The following dialogue below took place on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, on episode 16, season 2, titled “Shadowplay.” It was between Odo (a Changeling and Chief of Security of DS9), Jadzia Dax (a Trill and Chief Science Officer of DS9), and Rurigan (a Yaderan villager) of which they discuss the philosophical understanding of self-awareness and its application to that of a holographic colony whom don’t even realize they’re not “real.”
Star Trek Episode Summary
Odo and Dax investigate why a village’s residents are disappearing; Major Kira and Vedek Bareil become personally involved. [wiki]
Directed by: Robert Scheerer
Security Chief Odo: “But what about the villagers? What about your granddaughter?”
Rurigan: “She’s not real.”
Odo: “Well, technically, I suppose you’re right. Maybe by our definition, Taya’s not real. Her memories are stored in a computer; her body is made up of omicron particles. But who’s to say that our definition of life is the only valid one? I’m sure if you asked her, she’d say she was real. She thinks; she feels.”
Rurigan: “She only seems to. It’s all an illusion. An illusion I created.”
Odo: “Well you said that you created the village 30 years ago. Taya’s only 10.”
Rurigan: “I designed the program so the villagers could have children if they wanted to.”
Lt. Jadzia Dax: “Then Taya’s personality is a combination of her parents’ personalities.”
Rurigan: “But she’s still a hologram.”
Odo: “Maybe. But I saw the way you held her hand when she was sad. I saw the way you tried to comfort her when she was frightened.”
Rurigan: “I…I didn’t want her to get hurt.”
Odo: “If she’s not real, what does it matter?”
Rurigan: “It matters. It matters to me.”
Odo: “Why should it matter to you if a hologram cries?”
Rurigan: “Because I love her.”
Dax: “And she loves you.”
Odo: “Don’t you see? She’s real to you. And she’s real to me, too. They’re all real and you can’t turn your back on them now.”
(Star Trek: DS9 s02e16 – “Shadow Play”)
Photo Credit: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine