That’s a pretty common part of science fiction, particularly cyberpunk, though. What does it mean to be human in a world of advanced technology? Data from TNG was this very question, that character existed to explore what it meant to be human and confront the realities of our relationship to technology. This hologram character could have been similar. If little to no part of the story is the relationship between human beings, technology, and scientific knowledge, it isn’t science -fiction.

I think that’s the crux of the hate for this series and discovery, of this Kurtzman era of trek. It’s isn’t science-fiction at all, it’s drama set in a techno-fantasy world. Those are two very different things and neither is Star Trek.