> The crew refuses to hand over control to a computer
Star Trek universe lives in this strange place of being on the very cusp of technological singularity, edging on the threshold and yet not crossing it. Both in TOS and TNG era, their computers are so advanced they keep accidentally creating sentient AIs[0]. And yet, whenever that happens, the AIs are met with apprehension; Starfleet, in particular, would like to see them gone. In some cases, the protagonists stand against the zeitgeist and fight for the rights of digital sentience, but in others, they're desperate to put the cat back in the bag.
In-universe, I explain it to myself like this: the society of Star Trek is afraid. They do not understand their technology at all. All the scientific and engineering knowledge people in Star Trek demonstrate so frequently[1], it's all in context of what computers tell them. They almost never look at raw data, they almost never deal with raw reality. They grudgingly accept this state, but do not want to make that last step and actually let computers run things.
Out of universe, it's obviously because Star Trek was meant to be a humanist story - the adventure of humanity, exploring the universe and becoming a mature, respectable, good people. Anything that threatens it, anything that would immediately turn humans into NPCs, dethrone them from the role of protagonists, is shunned in the series. That's why both artificial intelligence and genetic augmentation receive such negative treatment, a glaring exception in the otherwise inclusive and forward-thinking show.
Circling back a bit - I think our real-world society is approaching the level of "too smart technology", and we're going to become afraid too. And unfortunately, developments like this article aren't the kind that would happen in a Federation research facility - they read as something straight from Ferenginar. Our civilization is not proto-Federation, it's more of a weird blend of Ferengi Alliance and Cardassian Union.
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[0] - See e.g. "Emergence" (TNG: 7x23) and "Elementary, Dear Data" (TNG: 2x03) for Enterprise D's computer forking off sentient AIs, "Evolution" (TNG 3x01) and "Quality of Life" (TNG 6x09) for Federation robots accidentally becoming sentient, "The Offspring" (TNG 3x16) for how easy it is to fork Data, "The Ultimate Computer" (TOS 2x24) for what happened when they let a too-smart AI run the ship for once - and that's not counting all the cases where sentient life was created with involvement of alien entities or objects.
[1] - One thing I love about this show is that competence is considered table stakes. Everyone, whether they're Starfleet, a Federation civilian or a member of non-Federation species, is educated, curious, good at what they do, and expects the same qualities of everyone else. It's a breath of fresh air compared to the real world.
Thank you for this reply! Made my day. While I enjoy the newer Star Trek (Discovery/Picard) they have season long arcs and when they stumble on themes like the ones you identified, they’re a side plot to the season’s arc. The morality in and out of universe is never really considered or elaborated on. It’s all about the season’s arc and intense theme music. It may be blasphemous and they definitely have a much more comedic vibe but it’s why I prefer The Orville to the newer Treks.
It's not blasphemy for me :). I'm having real troubles considering Discovery and Picard (and JJ movies) as canon - they're just too different from all the earlier installments up to ENT (including). Instead of optimistic and cerebral experience, we're now getting generic violent action movies with nonsense plots.
In my head, the only true successors to Star Trek as it was up to 2005 are 1) The Orville, and 2) Star Trek: Lower Decks. Apparently it turns out you have to market something as satire to get a shot at exploring more thoughtful topics.
> The crew refuses to hand over control to a computer
Star Trek universe lives in this strange place of being on the very cusp of technological singularity, edging on the threshold and yet not crossing it. Both in TOS and TNG era, their computers are so advanced they keep accidentally creating sentient AIs[0]. And yet, whenever that happens, the AIs are met with apprehension; Starfleet, in particular, would like to see them gone. In some cases, the protagonists stand against the zeitgeist and fight for the rights of digital sentience, but in others, they're desperate to put the cat back in the bag.
In-universe, I explain it to myself like this: the society of Star Trek is afraid. They do not understand their technology at all. All the scientific and engineering knowledge people in Star Trek demonstrate so frequently[1], it's all in context of what computers tell them. They almost never look at raw data, they almost never deal with raw reality. They grudgingly accept this state, but do not want to make that last step and actually let computers run things.
Out of universe, it's obviously because Star Trek was meant to be a humanist story - the adventure of humanity, exploring the universe and becoming a mature, respectable, good people. Anything that threatens it, anything that would immediately turn humans into NPCs, dethrone them from the role of protagonists, is shunned in the series. That's why both artificial intelligence and genetic augmentation receive such negative treatment, a glaring exception in the otherwise inclusive and forward-thinking show.
Circling back a bit - I think our real-world society is approaching the level of "too smart technology", and we're going to become afraid too. And unfortunately, developments like this article aren't the kind that would happen in a Federation research facility - they read as something straight from Ferenginar. Our civilization is not proto-Federation, it's more of a weird blend of Ferengi Alliance and Cardassian Union.
--
[0] - See e.g. "Emergence" (TNG: 7x23) and "Elementary, Dear Data" (TNG: 2x03) for Enterprise D's computer forking off sentient AIs, "Evolution" (TNG 3x01) and "Quality of Life" (TNG 6x09) for Federation robots accidentally becoming sentient, "The Offspring" (TNG 3x16) for how easy it is to fork Data, "The Ultimate Computer" (TOS 2x24) for what happened when they let a too-smart AI run the ship for once - and that's not counting all the cases where sentient life was created with involvement of alien entities or objects.
[1] - One thing I love about this show is that competence is considered table stakes. Everyone, whether they're Starfleet, a Federation civilian or a member of non-Federation species, is educated, curious, good at what they do, and expects the same qualities of everyone else. It's a breath of fresh air compared to the real world.