Stupidity: When Riker and Worf are searching for Geordi on the holodeck, why don't they just terminate the program, instead of looking for him in the simulated jungle? Would have made it a heck of a lot easier to find him in the relatively small empty holodeck, invisible or not.
Suggested correction: Geordi had already mutated and since one of the abilities of the mutation is invisibility, shutting off the holodeck wouldn't have helped as, without being able to see Geordi, it would be impossible to know where or if he was still in the holodeck.
The original stupidity still holds though. As the original poster said, it would be easier to find Geordi in the smaller holodeck, without the simulated jungle, "invisible or not."
No, it wouldn't. Before going to the holodeck, the computer was asked where Geordi was with the response he was no longer on board. This would indicate that any type of scanner would not be able to find him. Plus, how would shutting off the holodeck help? Geordi was now invisible, being invisible would have no shadow and shortly after Worf and Riker had even got to the holodeck, a partially mutated Geordi had already got to the transporter room and beamed himself down to the planet.
I have to agree. How would shutting down the holodeck be useful in finding Geordi since he was now invisible and the scanners on the Enterprise couldn't detect him?
Because of how the Holodeck works, turning off the program would leave him in a small room and standing on the floor, so they could at least try to physically sweep the room. Leaving the program running, he's still invisible, but now a physical sweep would be nearly impossible since he could be in trees above them or hiding below them and not on the same ground level.
