Red Dwarf/Holograms

Overview

In the first episode we learn that when someone in the Red Dwarf universe dies they aren't "dead dead". If they're important enough, they can be brought back as a hologram.

Generated and sustained by the ship's computer, the hologram of a deceased individual can move about the ship freely and talk with the living, but they are unable to feel or touch anything. It is customary for a hologram to have a large letter "H" on their forehead. It is considered rude to walk through a hologram.

Another important limitation that comes into play is that the Red Dwarf computer, Holly, can only sustain one hologram at a time. Since the essence of each person is stored on a holo-disc, whoever's disc is in the computer will be the ship's hologram.

The Light Bee

Even though a hologram cannot touch anything, they do have a small physical presence: the light bee (a small cylinder about 4 cm long). This nifty bit of technology floats along with the hologram, projecting that person's image and voice.

Hard Light

A more advanced verison of holograms is the hard light hologram. A hard light hologram can touch things and physically interact with the world just as a normal person would with the added bonus that they are virtually indestructible.

Disorders

Holograms are susceptible to various disorders:

• Holodisc Corruption - can cause mixing of physical and psychological attributes from discs other than the primary hologram disc.
• Holo-Viruses - computer viruses that affect the hologram computer.
• Algorithmic Degradation - When the hologram died (originally) they were reduced to an algorithm designed to simulate the deceased individual. If there was a flaw in that algorithm, it could eventually cause problems, up to and including death of the hologram.