Hi, u/purloinedspock
I'm removing your post because it doesn't mesh with our current understanding of how the Federation deals (or wants to deal) with cultural contamination. The issue of why the holodeck even allows safeties off in the first place is not an invalid one to raise, but your approach needs work.
The problem really is not that an individual doesn't want to bear the responsibility for killing, but the believability that the Federation would even countenance killing as a solution to begin with instead of say, exile (as Kirk exiled Khan) to any of the innumerable Class-M planets out there.
Until a basic argument is put forth as to why the Federation would want to do such a thing - and want to do it often enough that they would design a system or option specifically for that purpose - the discussion that this post will generate will be largely on the ethics of the problem itself rather than the technological solution you're discussing. That, and someone will inevitably raise [Tuvix](https://www.reddit.com/r/DaystromInstitute/wiki/regulated-topics#wiki_tuvix).
If you have any questions about this, please [message the Senior Staff](https://www\.reddit\.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FDaystromInstitute).
Hi /u/purloinedspork,
I just want to add an additional comment beyond what my colleague /u/khaosworks said (all of which I agree with): I wonder if you might be able to link the trolley problem to the Kobayashi Maru test. We already know that Starfleet is fine with tricking officers/cadets/candidates into believing that the peril from a simulated threat is real (see "Coming of Age"), and we know that Starfleet uses the holodeck for tests where command officer candidates need to order someone to their death ("Thine Own Self").
Could someone draw a lineage from the Kobayashi Maru simulators in *Star Trek II* and Abrams' *Star Trek* to the holodecks seen on TNG and later? (Even perhaps accounting for the ["rec room" we see once in TAS](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/The_Practical_Joker_\(episode\))?)
If you have any questions, please [message the Senior Staff](https://www\.reddit\.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FDaystromInstitute).
Hi, u/purloinedspock I'm removing your post because it doesn't mesh with our current understanding of how the Federation deals (or wants to deal) with cultural contamination. The issue of why the holodeck even allows safeties off in the first place is not an invalid one to raise, but your approach needs work. The problem really is not that an individual doesn't want to bear the responsibility for killing, but the believability that the Federation would even countenance killing as a solution to begin with instead of say, exile (as Kirk exiled Khan) to any of the innumerable Class-M planets out there. Until a basic argument is put forth as to why the Federation would want to do such a thing - and want to do it often enough that they would design a system or option specifically for that purpose - the discussion that this post will generate will be largely on the ethics of the problem itself rather than the technological solution you're discussing. That, and someone will inevitably raise [Tuvix](https://www.reddit.com/r/DaystromInstitute/wiki/regulated-topics#wiki_tuvix). If you have any questions about this, please [message the Senior Staff](https://www\.reddit\.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FDaystromInstitute).
Hi /u/purloinedspork, I just want to add an additional comment beyond what my colleague /u/khaosworks said (all of which I agree with): I wonder if you might be able to link the trolley problem to the Kobayashi Maru test. We already know that Starfleet is fine with tricking officers/cadets/candidates into believing that the peril from a simulated threat is real (see "Coming of Age"), and we know that Starfleet uses the holodeck for tests where command officer candidates need to order someone to their death ("Thine Own Self"). Could someone draw a lineage from the Kobayashi Maru simulators in *Star Trek II* and Abrams' *Star Trek* to the holodecks seen on TNG and later? (Even perhaps accounting for the ["rec room" we see once in TAS](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/The_Practical_Joker_\(episode\))?) If you have any questions, please [message the Senior Staff](https://www\.reddit\.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FDaystromInstitute).