10 Most Horrifying Technologies In Star Trek
5. Holograms
How many holograms have to become self-aware before Starfleet starts making some regulations?
Notable examples are the James Moriarty hologram from the Next Generation episode Ship in a Bottle and of course The Doctor from Voyager, both confirmed to be sentient and honestly, watching Voyager, one finds it hard to not be mortified at the thought of The Doctor being confined to sickbay and being treated like a second-class citizen by the crew. The idea that he could just be deactivated by anyone at any time and deleted forever was just the cherry on top.
Let's not even get into safety protocols and how easy they are to screw up.
If Starfleet wishes to continue using this technology, they must first put some kind of firewalls in place that prevent their fun little holographic tennis games from turning into an ethical atrocity.
We see from the doctor that simply being active for as long as he has been while continuously learning and adapting is all it takes for him to transform into a fully sentient being, so what does that say about all of his recycled EMH brothers (from the Voyager episode Author, Author) condemned to mine dilithium for all eternity?