The Classification of Holograms
[Excerpt from: K’xae’Rinn enK’tal, “The Cake is a Lie. The Significance of Gastronomic Rituals in Groups of Nascently Sentient Emergency Holograms. A Case Study”, Cultures and Connection 3 (2396), pp. 25—47 ]
Ever since the ground-breaking 2369 paper by Barclay et al., describing emerging sentience in an artificially created photonic being, researchers in the fields of holo-programming, computer ethics, and cognitive sciences have struggled to define this new phenomenon. While a definitive taxonomy of holographic lifeforms is still outstanding, the field has tentatively settled on a three-tiered classification scheme which also served as a basis for the legislation surrounding the recent Ishigaki Accords on Holo-Sentience. The following classification has been adopted from Morioka et al.
* For a discussion of how this classification translates to the Zimmerman-Barclay scale, see Adislo 202-03.
Class 1: Simple Support Routines
This class contains holograms that function in the way of a graphic user interface. One prominent recent example is the implementation of a humanoid holographic index by the Starfleet Archives last year (Starfleet Archives 15). While programmes like this have a rudimentary personality structure that allows them to interact with users, they are strictly limited in their functionality. They cannot acquire new knowledge outside of very narrow parameters, and are incapable of improvisation or reacting in any way not laid out in their pre-programmed interaction-trees.
Class 2: Semi-Complex Holographic Characters
The second class encompasses programmes such as characters in a holo-novel or basic customer service holograms of the type one finds in the hospitality industry. Due to their assigned function, these holograms are given more complex personality structures and more intricate cognition than their class 1 cousins. Their ability to improvise is also increased, since they need to be able to react faithfully to a variety of unpredictable situations and interactions.
However, there are rigid restriction on the processing power and access to non-essential information granted to class 2 holograms. This limits their ability to understand the world outside their narrow operational parameters and to form true connections with sentient beings. Additionally, their capacity to retain new information and thus achieve cumulative learning is also strongly limited.** Without significant modifications, intentional or otherwise, the amount of computing power needed to achieve what would be considered “sentience” would catastrophically destabilize a class 2 hologram’s cognition.***
** The technical difference between inaccessibly archived memory (necessary in class 2) and continuous procedural engrams (a prominent feature of class 3) is discussed in detail in Krenna et al.
*** In the few cases where class 2 holograms have achieved sentience, this was preceded by a significant, uncharacteristic expansion of their computing power. For examples, see Barclay et al., Torres et al. The question of how this impacts their individual classification, and the permeability of class limits is discussed in L’Nel.
Class 3: Emergency Holograms
Unquestionably, Emergency Holograms represent the culmination and most highly evolved form of holographic programming to date. Unlike their simpler counterparts, these holograms require a vast array of knowledge and strong improvisational skills. Their personality structures are more complex, too, since there is no time for miscommunication or off-colour jokes in emergency situations and the EHs need to slot in seamlessly with the rest of the crew. Beyond their own, narrow area of operations, Emergency Holograms also have access to knowledge from any number of databases accessible through their host system. This becomes crucial if, say, an Emergency Medical Hologram were to find themselves in a triage situation without access to medical equipment or replicators. In such a case, they would need to be able to identify and utilize whatever they find around them, which might require insight into mechanical engineering, botany, tailoring (to identify suitable cloth to utilize for bandages, tourniquets, or stretchers), and much more. ****
While these peculiarities of Emergency Holograms provide the framework necessary for sentience to develop, its true basis is found in the continuous memory unique to these programmes. In order to adapt and improve their performance in emergency situations, EHs need to be able to build on previous experience and thus have sophisticated learning algorithms (Krenna et al. 81 f.). This is the main reason why, next to a limit on processing power, the legislation laid down in the Ishigaki Accords aims to limit how much continual memory Emergency Holograms are allowed to accrue (Ishigaki Accords on the Development and Regulation of Holographic Sentience, §45-53). Only holograms who have gone through the rigorous approval process are allowed the memory necessary to eventually achieve something that might be considered “sentience”.
**** The development of Emergency Medical Holograms under adverse conditions is the subject of a fascinating study by Nuño-Villaflor et al., dramatized in the excellent novel Tripping the Photon Fantastic by The Doctor, formerly of the USS Voyager.
Sources
Adislo, Vynn, ‘All on a Spectrum. Comparing Current Hologram Classification Systems.’, Insights into Advanced Artificial Intelligence, 134.2 (2391), 201–13
Barclay, Reginald, Geordi La Forge, Data, Minna Jokinen, and Jomo Than, ‘Emergence and Development of Sentience in Holodeck Characters. Technical and Ethical Quandaries’, Insights into Advanced Artificial Intelligence, 112.1 (2369), 86–113
Ishigaki Accords on the Development and Regulation of Holographic Sentience, 2389
Krenna, T’Via, One One Zero & Zero One One, and Agnes P. Jurati, ‘Impact over Time of Quantum Tunneling Gate Arrays in Engrammatic Matrices of Class 2 and 3 Holograms’, Journal of Quantumcomputational Principles, 35 (2391), 73–93
L’Nel, ‘Effects of Information Architectural Intervention on the Permeability of Class Delimiters in Holographic Sentience.’, The Daystrom Journal of Theoretical AI Studies, 3.2 (2388), 144–57
Morioka, Chizue, L’Nel, and Parvati Daughter of Kroll, ‘Taxonomic Sub-Classification of Artificially Created Photonic Lifeforms’, The Daystrom Journal of Theoretical AI Studies, 1 (2386), 67–98
Nuño-Villaflor, Selena, The Doctor, and B’elanna Torres, ‘Accelerated Development of (Self-)Consciousness in Emergency Medical Holograms under Extreme Conditions. A Case Study’, in From Single Photon to Radiant Brilliance. Festschrift in honor of Director Lewis Zimmerman, ed. by Tibess Prerin (Enzya, Trill; Jupiter Station, Sol V; San Francisco, Earth: Cairnan College Press, 2381), pp. 132–52
The Doctor, Tripping the Photon Fantastic, 3rd edn, now with two more musical numbers (Stardust City, Freecloud; Kihtora, Bolarus IX; Frankfurt, Earth: Broht & Forrester, 2382)
Torres, B’elanna, Thomas Eugene Paris, and Harry S. L. Kim, ‘Tracing the Origins of Self-Awareness in Holodeck Characters through Code Modifications. The Case of Fair Haven.’, Insights into Advanced Artificial Intelligence, 121.4 (2378), 176–200
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Please see the latest issue of Xenoanthropology Today for parts 1 and 2 of this paper:
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
https://archiveofourown.org/works/33135526/chapters/82284523
Part 3 will be published in due course.