The example I keep going back to is
Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation. He is the
embodiment of the desire to be “human” and the obstacles that artificial life faces
in order to reach that goal.
As an android, Data is able to do
things humans cannot. His superior strength and intelligence make him an object
of envy. The episode “The Measure of a Man” depicts Data’s struggle for
self-determination. As a member of Starfleet, scientists wished to disassemble
Data to learn the secrets of his creation. To avoid this, Data had to prove
that he is sentient and not an object for scientific study (this is before his
emotion chip was installed). There are three criteria that they end up using to
prove his sentience: intelligence, self-awareness, and consciousness. As there
was no doubt that Data fit the first two criteria, the only question that
remained was whether or not he was conscious. But how does one measure consciousness?
As no one could answer this, Data was declared to be sentient. Data’s struggle
for self-determination can be related to slavery. Slaves were considered to be
objects to be owned. It is easy to think of robots and androids in the same
way. However, unlike human slaves that have the capacity to feel, artificial
life doesn’t have that capacity. This is the largest obstacle that Data had to
overcome in order to be human-like.
Initially not having his emotion
chip, there are several examples throughout the series where Data faces
challenges trying to comprehend jokes or sarcasm, a sometimes overlooked
attribute of a human. Something that comes normal to us humans was completely foreign
to him. This reveals a criterion of being human that robots, AI, and androids
are unlikely to ever achieve in reality; the ability to throw away logic (I don’t
know if we can consider this a complement or not). Data’s positronic brain
could not process the logic behind a statement that consisted of none. Emotions
can be considered illogical, and thus an artificial mind bound by logic cannot achieve
it. As he could not understand, the message behind the joke or sarcastic remark
always escaped him. Once receiving his emotion chip, Data comes closer to being
human. Finally being able to understand jokes, he finds humor enjoyable and
starts to understand what he has been missing.
No comments:
Post a Comment