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Subj:  Answers
Date:  4/18/97 8:41:44 PM
From:  RonDMoore       

Okay, I'm cheating here.  I usually don't jump to the end of the postings and
answer those questions before the older ones, but....

<<Do you actually believe there's nothing morally or ethically wrong with
this person creating a holodeck version of you and doing whatever s/he WANTS
with it?  Don't you have a say if this person is allowed to have or even
THINK s/he has a relationship with you?>>

Yes, I do think there's nothing morally or ethically wrong with this
scenario.  A copy of me is still just a copy regardless of how perfect that
copy may be.  Someone's interaction with a Holo-me does not actually harm me
in any way shape or form.  So they're in there kissing Holo-me or kicking
Holo-me in the teeth?  How am I harmed if those actions are confined to the
holodeck?  Do I mind if they *think* they're having a relationship with me
when all they're doing is making out with a Holo-me?  Not if they leave the
real me alone and stay in their holodeck.  Am I harmed if they write
fictional stories about kissing or kicking me? Only if those stories are
published, in which case I have been threatened publicly or slandered and can
then take action.  But writing these things on your own, in the privacy of
your home is something that should fall under the strictest protection of a
free society, and provided you keep your Holodeck fantasies *on the Holodeck*
they should be protected as well.

There's more of an issue in my mind regarding how this copy was obtained in
the first place.  If this copy of my image was being bought and sold without
my consent then I'd have a problem with that -- but again, that's a different
issue and would deal with things like copyright law or what constitutes a
"public figure" in the 24th century.  

What someone actually *does* with a legally obtained image is, in my view,
completely up to them.  I would think that the holodeck/suite is a complete
freedom of expression zone and you should be allowed to kill your friends,
have sex with nuns, marry your dog, or put a dress on Jesse Helms in there if
that's your cup of tea.  You can argue whether doing any of this is *healthy*
behavior for the individual and what it says about you as a person, but I
don't think a person has the right to control how someone else *uses* a
lawfully obtained picture/image/simulation.
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