Star Trek 3 Plot: 10 Moral Dilemmas From The Show That Could Be Resurrected
8. Artificial Intelligence
From Ruk, and M-5 to Data and the Borg when will it end? In The Ultimate Computer not only do we see humanity wrestling with how much control of our lives do we give over to the machines, but we also see Captain Kirk also contemplating his own obsolescence. While the 1960s storyline was a bit over-simplistic in its moral lesson that teaches the superiority of human subjectivity, this is a moral question that we see over and over again in the various iterations of Star Trek. We see it asked in if an android should be allowed to hold rank over humans in Star Trek: TNG and or should the scope and function of artificial consciousnesses in the forms of holograms be expanded to allow for personal discovery in Star Trek: Voyager. The question hasnt changed in any form of Star Trek or in our own world. As we ourselves develop further into this field without thought of consequences of this technology, scientists are hardly concerned with if they should do it and more focused on if they can do it. This is a question that would find good ground in Star Trek III.
John Kirk is a Teacher-Librarian and currently a History/English Teacher with the Toronto District School Board.
But mostly, John teaches Geek.
Comics, Sci-Fi (Notably Star Trek), Fantasy and Role-Playing and table-top games all make up part of John’s repertoire, There is a whole generation of nerds-in-embryo who rely on him to make sense of it all, to teach that with great power comes great responsibility, that the force will be with us always and that a towel IS the most useful thing to have in one’s possession.
When John isn’t in the classroom, he can be found in his basement writing comic reviews for www.popmythology.com and features for Roddenberry Entertainment's www.1701news.com.
