| | Would Commander Data of TNG be "ALIVE" if he existed?Page 1 of 1 | | We all know the episodes of Star Trek: TNG so I'll spare you. My question really concerns how we define "life." I would like your opinion of whether or not an electronic brain could ever be "alive" and a living creature according to our moral system(s). | |
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| Would Commander Data of TNG be ALIVE if he existed?
Posted: 4/8/2012 4:28:34 PM | Are we determining his life based on "human " qualities like emotion?
I need more specific information... are we considering:
Before or after he got that emotions chip?
Before or after being assimilated by the borg and having wild "relations" with their hot mechanical Queen?
Given that we have created life via cloning, in some way I guess he could be considered alive...
Though I don't think I personally agree with that...something of a dilemma for me... | |
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| Would Commander Data of TNG be ALIVE if he existed?
Posted: 4/8/2012 6:01:02 PM | I would consider Mr. Data to be "alive" He is self-aware, creative, expressive, intelligent, capable of critical thinking, interacts with his environment, and he is constantly learning/growing. So he doesn't "feel" like humans do, but he feels in his own way. LOL, I think I remember he saying his "net-pathways grow accustom and can even miss certain people when they are gone".
Data is alive. :) | |
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| Would Commander Data of TNG be ALIVE if he existed?
Posted: 4/8/2012 6:11:18 PM | We have levels of recognition of life, on this planet. Even without challenges such as Data would present, people here often decide to distinguish between humans and non humans, and between species, when they respond to the idea of "life." It's a fascinating area for consideration.
I would tend to think of Data as being more closely related to the walking dead, than the living. | |
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| Would Commander Data of TNG be ALIVE if he existed?
Posted: 4/8/2012 8:34:58 PM |
My question really concerns how we define "life." I would like your opinion of whether or not an electronic brain could ever be "alive" and a living creature according to our moral system(s).
(your opinion of whether or not an electronic brain could *EVER* be "alive" and a living creature ) My capital question...
Living creatures are by definition able to wholly reproduce themselves and evolve. And to ask if EVER an electronic brain will be capable of that, is almost rhetorical since someday electronics and neural networks WILL achieve that level of sophistication..
Now the moral part is less clear, a universal global agreement would likely be necessary before SKYNET is unleashed upon the world and actually accepted as moral and have any right to continue "living"... | |
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| Would Commander Data of TNG be ALIVE if he existed?
Posted: 4/9/2012 8:25:13 AM | | No, because our "moral" beliefs are based on religion (see the other moral/religious threads that seem to be de-rigeur at the moment). Any religion that has a "God created everything" belief would object. | |
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| Would Commander Data of TNG be ALIVE if he existed?
Posted: 4/9/2012 8:39:12 AM |
We all know the episodes of Star Trek: TNG so I'll spare you. My question really concerns how we define "life." I would like your opinion of whether or not an electronic brain could ever be "alive" and a living creature according to our moral system(s).
There was a similar question on an actual Science forum. I paraphrase,
Can evolution on a distant world produce aliens made completely of electronics, like IC chips?
At first glance it sounds absurd. But if you think about the processes evolution have gone through to produce biological beings like us, it seems to me nothing is impossible. | |
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