You are the Captain... 15

[Trek Writers Room]

Starfleet is rolling out a new class of multi-mission explorer starships, and you’ve been selected to captain one.

As part of your assignment, you must choose between two otherwise identical vessels. The only difference is in how they’re operated:

• One ship has a traditional bridge crew.
• The other is primarily run by a sentient computer interface using technology similar to Zora from Discovery.

Dr. Kovich has certified the new artificial intellect as safe and reliable. However, there’s a caveat. The ship still has a full complement of bridge stations and a capable biological crew, but they are only to be utilized if the AI fails.

Which ship would you choose, the one with the artificial intellect or the traditional bridge crew, and why?

 

[Turtletrekker]

The traditional crew. The other ship sounds boring.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

I wonder what the bio crew does when the machine is working normally...you'd think they'd work on personal research projects, hone their skills, but some of them would probably get bored and/or or lead a revolt, depending on what show it's in.

 

[Henoch]

I wonder what the bio crew does when the machine is working normally.

Training on the bridge simulator, everyday.

 

[Richard S. Ta]

I’m lazy. I’ll go with the AI.

 

[Farscape One]

I'd go with the traditional crew, no question.

Too often, we've seen AI go wrong. Zora itself even didn't follow orders it was given. No machine should have full control over people without any kind of manual override.

 

[FederationHistorian]

Traditional crew.

I have no issues with an AI ship. But if Starfleet truly trusted the AI, the ship would not need a biological crew onboard. DOTs should be enough to maintain it.

 

[MurphyCooper]

Traditional crew. AI could be hacked by outside sources.

 

[Oddish]

Traditional crew. Other ship is too HAL for my tastes.