarty with a poorly-phrased request. They were acting out Sherlock Holmes and he asked for the computer to create a nemesis capable of outthinking Data.

Oh yeah... that was a good episode too.
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Offline R. U. Sirius

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Re: Holodecks about to be one step closer to reality?
« Reply #11 on: May 19, 2014, 08:50:23 pm »
This would raise a lot of ethical dilemmas.

How so?
Like, does a person with true AI created by a holodeck have human rights?

They covered this on Voyager, for the record.  And before that with Data and the rights of androids on Next Gen.

They also touched on the rights of holographic AI in Next Gen, when Geordi accidentally created a "real" Moriarty with a poorly-phrased request. They were acting out Sherlock Holmes and he asked for the computer to create a nemesis capable of outthinking Data.

Oh yeah... that was a good episode too.

They brought Moriarty back in the sixth or seventh season, where he claimed that he had brief periods of consciousness even while his program was deactivated and he was angry at Picard for not fulfilling his promise to help Moriarty become real. They eventually have to trick Moriarty and his lover (who Moriarty endowed with consciousness the same way Geordi created him) into believing they've been transported into the real world by downloading them into a separate computer system and hooking it up to a power source separate from the ship. When Barclay, a recurring character, says the system has enough power to give them a lifetime of experiences, Picard gives a wink to Star Trek's nature by commenting that, for all they know, reality as they know it is just another simulation playing out in a box on someone's desk.
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Offline RavynousHunter

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Re: Holodecks about to be one step closer to reality?
« Reply #12 on: May 19, 2014, 09:27:59 pm »
Why do we need more matter?

Are you that kid in school who doesn't consider knowledge and discovery to be reasons enough on their own and constantly moans, "Why do we need to know this?!" lol?

Dude, Kats, its Old Viking.  He's the God-Emperor of Taking the Piss...sorry, Art, but OV wins by seniority.

Also, it'd be hard enough doing this, let alone adding anything close to realistic artificial intelligence.  Of course, you know the first thing this is gonna be used for is to make Real Dolls that are a tad more...interactive, if you will.  Or, at least that's after we've worked out the early batch of potential military applications of this tech.  Of which there'd be many.
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Offline Sigmaleph

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Re: Holodecks about to be one step closer to reality?
« Reply #13 on: May 19, 2014, 10:56:01 pm »
Worth taking into account: the amount of energy you need for even tiny amounts of matter is gigantic. E=mc^2, and c is a very big number.

For reference, the entire world energy consumption for 2008 was 474 exajoules( 474,000,000,000,000,000,000 Joules). If you turned all that energy into matter, you'd have 5274 kg, which Wolfram Alpha kindly reminds me is about one elephant or three small cars. Creating a single person would take a significant fraction of the US yearly energy production.

As an aside, I can't imagine how holodeck AI would be any more of an ethical dilemma than AI by itself, which is kind of independent of being able to make matter from energy.
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Offline Ironchew

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Re: Holodecks about to be one step closer to reality?
« Reply #14 on: May 19, 2014, 11:04:36 pm »
So, some UK physicist reckons existing tech could be used to convert light into matter:

Pair production is already possible with existing technology such as particle colliders and accelerators. However, like Sigma said, the energy requirements are enormous and unavoidable.
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