Humans of Star Trek - Data and Artificial life forms (Star Trek motivation)
Welcome to Humans of Star Trek, a Star Trek inspired motivation series.
These are the voyages of Starfleet personnel who came together to give us a future that humanity craves for and deserves. Together, let's boldly go where no one has gone before.
For decades Star Trek has dealt with social issues of the times but in some cases Star Trek has dealt with social issues that were far ahead of its time. In fact some of these issues may not even materialize in real life nonetheless to those of us who pay attention if there is one thing Star Trek has always been - it is thought provoking.
One such idea addressed in the Star Trek universe and yet to be realized in the real world is that of artificial life forms (if you can call them that).
Lieutenant Commander Data who served under Captain Jean-Luc Picard on USS Enterprise-D is perhaps the most famous artificial life form in the Star Trek universe. Data, an Android, was the result of Dr. Noonian Soong's controversial and scientifically disputed theories on positronic computing.
We are living in a world where Artificial Intelligence is slowly stepping out of science fiction and gaining traction in the real world with each passing year. As I discussed in one of my previous posts, we need to start having nuanced discussions about the potential rights of Artificial Intelligence so that we are not unprepared for a future that we currently cannot predict but are surely stepping into one byte at a time.
One such scenario about the rights of an artificial life form is brilliantly dramatized in a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode when Starfleet Commander Bruce Maddox decides to dismantle Data so he could examine Data and potentially recreate Dr. Soong's work. Data refuses to be dismantled and instead offers his resignation from Starfleet. Maddox then declares that Data is Starfleet's property and cannot legally resign.
This is when Captain Jean-Luc Picard steps in and challenges Maddox and Starfleet's assertion that Data is a tool, a property of Starfleet. Captain Picard insists that even though Data is an artificial life form he is a sentient being and should therefore have the legal right to decide his own destiny. A Shakespearean courtroom style epic legal hearing ensues with the incomparable Sir Patrick Stewart, portraying Captain Picard, delivering one of his many brilliant performances. Captain Picard and Data eventually win the legal battle and Data is allowed to stay with his crew on the Enterprise-D and choose his own destiny.
"No being is so important that he can usurp the rights of another." - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
Just this week Google's enhanced AI assistant has been in the news for sounding very human-like and being able to have a very human conversation with another human. Some countries have also begun laying down the ground rules for what AI is supposed to achieve.
We are nowhere near a Star Trek like scenario but it can be argued that the time to start having serious conversations around AI is here and now. We will surely have our own Maddoxs and Picards in the future but this wonderful science fiction series gives us an opportunity to evaluate our current decisions so that we may make better ones tomorrow.
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Live long and prosper!
Check out some of my previous posts:
Humans of Star Trek - Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix Zero One
The Rights of Artificial Intelligence: A Peep into the Future!
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