# Non-sexual uses for the holodeck **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 10, 2005, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-sexual-uses-for-the-holodeck/330325 "2005-11-10T02:20:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-sexual-uses-for-the-holodeck/330325/21 "2005-11-10T17:24:16Z")
You know what would be really cool? An Internet sort of thing. Follow me if you can. We already play p2p games such as Warcraft, etc. Wouldn’t it be realy cool if I could play a game like SoulCaliber with my friend who lives across the country, but we could actually be sitting in the “same” room and playing together. We wouldn’t be physically there, but we could interact, and talk, and chat, just like IRL. Simple things that you miss out on IRL! And then we could do it around the world. I don’t have to be separated from my Indian cousins. If we could both somehow get into our own holodecks, and then the two holodecks could be overlapped somehow, it would be like we were right next to each other. ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-sexual-uses-for-the-holodeck/330325/22 "2005-11-10T18:00:09Z")
Sports and fitness training. You can have a holo version of the best instructor in the Galaxy, or, heck, with good programming, in _history,_ give you one-on-one instruction, in the perfect setting, with all the best equipment. Study yoga with B. K. S. Iyengar on a beautiful white-sand beach with soothing waves in the background, without the bother of insects, gusts of wind, or other distractions. Get tips on your fadeaway jumper from Michael Jordan. When you’re in the zone, you can stay in the zone, because you have an infinite supply of basketballs, each appearing in your hand when you’re ready for the next shot, then disappearing after they hit the floor. All those fancy computer diagnostics the professional athletes train with to perfect their form? All built right in. Go running, biking, skating, etc. on any trail you like, with perfect weather every day. Want some exercise companions to encourage you or challenge you? You don’t have to work around anybody else’s schedule. And sports don’t have to be restricted to what’s physically possible. Want to play a match of Quiddich? Fly by strapping a pair of bird’s wings onto your arms? Go dolphin-riding instead of horseback riding? Go for it. Ooooh . . . I just thought of a perfectly mundane but absolutely fabulous one: swim laps. Alone. Without any other idiots in the pool. In unchlorinated water. Whatever temperature you prefer. Oooooh . . . such luxury!!! ---
**Author:** ![QuizCustodet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ba0ec/32.png) [@QuizCustodet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuizCustodet)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-sexual-uses-for-the-holodeck/330325/23 "2005-11-10T18:02:21Z")
> [@Chef Troy](#): > > You mean Eccentrica Gallumbits, right? After a quick Google search: apparently so. Good catch., thanks. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Corrado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a88e4f/32.png) [@John\_Corrado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Corrado)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-sexual-uses-for-the-holodeck/330325/24 "2005-11-10T18:19:04Z")
Ooh. We could interact with famous people from history and see how they really lived and acted, possibly in the hopes of learning from their wisdom. Like if our ship were in a crisis, we could simulate a much earlier ship and see how a better captain dealt with a similar crisis! (runs) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-sexual-uses-for-the-holodeck/330325/25 "2005-11-10T18:22:52Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > You know what would be really cool? An Internet sort of thing. Follow me if you can. > > We already play p2p games such as Warcraft, etc. Wouldn’t it be realy cool if I could play a game like SoulCaliber with my friend who lives across the country, but we could actually be sitting in the “same” room and playing together. We wouldn’t be physically there, but we could interact, and talk, and chat, just like IRL. > > Simple things that you miss out on IRL! And then we could do it around the world. I don’t have to be separated from my Indian cousins. If we could both somehow get into our own holodecks, and then the two holodecks could be overlapped somehow, it would be like we were right next to each other. See _Snow Crash_ by Neal Stephenson ([http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0553380958/103-6049342-6083062?v=glance&n=283155&n=507846&s=books&v=glance](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0553380958/103-6049342-6083062?v=glance&n=283155&n=507846&s=books&v=glance)). ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-sexual-uses-for-the-holodeck/330325/26 "2005-11-10T18:27:32Z")
> [@Askia](#): > > Alternate history scenarios. > > Program very detailed histories of major societal events into holodeck simulators, then go back and tweak a major/little detail, and watch new histories unfold from the perspective of an interested participant: Lincoln survives Wilkes Booth assassination attempt and re-elected to oversee Reconstruction; Goering succeeds Hitler and his senior staff at Rastenberg in 1944 after they are found dead by poison; a revived Khan Noonian Singh hijacks The Enterprise and forms an Augment Empire, etc. But, that assumes the computer running the holodeck is better than a human historian or SF writer at calculating and extrapolating the probable effects of a point-of-divergence. Then again, if it weren’t actually better, how would you know? I guess it depends on whether you’re primarily interested in the holosim as a recreational or intellectual tool. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-sexual-uses-for-the-holodeck/330325/27 "2005-11-10T19:13:01Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > See _Snow Crash_ by Neal Stephenson ([http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0553380958/103-6049342-6083062?v=glance&n=283155&n=507846&s=books&v=glance](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0553380958/103-6049342-6083062?v=glance&n=283155&n=507846&s=books&v=glance)). Oh, darn! And here I though I was going to make a million. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-sexual-uses-for-the-holodeck/330325/28 "2005-11-10T21:09:19Z")
