Forgive me if this doesn't fit in the thread, but I figure that since this is a question directed somewhat at the writers, this would be the best place for it.
After reading 'Synthesis', I've been thinking a fair bit about the nature of AI in the Federation and White-Blue's accusation of racism against the artificial. Personally, I think he makes a fair case that isn't really refuted in the story.
In any case, this has given me cause to think on the matter some, and I realized something regarding the evolution of artificial intelligence in the Federation and the Trek 'verse in general...
Ever since the discovery of Data, there has been a noticeable escalation of the capabilities of artificial life. While presented at first as an exotic technology that would seem to defy reproduction or reverse engineering, over time, it seems that Federation science has managed to catch up nonetheless with developments like the Exocomps, spontaneous sentience events like what happened in TNG's 'Emergence', numerous holodeck disasters, etc. Particularly with photonic entities like the Doctor, I think it can be safely said that the Federation is more than capable of creating a human-level artificial consciousness more or less at will at this point.
The question is, why doesn't it happen? Or at least happen more often than we're aware? White-Blue makes the interesting point that the Federation and Starfleet have deliberately retarded the mental progression of artificial life, effectively enslaving them as a matter of convenience and expediency; an accusation I don't really see and refutation to in the story.
My question is, given the continuing development of technology, especially computer technology, how long can the Federation continue to be willfully ignorant of the consequences of a such a moral hypocrisy before it begins to undermine their core principles? I realize that this is probably an unpleasant subject for the novel writers to tackle, since it would involve a lot of legal drama and philosophical navel gazing (not to mention potentially change the fundamental dynamic of starship operations), but is it something we can continue to (effectively) pretend doesn't exist just for the sake of plot convenience?
I realize that Trek as a whole has a long history of ignoring certain scientific inevitabilities, or sweeping them under the rug, like genetic engineering or most forms of transhumanism, in order to maintain a setting that still contains humans as we know and relate to them. I only bring this point up about AI because it seems to be a recurring subject that comes up on a fairly regular basis, both on screen and in the Expanded universe. While minor progress has been made on behalf of certain individuals (like Data or the Doctor), I have yet to see a sweeping statement of the general rights of artificial beings that would given them rights as a whole, and not just for 'credits to their race' types like Data and the Doctor.
I guess my question about this is whether any of the writers have thought about or have thoughts upon the greater consequences of these periodic spotlights on the plight of artificial life and whether it might be given a more lasting and permanent solution in-universe, if for no other reason that that we won't have to see every single artificial regular continually go through the same character arc of trying to prove their sentience and right to be free beings despite their origin?
This all being said, I'm quite glad to see the character of White-Blue, since I don't think it'll have to deal with this particular character arc given its origin, and it'll be nice to see an artificial being that revels in their nature instead of trying to emulate organics when they can do so much more...
After reading 'Synthesis', I've been thinking a fair bit about the nature of AI in the Federation and White-Blue's accusation of racism against the artificial. Personally, I think he makes a fair case that isn't really refuted in the story.
In any case, this has given me cause to think on the matter some, and I realized something regarding the evolution of artificial intelligence in the Federation and the Trek 'verse in general...
Ever since the discovery of Data, there has been a noticeable escalation of the capabilities of artificial life. While presented at first as an exotic technology that would seem to defy reproduction or reverse engineering, over time, it seems that Federation science has managed to catch up nonetheless with developments like the Exocomps, spontaneous sentience events like what happened in TNG's 'Emergence', numerous holodeck disasters, etc. Particularly with photonic entities like the Doctor, I think it can be safely said that the Federation is more than capable of creating a human-level artificial consciousness more or less at will at this point.
The question is, why doesn't it happen? Or at least happen more often than we're aware? White-Blue makes the interesting point that the Federation and Starfleet have deliberately retarded the mental progression of artificial life, effectively enslaving them as a matter of convenience and expediency; an accusation I don't really see and refutation to in the story.
My question is, given the continuing development of technology, especially computer technology, how long can the Federation continue to be willfully ignorant of the consequences of a such a moral hypocrisy before it begins to undermine their core principles? I realize that this is probably an unpleasant subject for the novel writers to tackle, since it would involve a lot of legal drama and philosophical navel gazing (not to mention potentially change the fundamental dynamic of starship operations), but is it something we can continue to (effectively) pretend doesn't exist just for the sake of plot convenience?
I realize that Trek as a whole has a long history of ignoring certain scientific inevitabilities, or sweeping them under the rug, like genetic engineering or most forms of transhumanism, in order to maintain a setting that still contains humans as we know and relate to them. I only bring this point up about AI because it seems to be a recurring subject that comes up on a fairly regular basis, both on screen and in the Expanded universe. While minor progress has been made on behalf of certain individuals (like Data or the Doctor), I have yet to see a sweeping statement of the general rights of artificial beings that would given them rights as a whole, and not just for 'credits to their race' types like Data and the Doctor.
I guess my question about this is whether any of the writers have thought about or have thoughts upon the greater consequences of these periodic spotlights on the plight of artificial life and whether it might be given a more lasting and permanent solution in-universe, if for no other reason that that we won't have to see every single artificial regular continually go through the same character arc of trying to prove their sentience and right to be free beings despite their origin?
This all being said, I'm quite glad to see the character of White-Blue, since I don't think it'll have to deal with this particular character arc given its origin, and it'll be nice to see an artificial being that revels in their nature instead of trying to emulate organics when they can do so much more...