In the current climate, I’m surprised nobody has yet mentioned the holodeck’s obvious potential in the fields of interrogation and torture. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-sexual-uses-for-the-holodeck/330325/29 "2005-11-10T21:20:16Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Huge banquets of calorie-free holofood! That’s gonna hurt an **awful** lot when you step out of the holodeck and the food suddenly disappears from your digestive tract… ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-sexual-uses-for-the-holodeck/330325/30 "2005-11-10T21:23:54Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > In the current climate, I’m surprised nobody has yet mentioned the holodeck’s obvious potential in the fields of interrogation and torture. They already used the holodeck (or at least the alien equivalent of a holodeck) for that purpose in _ST:TNG_. c.f the first half of the 4th-season episode “Future Imperfect.”. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-sexual-uses-for-the-holodeck/330325/31 "2005-11-10T22:03:00Z")
> [@tracer](#): > > That’s gonna hurt an **awful** lot when you step out of the holodeck and the food suddenly disappears from your digestive tract… 😕 “Step out of the holodeck?” ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-sexual-uses-for-the-holodeck/330325/32 "2005-11-10T22:17:05Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > 😕 “Step out of the holodeck?” That’s some kinda crazy talk. ---
**Author:** ![Orual](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/779978/32.png) [@Orual](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orual)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-sexual-uses-for-the-holodeck/330325/33 "2005-11-10T22:19:34Z")
I third the D&D. With Bashir and O’Brien. ---
**Author:** ![YellowTail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/b5ac83/32.png) [@YellowTail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YellowTail)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-sexual-uses-for-the-holodeck/330325/34 "2005-11-10T23:26:11Z")
Lunch at the Algonquin round table! ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-sexual-uses-for-the-holodeck/330325/35 "2005-11-10T23:50:37Z")
> [@](#): > > Some have imagined that, if the holodeck were real, most people would spend every waking minute screwing celebrities. > > Probably so, but what other uses can you think of? Right you are, dear Watson! I would be the world’s greatest detective, Sherlock Holmes, reenacting the classic scene from _Sign of the Four_ in which he nails Angelina Joile! The game is afoot! No, wait…wow, that went in a totally different direction than I intended. ---
**Author:** ![lizardling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@lizardling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizardling)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2005, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-sexual-uses-for-the-holodeck/330325/36 "2005-11-11T01:24:24Z")
Mmmm. RPGs! I could be the world’s best Mary Sue! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2005, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-sexual-uses-for-the-holodeck/330325/37 "2005-11-11T01:34:44Z")
Live cartoons. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2005, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-sexual-uses-for-the-holodeck/330325/38 "2005-11-11T02:04:24Z")
Simulations of all the greatest cities in the Federation… at 1/100 scale. \*\*\*RRRRAAAAUUUUGGGGHHH!!! \*\* \* (TINY HOLOGRAPHIC VOICES: “Oh no! Our phasers are useless! The beast is heading for the lithium-cracking station pylons!”) ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2005, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-sexual-uses-for-the-holodeck/330325/39 "2005-11-11T02:06:16Z")
I have lots of ideas. > [@Podkayne](#): > > Sports and fitness training. You can have a naked > [@](#): > > _holo version of the best instructor in the Galaxy_ or > [@Menocchio](#): > > Psychotherapeutic roleplay. Under naked > [@](#): > > _Troi’s watchful eye_ or > [@QuizCustodet](#): > > How can you know what it was like to command Napoleonic-era troops of naked chicks > [@](#): > > _without experiencing the chaos on the ground_ or > [@Askia](#): > > Goering succeeds Hitler and his naked > [@](#): > > _senior staff at Rastenberg_ Okay, that was probably too much. ---
**Author:** ![beergeek279](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ea924/32.png) [@beergeek279](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beergeek279)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2005, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-sexual-uses-for-the-holodeck/330325/40 "2005-11-11T02:42:27Z")
> [@Revenant Threshold](#): > > How about programming in your favourite book, and then watching the plot unfold as one of the characters? I think Picard beat you to it…err, will beat you to it, or you beat him to it…umm, something like that. 😃 Anyway, Picard did that with the Dixon Hill episodes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-sexual-uses-for-the-holodeck/330325.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-sexual-uses-for-the-holodeck/330325.md?page=3)